5 Silent Killers That Destroy Software Developers’ Productivity (And How to Avoid Them)

 

As software developers, we sometimes wonder, “Why didn’t I make any progress today?” There are inevitably days when we sit at the computer for hours but don’t get anything done. Behind this situation, there are usually “silent killers” that we are unaware of but that slowly drain our productivity.

Let’s talk about these today. Because productivity isn’t just about how fast we write code — it’s also closely tied to the enjoyment we get from our work, our motivation, and our mental health.

You can read the full article here.

1. Interruptions and Distractions — Focus Thieves

Why is this such a big problem?

Did you know that, according to one study, the average employee is distracted approximately 300 times during the workday and spends an average of 23 minutes refocusing each time? For software developers, this number could be even higher, as focusing while coding is challenging, and losing focus can happen in an instant.

Throughout the day, emails, Slack messages, impromptu meetings, and even chatter from the neighboring office can severely hinder productivity.

Example

Let’s say you’re a backend developer writing a REST API. You need to think deeply. But you keep getting Slack notifications on your phone, and email alerts pop up on your screen. Each time, you have to try to understand the code lines again. In this situation, the amount of work you get done by the end of the day decreases.

What can we do?

• Turn off notifications, create work blocks: For example, set aside 9–11 AM as “deep work” time. During these hours, mute notifications and avoid checking social media.
• Use the Pomodoro technique: Focus fully for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute break. This method is very helpful for giving your brain a rest.
• Optimize your work environment: If possible, use a quiet room or headphones. White noise or light music can help block out noise.

2. Unclear or Incomplete Requirements — Confused Coders

How painful is this?

A study by McKinsey & Company found that 70% of project failures are due to poor requirements management. If the requirements are unclear, we end up rewriting the code over and over again, making mistakes. This means wasted time and stress.

Example

Imagine you’re working at a startup where the client keeps changing features. As you write code, new requests keep coming in. What do you think the outcome will be? Yes, endless revisions and constant anxiety about whether it’s exactly what they want…

Solution suggestions

• Clarify requirements in writing: Who wants what, what will be done, and when will it be delivered? These must be clear.
• Break it down into smaller parts: Divide large tasks into smaller user stories. This reduces the margin for error and makes progress more visible.
• Maintain constant communication: Hold weekly or daily meetings with the team and the client/business units to resolve any immediate questions.

3. Inadequate or Complex Tools — Technology Barriers

How much time are we wasting?

According to Stack Overflow’s 2023 developer report, 45% of developers say that the tools they use reduce their productivity. Complex IDEs, heavy version control systems, incompatible plugins… These are all frustrating.

Example

A friend of mine told me that Visual Studio Code slowed down his computer when he installed extra plugins, making it difficult to even open code. He said that this made it difficult to focus on writing. As someone who loves trying out different plugins, I immediately checked my own list. Fortunately, mine was within acceptable limits. Maybe you should check the extensions you use too.

Solution Suggestions

• Choose simple and effective tools: Avoid complexity and use lightweight applications that meet your needs.
• Take time to learn the tools: If you’re using a new IDE or framework, be sure to do some small training sessions.
• Automate: Automate testing, compilation, and deployment. Reduce repetitive tasks.

4. Repeated Coding Errors and Corrections — Endless Loop

Why is this so frustrating?

It is natural to make mistakes when writing code, but constantly repeating the same mistakes kills motivation. Those who waste their entire day because of a mistake wonder, “Am I good enough?”

Example

Let’s say you’re weak at writing unit tests, and the code you write fails the tests repeatedly. Each time, finding and fixing the errors takes time and demoralizes you.

Solution Suggestions

• Code review: If you’re working as part of a team, have other developers on the team review your code. Different perspectives reduce errors.
• Make writing tests a habit: Unit tests and integration tests are lifesavers.
• Learn clean code principles: If your code is readable and understandable, it becomes harder to make mistakes.

5. Physical and Mental Fatigue — The Human Factor

How important is it?

A 2019 study by Stanford University shows that fatigue and sleep deprivation can reduce decision-making and problem-solving abilities by up to 40%. In software development, this translates to coding errors, slow progress, and burnout.

