Brains, Fingers, and Crabs — Modes of Software Developer Operation | anderegg.ca

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2024-05-05 18:00:06

In the late 2000s, some friends and I started a small software development agency. It didn’t last very long because we were more interested in building things than making money, but it was quite a fun time.

I can’t remember exactly how this came up, and the details are a bit fuzzy almost 20 years later, but at one point we came up with a list of modes or states that we might be might be in while working. My best recollection is that this was prompted by the sensitivity to interruption which came with each mode. We worked together in a small office, and sometimes “work” was a strong word for what we were up to. If one of us was trying to focus, it was good to have a shorthand for this.

This was the mode requiring the most concentration and focus. Often this was when someone was working on a tricky piece of code or some difficult research work. It could also be when someone needed to buckle down and get a task done or otherwise needed to focus. If someone was in Brain Hats mode, the office should be quiet.

The idea with this mode was that we were waggling our primate hand-digits against the keyboard. Real work was getting done, but it didn’t require as much attention. Interruptions were fine and maybe even welcome. Many types of writing, research, and a good chunk of development work fit into this mode. It was the normal state of operation most of the time.