Recently I have been tasked with research topics. I usually plan out my task for the day using a technique I call TaskTreeing. You can see me break down this technique in the video below:

However the task that I’m doing doesn’t fit the criteria for needing TaskTreeing. There is a task, but I’m just doing research. Essentially because the task doesn’t require new implementation, refactoring, the “time” aspect is irrelevant. Irrelevant is a strong word, but it’s importance is greatly decreased and I do have to produce some kind of findings through my research. My task is transformed, it is now studying.

Metamorphosis aside, this required a transformation in my approach. Since I can classify my activity as studying, I adapted the techniques I used from High School and College. This is where the Feynman Technique comes into play. TLDR, exercising how long you can focus on one task, taking a break, then repeat. A more in-depth look at the technique can be seen below:

Adapting this approach has been great for learning new technologies. But one issue I did have was keeping time on my phone/computer outside of my browser window. Going through some Spring documentation with headphones on and alternating tabs/switching windows affected my focus. Getting to that “Deep Work” state where everything is making sense and epiphanies are numerous, looking away isn’t optimal. Going to an alarm site would be easy, but where’s the fun in that. So I used the Feynman technique to learn Chrome Extensions.  It was a fun experience in an area I’ve been interest in for some time. The extension, named after the technique, is called Feynman.

I hope adapting concentration techniques becomes more popular among developers. With an ever changing ecosystem of responsibilities (Dev Ops, CI/CD, TDD, etc), learning is more critical than every. Establish a habit by studying in your own time, then apply it to work. Keep track of your progress too because training focus is like training muscle; you’ve have to do it regularly to get stronger. Good luck and let’s work deep :).