Example

Imagine yourself as someone who can’t even get out of bed without your morning coffee, coming home exhausted in the evening and unable to focus on lines of code. On days like these, making mistakes and being productive is nearly impossible.

Solution Suggestions

• Get enough sleep: 7–8 hours of quality sleep per day is essential.
• Exercise: Even short walks can clear your mind.
• Take regular breaks: Occasionally look away from the screen and take deep breaths.
• Prioritize your mental health: Seek support when feeling stressed or burned out, and consider professional help if necessary.

Productivity Tips from Famous Software Developers

“The most productive software developers are those who establish a fixed work routine. Focusing means disconnecting from the outside world and immersing oneself in coding.”

— Martin Fowler (Software Architect)

“The biggest reason for failure in a project is lack of communication. If the requirements are not clear, no matter how good your code is, it won’t work.”

— Kent Beck (pioneer of Extreme Programming)

In conclusion, software development requires more than just technical knowledge; it requires a good environment, the right habits, and a healthy mind. Once you become aware of these silent killers and get rid of them, your productivity will increase and you will enjoy your work more.

Remember, working smart is just as important as working hard to become a good software developer.

Thank you for reading this far.

Don’t forget to subscribe to stay updated on my other content and give this article a thumbs-up if you liked it.

Thank you.

Selin.

Yazılımcıların Üretkenliğini Yok Eden 5 Sessiz Katil (Ve Nasıl Kurtulunur)

 

Yazılım geliştiriciler olarak bazen “Bugün neden hiç ilerleyemedim?” diye düşünürüz. Saatlerce bilgisayarın başında olsak da verim alamadığımız günler mutlaka olur. İşte bu durumun ardında genellikle farkında olmadığımız ama üretkenliğimizi yavaş yavaş tüketen “sessiz katiller” vardır.

Bugün bunları konuşalım. Çünkü üretkenlik sadece kod yazma hızı değil, aynı zamanda işten aldığımız keyif, motivasyon ve mental sağlığımızla da yakından ilgili.

Yazının tamamını buradan okuyabilirsiniz.

1. Kesintiler ve Dikkat Dağınıklığı — Odak Hırsızları

Neden bu kadar büyük bir sorun?

Bir araştırmaya göre, ortalama bir çalışan, çalışma sırasında yaklaşık 300 kez dikkatinin dağıldığını ve her seferinde yeniden odaklanmak için ortalama 23 dakika harcadığını biliyor muydunuz? Biz yazılımcılar için bu sayı daha da yüksek olabilir, çünkü kod yazarken odaklanmak zordur, ara verince kaybolmak an meselesidir.

Bir gün boyunca gelen e-posta, Slack mesajları, anlık toplantılar ve hatta yan ofisten gelen sohbet sesleri, üretkenliği ciddi şekilde baltalar.

Örnek

Diyelim ki bir backend geliştiricisi olarak REST API yazıyorsunuz. Derinlemesine düşünmeniz gerekiyor. Ama sürekli telefonunuza Slack bildirimi geliyor, ekranınızda e-posta uyarısı çıkıyor. Her seferinde kod satırlarını tekrar anlamaya çalışıyorsunuz. Bu durumda gün sonunda ne kadar iş yaptığınız azalır.

Ne yapabiliriz?

• Bildirimleri kapat, çalışma blokları oluştur: Örneğin, sabah 9–11 arası “derin çalışma” zamanı. Bu saatlerde bildirimleri sessize alın, sosyal medyaya bakmayın.
• Pomodoro tekniği kullanın: 25 dakika tam odaklan, 5 dakika mola ver. Bu yöntem, beyninizi dinlendirmek için çok faydalı.
• Çalışma ortamını optimize et: Eğer mümkünse, sessiz bir oda ya da kulaklık kullan. Gürültü engellemek için beyaz gürültü veya hafif müzik iyi gelir.

2. Belirsiz veya Eksik Gereksinimler — Kafası Karışık Kodcu

Bu ne kadar can yakar?

