Coding Fast and Slow: Applying Kahneman’s Insights to Improve Development Practices and Efficiency
A presentation at Open Conf 2023 in in Athens, Greece by Baruch Sadogursky
Coding Fast and Slow
Baruch Sadogursky - @jbaru ch × Developer Productivity Advocate × Gradle Inc × Development -> DevOps -> #DPE
shownotes × × × × speaking.jbaru.ch Slides Video All the links!
A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?
How much does the ball cost? C10 + $1.10 = $1.20 C5 + $1.5 = $1.10
Two systems x x x x x Fast Intuitive Automatic Emotional Cheap and eager x x x x x Slow Analytical Controlled Logical Expensive and lazy
Remember the following numb × × × × × ers: 34687 56820 76378 90824 11247 9
You have “mental fuel”
Attention and Capacity Limits in Perception: A Cellular Metabolism Account × × × × BNIRS and oxCCO Cellular Metabolism as Mental Fuel Finite Energy Supply High Load Mode vs Low Load Mode 19
Which system do we use for co d ing? x x x x x Fast Intuitive Automatic Emotional Cheap and Eager x x x x x Slow Analytical Controlled Logical Expensive and Lazy
effortless
26
def calculate_discount(price, discount): # Calculate the final price after discount final_price = price - (price * discount / 100) print(f”The final price after a {discount}% discount is: {final_price}”) return final_price # Example usage calculate_discount(100, 10)
How Many Triangles?
def calculate_tax(amount, tax_rate): # Calculate the total amount after tax total_amount = amount + (amount * tax_rate) print(f”The total amount with tax is: {total_amount}”) return total_amount # Example usage calculate_tax(100, 5)
The problem: × You deplete your fuel by contextswitching × You’re not in the flow because of context-switching × Loose-loose: you need more fuel needed, but you have less fuel
When we are tired, we produce worse code × “Developers are cutting corners on quality when fatigued.” (duh)
But We don’t know when to qu x x x it Parole Judges issued fewer paroles when tired and/or hungry Granting parole requires System 2 The Judges didn’t realize they had switched to System 1
Real-life outcome: you run on system one x x x x x Fast Intuitive Automatic Emotional Cheap and Eager x x x x x Slow Analytical Controlled Logical Expensive and Lazy
Which sucks less? Bad code “OK” code
The problem of “ok code” It looks “OK” to us System 1 It looks “OK” to PR review System 1 It looks “OK” to pipelines System 1
Next thing you know: You have an “ok” product
Invest in The goal: Running on System 2 all-day
Time Management Strategies × Time Blocking × Pomodoro Technique × Task Batching
Mindfulness and Cognitive Pra ctices × Mindfulness and Meditation × Reflective Practices × Single-tasking
Workspace and Interruption M anagement × Workspace Organization × Notification Management × Prioritization Techniques
Physical and Mental Well-bein g × Physical Exercise × Breaks and Downtime
And… Developer productivity Engineering!
Developer Productivity Enginee Foster Faster Feedback Collaborate through Effective Tooling Eliminate Toil for Developers Dedicated Organizational Mindset ring Embrace Rigorous Observability for Proactive Improvement Prioritize Automation and Eliminate Bottlenecks Outcomes Over Output
“Faster foster feedback” saves Speeding up local build minimizes context switch Less context switch saves mental fuel mental fuel Run on System 2 all-day
How can we engineer less con tex × × × × × × t switches? Measure local build times! Caching, local and remote Parallel testing, local and remote Predictive test selection Fight evil flaky tests! Watch your build like a hawk for degradations
What you can do today (for fr ee × × × × × ) Parallel local Local caching Remote caching* Build Scans Win Prizes (a.k.a. speed challenge)
What your company should pa y for × Top development hardware × Develocity (or similar)
Learn more and try it today! × × × × Take the Gradle/Maven Speed Challenge Be DPE Agent of Change! Read the DPE Handbook Watch the DPE Summit videos (published soon!) x speaking.jbaru.ch
Embark on an exciting journey into the intersection of psychology, software development, and Developer Productivity Engineering (DPE) as we explore how Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman’s groundbreaking work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making can optimize your development practices while conserving cognitive resources.
Discover the impact of System 1 and System 2 thinking on the software development process, and learn to strike the perfect balance between “”fast”” intuitive thinking and “”slow”” deliberative reasoning.
We’ll delve into practical DPE strategies for reducing mental fatigue and minimizing context switches, focusing on techniques like build system performance optimization, test parallelization, AI-powered test selection, and developer productivity observability. By leveraging these best practices, you’ll enhance your and your team’s productivity and maintain focus on high-value tasks.
Whether you’re an experienced developer seeking to boost your performance or a curious newcomer eager to learn about the connections between the human mind, software development, and DPE, this talk is for you. Join us for an exhilarating adventure into the fast and slow worlds of coding, and uncover new ways to maximize your cognitive resources.
Resources
The following resources were mentioned during the presentation or are useful additional information.
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Baruch’s Book DevOps Tools for Java Developers
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Baruch’s Book Liquid Software
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Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
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Attention and Capacity Limits in Perception: A Cellular Metabolism Account
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Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
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Attention Span by Gloria Mark
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Characterizing and Predicting Mental Fatigue during Programming Tasks
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Try DPE today and win prizes: Gradle and Maven Build Speed Challenge
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Developer Productivity Engineering (DPE) Handbook
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Be A DPE Agent of Change!
Join our DPE advocacy program to earn awesome prizes while DPE-ing all the way!
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DPE Summit (watch out for the recordings!)
