I'm Working, So I Must Be Being Effective - How You Can Adversely Affect The Team's Velocity

Did you ever get lost in a task? Spend an afternoon doing something you could've done in an hour if you had approached the problem differently? Finish a task only to realise you'd solved the wrong problem? Spend an hour banging your head against the desk, only for the person sitting next to you to get it resolved in 30 seconds flat? If only I'd known that... If only you'd asked, you mean...

If you're a developer, you've done all of these and more. And on more than one occasion.

So why did you bang your head against the desk for an hour, rather than ask for help? I think it's because you are perceiving yourself as a lone developer rather than as a cog in a machine that exists solely to get stuff done. Thinking like a lone developer leads to thoughts like:

• I should be able to work this out
• I am going to look stupid if I can't
• I am going to look like the biz when I get this task finished 
• This task is kicking my ass and there is NO WAY I am backing down

All this adds up to a very strong impulse to prevaricate, obfuscate, to refuse to ask for help... An impulse which is strongest when the going gets tough, which is precisely when you need to be asking for help. And the consequence of that impulse is that part of the team is suddenly not getting tasks done, and the rest of the team is often unaware that tasks are not getting done.

It's a difficult habit to break... But being aware of the some key indicators can help you to cut the prevarication out of your coding life.

Step 1 - Recognise When Your Productivity Is Dipping
Most people can do this already. Observe your own behaviour. You may have different patterns, so learn to recognise your signs, but some common ones are:

• You had the flow. You lost the flow.
• Getting hot and bothered
• Staring out of the window
• Sighing
• Hitting the Twitter
• Hoping that nobody asks you how you are getting on
• Trying lots of stuff in rapid succession, none of which works
• Being so scared of making a mistake that you won't commit to a solution
• Having a P, a 4 and a 5 floating around in your mind

Step 2 -  Accept That You Need Help
This is the tricky bit. I have spent days doing all of the above, because the alternative is to ask for help - I can't even type it. I don't know why it is so hard, but it is. But if you stop thinking "I should...", "I will..." and ask yourself the question "How is what I am currently doing helping the team to get tasks done?", you will invariably come up with the answer "It's not." And that will be enough to get you to ask for help.

And if you train yourself to recognise the signs above you will be able to trigger a cry for help more quickly. Which will impact immediately on the team's velocity.

That said, your ultimate aim is to become a fully self-sufficient, kick-ass coding legend who never has to ask for help 'cause those 1's and 0's dance as they trip out of your consciousness... So you probably don't want to get into the habit of crying for help the second your brain starts to grind a little - it's generally profitable to spend a bit of time thinking about a problem before asking your neighbour...

These techniques may help while you wait to ascend...

Step 3 - Techniques That Can Help

• Time Box Your Efforts
• Use GIVEN... WHEN... THEN... To Define Problems And To Break Them Down
• Compile A Document As You Are Developing
• Be Aware Of The Importance Of Feedback Loops And Keep Them Tight
• Now You Are Asking For Help, Do It Well
• Be Open About Your Strengths And Weaknesses

Step 4 - Have A Backup
There will be times when you have tried everything you can think of to move a task forward and you are still getting nowhere and the people you need to talk to are not going to be available for some time. The best thing you can do at this point is go and do something else useful instead. Rather than waste a chunk of this unexpected free time trying to work out what to do, have one or more projects on the back burner that you can get straight onto. If you adopted technique #Compile A Document As You Are Developing, you'll have an entry point that will get you back up and running with this project quickly.