McKinsey & Company’nin yaptığı bir araştırmada, proje başarısızlıklarının %70’inin kötü gereksinim yönetimindenkaynaklandığı ortaya konmuş. Gereksinimler net değilse, kodu defalarca elden geçirir, yanlış yaparız. Bu da zaman kaybı ve stres demek.

Örnek

Bir startup’ta çalıştığınızı varsayalım, müşteri de sürekli olarak özellik değiştirsin. Kod yazdıkça yeni talepler gelsin. Sonuç ne olur sizce? Evet, bitmeyen revizyonlar ve hep “Acaba bu tam istediği gibi mi?” endişesi…

Çözüm önerileri

• Gereksinimleri yazılı ve net hale getir: Kim ne istedi, ne yapacak, ne zaman teslim edecek? Bunlar açık olmalı.
• Küçük parçalar halinde ilerle: Büyük iş paketlerini küçük user story’lere böl. Böylece hem hata payı azalır, hem ilerleme daha görünür olur.
• Sürekli iletişim: Takım ve müşteri/iş birimleri ile haftalık veya günlük toplantılar yap, anlık soruları çöz.

3. Yetersiz veya Karmaşık Araçlar — Teknoloji Engelleri

Ne kadar zaman kaybediyoruz?

Stack Overflow’un 2023 geliştirici raporuna göre, geliştiricilerin %45’i kullandıkları araçların verimliliklerini düşürdüğünü söylüyor. Karmaşık IDE’ler, ağır versiyon kontrol sistemleri, uyumsuz eklentiler… Bunlar hep can sıkıyor.

Örnek

Bir arkadaşım Visual Studio Code’un fazladan eklentiler yükleyince bilgisayarını yavaşlattığını, kod açmanın bile zorlaştığını anlatmıştı. Durum böyle olunca yazmaya odaklanmak zorlaşıyor diye anlatmıştı.Ben de çok fazla değişik eklenti seven biri olarak hemen kendi listemi kontrol etmiştim. Neyse ki ben de konu kabul edilebilir düzeyde. Belki sen de kendi kullandığın eklentileri kontrol edersin.

Çözüm Önerileri

• Basit ve etkili araçlar seç: Karmaşadan uzak dur, ihtiyaçlarını karşılayan hafif uygulamalar kullan.
• Araçları öğrenmek için zaman ayır: Yeni bir IDE veya framework kullanıyorsan mutlaka küçük eğitimler yap.
• Otomasyon yap: Testleri, derlemeyi ve deploy’u otomatikleştir. Tekrarlayan işleri azalt.

4. Tekrarlayan Kodlama Hataları ve Düzeltmeler — Sonsuz Döngü

Neden bu kadar sinir bozucu?

Kod yazarken hata yapmak doğaldır ama sürekli aynı hataları tekrarlamak motivasyonu öldürür. Bir hata yüzünden bütün günü harcayanlar, “Acaba ben yeterince iyi miyim?” diye düşünür.

Örnek

Diyelim ki unit test yazmak konusunda zayıfsınız ve yazdığınız kod defalarca testten geçmiyor. Her seferinde hataları bulup düzeltmek zamanınızı alıyor ve moral bozuyor.

Çözüm Önerileri

• Kod gözden geçirme: Eğer bir takım üyesi olarak çalışıyorsan takımdaki diğer geliştiricilerle kodunuzu kontrol et. Farklı bakış açıları hataları azaltır.
• Test yazmayı alışkanlık haline getir: Unit test ve entegrasyon testleri hayat kurtarır.
• Temiz kod prensiplerini öğren: Kod okunabilir ve anlaşılır olursa, hata yapmak zorlaşır.

5. Fiziksel ve Zihinsel Yorgunluk — İnsan Faktörü

Ne kadar önemli?

Stanford Üniversitesi’nin 2019’da yaptığı çalışma, yorgunluk ve uykusuzluğun karar verme ve problem çözme yetisini %40’a varan oranda azalttığınıgösteriyor. Yazılımda bu, kod hataları, yavaş ilerleme ve tükenmişlik demek.

Örnek

Kendinizi sabah kahveniz olmadan bile açamayan, akşam eve yorgun argın gelip kod satırlarına odaklanamayan biri olarak düşünün. Böyle günlerde hata yapmak ve verim almak neredeyse imkânsız.

