The document discusses reducing passive interruptions when coding. It notes that programmers can take 10-15 minutes to resume work after an interruption and lose their context and flow. Passive interruptions occur when waiting for feedback like test results or page loads. The document advocates for reducing these interruptions through techniques like instant code reloading, fast tests, and immediate feedback to allow programmers to stay in flow. It argues this is important for designing and verifying ideas quickly during development.

1. Reducing
Passive Interruptions

2. @andreitognolo
github.com/andreitognolo
andreitognolo@gmail.com

3. Modern software development includes automated testing
strategies and automated deployment pipelines that take the
friction out of the deployment process
Mary Poppendieck
http://www.leanessays.com/2015/08/friction.html

4. Unit tests
Functional
tests
Deploy
staging
Deploy
production
Smoke
test

7. Come on… It’s just a few seconds!

16. A programmer takes between 10-15 minutes to start
editing code after resuming work from an interruption
Programmer Interrupted
by Chris Parnin
2013-01-19
Unacceptable!

17. Every time you are interrupted
you lose the context
Context

18. Flow
(…) is the mental state of operation in
which a person performing an activity is
fully immersed in a feeling of energized
focus, full involvement, and enjoyment
in the process of the activity.
"Scout Girl in Concentration"
by Randy

24. It’s because my
server takes
4 minutes to restart!

25. Coding Verifying
4 minutes

26. Verifying
While you’re waiting for the feedback,
you are actually being interrupted!

27. Passive Interruption
Period of time in which we are interrupted, waiting for a
feedback in order to resume our flow of thinking

28. The passive interruption has
similar effect of the interruption
caused by a person
Hypothesis
I’m not being interrupted because I can think about
the next steps while I’m waiting

29. I’m not being interrupted because I can think about
the next steps while I’m waiting
Are you sure
VerifyCode Verify CodeVerifyCode Code

30. I’m not being interrupted because I can think about
the next steps while I’m waiting
Are you sure
VerifyVerifyCode CodeVerify Code

31. Well, you can write a lot of code and after that you
can test it all together
The passive interruption has
similar effect of the interruption
caused by a person
Hypothesis

32. Well, you can write a lot of code and after that you
can test it all together
Are you sure
VerifyCode Verify CodeVerifyCode Code

33. Well, you can write a lot of code and after that you
can test it all together
Are you sure
VerifyCode

37. Much of agile thinking is about setting up feedback loops so that
we can learn more quickly
Martin Fowler

38. It isn’t because you can write a lot of code and after
that you can test it
Are you sure
VerifyCode

39. It isn’t because you can write a lot of code and after
that you can test it
Are you sure
VerifyCode VerifyCode VerifyCode VerifyCode
baby steps!

40. Coding Verifying
4 minutes?
How long do you have to wait to receive the feedback of a
code line that you just wrote?

41. Coding Verifying
1 minute?
How long do you have to wait to receive the feedback of a
code line that you just wrote?

42. Coding Verifying
30 seconds?
How long do you have to wait to receive the feedback of a
code line that you just wrote?

43. To design quickly and
confidently, we need to be able
to try out ideas and verify
hypotheses
as fast as we think of them
Bret Victor
@worrydream

44. Conditions for Flow
from Wikipedia
The task at hand must have clear and
immediate feedback

45. I love utopias. Not because they show us the path,
but because they point us the right direction

50. Back in 2007…
Verifying
Compile
(4 minutes of passive interruption)
Code
Create
package
Restart
Server
Login
Go to
the page Check

51. Recently…
Verifying
Compile
No compilation process
Code
Create
package
Restart
Server
Login
Go to
the page Check

52. Recently…
Verifying
Nodemon automatically reloads the server
Code
Restart
Server
Login
Go to
the page Check

53. Recently…
Verifying
Use of permalink
Code Login
Go to
the page Check

54. Recently…
Verifying
Use of permalink
Code Refresh Check

55. Recently…
Verifying
Code Refresh Check
(1 second of passive interruption)

58. Passive interruption

59. Figwheel
Bruce Hauman
@bhauman

60. Figwheel builds your ClojureScript code and hot loads it
into the browser as you are coding!

61. Figwheel builds your ClojureScript code and hot loads it
into the browser as you are coding!

62. Cool… But I have a
application to maintain
I cannot just change the
technologies that we use

63. Generating a pdf report

64. Generating a pdf report
Go to the
page
Code
Fill some
fields
Download Open Check
(passive interruption)

65. Generating a pdf report

66. Generating a pdf report
<html>
. . .
</html>
.pdf PDF Reader
Application
wait for
change
curl

67. Generating a pdf report
Go to the
page
Code
Fill some
fields
Download Open Check
(passive interruption)

68. Generating a pdf report
Code Check
Immediate Feedback!

69. Generating a pdf report

70. CRUD for Companies
(create, read, update and delete)

71. CRUD for Companies
Search Insert Verify

72. CRUD for Companies

73. CRUD for Companies

74. CRUD for Companies

75. CRUD for Companies
Search Insert Verify

76. Writing the "save" method

77. Search Insert Verify
Writing the "save" method
(passive interruption)

78. Writing the "save" method

79. Writing the "save" method
Run the
test
Code Check
(passive interruption)

80. Coding Verifying
How long do you have to wait to finish the execution of an
automated test?

81. Coding Verifying
30 seconds?
How long do you have to wait to finish the execution of an
automated test?

82. Coding Verifying
15 seconds?
How long do you have to wait to finish the execution of an
automated test?

83. Coding Verifying
Instantly!
How long do you have to wait to finish the execution of an
automated test?

84. If it (test) takes ten seconds just to start testing, toss it!
Allow nothing to slow down your tests.
Test Time
03 September 2014
by Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob)

85. Running an automated test

86. Running an automated test
JPA
Hibernate
(specification)
(implementation)
another impl
(implementation)

87. Running an automated test
Hibernate

88. Running an automated test
Hibernate
(17 seconds for one class)

89. Running an automated test
Hibernate
(17 seconds for one class)
Raiden JPA

90. Running an automated test
Hibernate
(17 seconds for one class)
Raiden JPA (3 seconds for one class)

91. Writing the JavaScript to call the save

92. Writing the JavaScript to call the save
Search Insert Verify
(passive interruption)

93. Writing the JavaScript to call the save
Search Insert Verify
Which step takes more time?

94. Writing the JavaScript to call the save
Search Insert Verify
Which step takes more time?

95. Writing the JavaScript to call the save

96. Writing the JavaScript to call the save
Go to
search
Check
Click on
Add
Open
Firebug
Call the
function
Click on
save

97. Writing the JavaScript to call the save
Go to
search
Check
Click on
Add
Open
Firebug
Call the
function
Click on
save

98. Writing the JavaScript to call the save
Go to
search
Check
Click on
Add
Double
click
Click on
save

99. It’s not just about the
right tools…
It’s about be aware of the
passive interruptions
… and reduce them!

100. @andreitognolo
github.com/andreitognolo
andreitognolo@gmail.com
Gracias!
is hiring!
http://join.thoughtworks.com/

101. - Bret Victor - http://vimeo.com/36579366
- Martin Fowler - http://martinfowler.com/bliki/FrequencyReducesDifficulty.html
- Chris Parnin - http://blog.ninlabs.com/2013/01/programmer-interrupted/
- Flow - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
- Developing ClojureScript With Figwheel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-kj2qwJa_E
- Uncle Bob - http://blog.cleancoder.com/uncle-bob/2014/09/03/TestTime.html
References