What are some techniques you use to get yourself to focus on the task at hand, even if it's one that you don't really want to do? Answers along the lines of "If you have to work at focusing, get a different job" aren't useful. ...
With the plethora of communication methods available to co-workers, how do you manage to keep distractions at bay for a large enough block of time to accomplish some focused programming? Do you quit or close all communications, have you informed people that an away message really means you are a way, or something else? ...
With broadband internet being what it is, and tabbed browsing, and the crazy amounts of very entertaining social information sites, and someone down the hall asking for help with the printer (combined with your desire to be useful), and the coder next to you showing everyone clips from comedy central, and the nasty habit of wanting to de...
Having stumbled across mentions of white noise on SimplyNoise.com and Wikipedia I have to admit I'm sceptical. Are there real benefits to listening to this stuff or would I be better off sticking to background music? ...
Like most everybody, I hate distractions when I'm trying to concentrate. I don't always have the luxury to work in solitude. The popular solution is to listen to music on your earphones to drown out the distractions. However, this does not work for me. The music is either too emotional, reminding me of something and thus distracting, or...
It's no secret that having to wait while coding breaks you out of "the zone". Even worse, you might get sucked in by some activity (like SO) and suddenly realize you've just wasted yet another half an hour. Long compile times are often mentioned in this context, but there are many other things with the same effect - programs that open sl...