Çözüm Önerileri

• Yeterince uyuyun: Günde 7–8 saat kaliteli uyku şart.
• Egzersiz yapın: Kısa yürüyüşler bile zihni açar.
• Düzenli molalar verin: Ara sıra gözlerinizi ekrandan uzaklaştırın, derin nefes alın.
• Mental sağlığınıza dikkat edin: Stres ve tükenmişlik hissettiğinizde destek alın, gerekirse profesyonel yardım.

Ünlü Yazılımcıların Üretkenlik Önerileri

“En verimli yazılım geliştiriciler, sabit bir çalışma rutini kuranlardır. Odaklanmak, dış dünyadan kopup kodla baş başa kalmak anlamına gelir.”
— Martin Fowler (Yazılım Mimarı)

“Bir projede başarısızlığın en büyük nedeni iletişim eksikliğidir. Gereksinimler net değilse, kodunuz ne kadar iyi olursa olsun işe yaramaz.”
— Kent Beck (Extreme Programming’in öncüsü)

Sonuç olarak yazılım geliştirmek sadece teknik bilgi değil; iyi bir ortam, doğru alışkanlıklar ve sağlıklı bir zihinle mümkün olur. Bu sessiz katillerin farkına varıp onlardan kurtulduğunuzda, üretkenliğiniz artacak, işinizden aldığınız keyif yükselecek.

Unutmayın, iyi yazılımcı olmak için çok çalışmak kadar akıllıca çalışmak da çok önemli.

Buraya kadar okuduğunuz için teşekkür ederim.

Diğer içeriklerimden haberdar olmak için abone olmayı ve bu yazıyı beğendiysen alkışlamayı unutmayın.

Teşekkürler.

Selin.

How to Use Flutter DevTools Effectively

 

Hello everyone. In this article, I have compiled what I know, what I need to know and what I have learned about the Flutter DevTools screen and tabs that I have come across since I started developing projects with Flutter. I hope it will be useful for all of us. Let’s get started.

I use VsCode as my IDE, so I access the DevTools screen from there. If we type DevTools in the Command Palette, we can see that it comes up. Here we can open each tab separately, we can also view them all on the same screen as a web page in the browser, which I prefer this method more. In the same way, we can access it from AndroidStudio in a similar way.

The Web Browser view looks like this:

We can also open DevTools by typing the following commands in the terminal.

flutter pub global activate devtools
flutter run --debug
devtools

Let’s start with a review of DevTools by first finding out what it is.

What is Flutter DevTools?

Flutter DevTools is a development tool used to monitor the performance of the application, detect bugs and optimize it. It has various tabs according to their topics. Below I have prepared a table of which tab is used for what and then I will try to explain each of them in detail.

Flutter DevTools — Connected App

What Does It Do?

This is the main screen showing that DevTools is connected to the Flutter application. When the application is running in debug mode, you can see which analysis tools are active.

Here is what you can do:

• You can check if the connection is active.
• You can navigate to different profiler tabs.
• If the connection is lost, you can restart DevTools and reconnect.

Inspector Tab: Widget Tree and UI Structure

What Does It Do?

This tab allows you to examine the widget tree and visual structure of the app. If you have a design problem or unwanted padding, margin, alignment errors, you can easily fix them here.

Usage Scenarios:

• See which widget is where: Examine the structure in the widget tree to make sure you have selected the right widget.
• Analyze padding, margin and alignment errors: Find elements that are misaligned or shifted on the screen.
• Analyze layout errors: Detect unexpected behavior of widgets like SizedBox, Expanded, Flexible, Align, Positioned.
• Solve layout problems: Understand how elements are positioned inside structures such as Column, Row, Stack.

How to use it:

1. Click on the “Select Widget Mode” button (there is a button at the top of the Inspector tab, you can open it and click on the widgets on the screen to select them directly in the widget tree).
2. Click on the widget you got an error or want to inspect.
3. Examine the details of the widget and the parent-child relationship.
4. Hover over it to see details like padding, margin and alignment.

