From the course: Agile Software Development: Remote Teams

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The cost of context switching

The cost of context switching

From the course: Agile Software Development: Remote Teams

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The cost of context switching

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- Do you have a sec? At a recent conference, a developer told me about his visceral reaction to hearing that question. I immediately tense up. My heart starts racing. I brace for impact because I know my day is about to be wrecked. If you ask most of the developers on your team, chances are they'll feel the same way. I admit, early in my management career, I asked this question all the time. I'm not proud of it, but it's true. That's because I didn't understand the concept of switching costs and just how expensive this innocuous question can be. And on a remote team, it can be even more tempting to reach for this phrase. It's just so easy to type. How bad can it be? Paul Graham, a software developer who went on to co-found Y Combinator describes two different personalities within an organization. Managers and makers. According to Graham, managers break up their day into several small chunks of 30 to 60 minutes each. Makers on the other hand need substantial amounts of uninterrupted…

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