Solution Suggestions:

• Is there an error with spacing? Check Padding and Margin values.
• Is there unnecessary space inside widgets? Check if there are unnecessary width or height values in the Container.
• Is the widget positioned in the wrong place? Check how widgets like Expanded and Flexible behave.

Tip:

• Do you have a very nested widget tree? Create simpler structures instead of using unnecessary Container, Padding or Column.
• Turn on “Show Guidelines” to understand the order in which widgets are loaded.

Performance Tab: UI Fluency and Jank Problems

What does it do?

This tab helps you analyze your app’s smoothness and jank problems. If your app stutters while scrolling, animations are not smooth or you are experiencing frame drops, you should check here.

Usage Scenarios:

• Monitor the frame per second (FPS) value. It lets you know how smoothly the app is running. If your FPS is consistently below 60, the app is not running smoothly.
• Jank occurs when the app’s FPS (Frames Per Second) drops and usually causes the app to hang. Detect this. Find out which processes are causing frame drops. Optimize heavy processes.
• Examine the UI and Raster Thread. Analyze how long UI operations take to process and which widgets are heavy.

How to use it

1. Open the Performance tab and start using your app.
2. Follow the FPS graph at the top.
3. Open the “Count Widget Builds” option to check which widgets are redrawn too much.
4. After identifying problem areas, make performance improvements.

Solution Suggestions:

• Define frequently redrawn widgets as const. The const keyword ensures that the widget is only built the first time it is created. This prevents the widget from being rebuilt on every redraw and improves performance.
• Run heavy operations in the background (use compute() or Isolate). This allows operations to be performed in the background without tying up the UI thread.
• If you have animations or frequently redrawn widgets, you can use RepaintBoundary to move the widgets to a separate screen layer and redraw only that widget.
• If animations get stuck, use TweenAnimationBuilder or AnimatedBuilder to avoid unnecessary rebuilds.
• If you are working with long lists, you can use ListView.builder to render only the items visible on the screen. This will significantly improve performance.
• Asynchronize time-consuming operations within the application. For example, manage data loading and API calls asynchronously with FutureBuilder or StreamBuilder.
• Be careful when using setState(). Instead of re-rendering the entire widget tree, re-render only the part that has been modified.
• Especially if you are using Riverpod or Provider, you can use ValueListenableBuilder and Consumer to only update specific widgets as data changes.

CPU Profiler Tab (Advanced Performance Analysis — CPU Utilization)

What does it do?

This tab allows you to analyze the CPU usage of your application. It gives you detailed information about which functions are overcommitting and how they are affecting the CPU.

Timeline:

• The Timeline section in CPU Profiler allows us to see which processes are using the CPU and for how long while the application is running. On this timeline, we can examine the timings and durations of each CPU process.
• The CPU Sampling data in the timeline shows which processes are taking up the most CPU.

CPU Sampling:

• CPU sampling records which functions the CPU is running every second. This data allows us to determine how much each function or process block uses the CPU.
• CPU sampling shows performance differences between different parts of the application. Some parts may consume more CPU and this can affect the overall speed of the application.

Flame Graph:

• The flame graph is a visual representation of CPU utilization in the application. High CPU-consuming functions appear as larger blocks, which allows us to easily see which processes are using more resources.
• The Flame Graph also shows how interdependent functions are, so you can analyze which other functions a function depends on and the impact of these relationships on the CPU.
• This graph allows you to quickly identify CPU bottlenecks (functions that run slowly or consume too many resources) in your application.

Call Tree:

• The Call Tree shows the relationships between functions in the application. It shows how one function calls other functions and how it uses the CPU.
• Using the call tree, you can identify the main functions or sub-functions that are overloading the CPU.

Here’s what you can do:

• Analyze which functions consume the most CPU. You can see which parts of your code are running slowly.
• Examine the flame chart. It provides a detailed graph showing the order and duration of function calls.
• Optimize by profiling. You can improve performance by isolating long-running processes.

Memory Tab (Memory Usage and Memory Leaks)

What does it do?

This tab helps you analyze your application’s RAM usage and detect possible memory leaks.

Here is what you can do:

• Monitor memory consumption by taking heap snapshots. You can see which objects are being held in memory and which objects are unnecessarily persistent.
• Analyze Garbage Collector (GC) impact. Dart performs automatic memory management, but here you can check if unnecessary objects are persisting in RAM for too long.
• Analyze object sizes and lifetimes. If too many large objects are kept in memory, you should optimize them.

Tip:

• Don’t forget to dispose() stateful widgets.
• If you are using ChangeNotifier or StreamController, you should turn them off manually (by calling dispose()).

Debugger Tab (Code Debugging)

What does it do?

The Debugger tab is used for debugging, adding breakpoints and analyzing variables. You can stop at a certain point in your code (breakpoint) and analyze variables and UI state.

Here is what you can do:

• Analyze variables and code flow by stopping (breakpoint) at certain points in the code. For example, does the widget update correctly when you press the button?
• Use it to catch exceptions and identify the source of the error. For example, is state management working?
• View error messages in detail and find out which function is causing the error. For example, are you getting an error message related to the UI?

How to use it?

• Add a breakpoint to the relevant line of your code.
• Open the Debugger tab to see what stage the code is in.
• Watch live what data the application is processing and how the state changes.
• Track state changes and widget rebuilds step by step.

Tip:

• You can manually stop certain lines of code by adding debugger().
• You can turn on “Exception Pause” mode to see error messages in detail.
• In VS Code or Android Studio, you can add breakpoints to examine variable values live.

Network Tab (API Calls and HTTP Requests)

What does it do?

This tab helps you analyze the network requests (HTTP calls) made by the application.

Here is what you can do:

• Analyze in detail which API requests take how long.
• Measure response times and optimize unnecessary API calls.
• View which requests failed (status code: 400, 500).
• Validate API data by examining JSON responses and requests.

Tip:

• If you make a lot of API calls, you can reduce the load by using a caching mechanism (Hive, SharedPreferences, SQLite).
• Switch to efficient data querying methods like GraphQL or Firebase Firestore.

Logging Tab (Application Logs and Error Tracking)

What does it do?

It shows the log messages in detail during the running process of the application.

Here is what you can do:

• Detect problems in your code by viewing error messages and stack traces.
• Track details such as API calls, user interactions and system events through logs.
• Make debugging easier by adding custom log messages.

Tip:

• You can use debugPrint() to get more readable logs. If you want to have more detailed information about using debugPrint() instead of print(), you can click the link below.

http://theblankbookofme.blogspot.com/2024/07/print-and-debugprint-in-flutter.html

• Instead, you can use the Logger library to create detailed and colorful log messages.

App Size Tab (App Size Analysis)

What does it do?

This tab helps you analyze the total size of your Flutter application and which files are taking up the most space.

Here’s what you can do:

• Find out which packages and assets are taking up the most space.
• Optimize unnecessarily large code and libraries.
• Analyze the differences between AOT (Ahead of Time) and JIT (Just in Time) builds.

Tip:

• You can run flutter build apk --analyze-size for more detailed analysis.
• Check file sizes after flutter build web for web.

Deep Links Tab (In-App Links and Routing)

What does it do?

This tab allows you to navigate directly to specific pages of the app using deep links.

Here’s what you can do:

• You can run deep link tests to navigate to specific pages within the application.
• You can check URL-based redirect structures (for example with Firebase Dynamic Links).
• Verify integration with libraries like Flutter Navigator or GoRouter.

Tip:

• You can use this tab to test if deep link redirects are working.
• You can add deep link support to your app with systems like Firebase Dynamic Links or App Links.

All in all, Flutter DevTools is a super powerful tool that lets you explore every corner of your app. With Inspector you can catch bugs in the UI, with the Performance tab you can analyze frame rate and render statistics, with CPU Profilers you can see which processes are straining your system, and with AppSize you can check if the app is bloating unnecessarily. By using all these tools effectively, you can make your app faster, more efficient and optimized. Regularly monitoring DevTools will not only fix bugs, but also improve your code quality and user experience. In short, every tab here is a powerful tool at your disposal to make your project better. Let’s keep exploring!

Thank you so much for reading.

If you found it valuable, consider following me for more such content.

Thank you.

Selin.