The Frictionless Development Environment Scorecard

Abstract

The environment in which we work as developers can make a tremendous difference on our productivity and well-being. Yet it's easy to get trapped in an unproductive setup by inertia, and thus suffer death by a thousand cuts. A scorecard we can use to evaluate and fix the environment we work in covers the setup of our workstation and working environment, our ability to access remote hosts, general-purpose tools, editing, debugging, application development, and the specific problem at hand. Some fixes involve tweaks in our setup, and others might require us to install new tools, learn new skills, and negotiate with our managers. They're all worthwhile investments. The Web extra at http://youtu.be/AhMETa0tvkw is an audio podcast of author Diomidis Spinellis reading his Tools of the Trade column, in which he discusses how a scorecard can help evaluate and fix the environment you work in by covering the setup of your workstation and working environment, your ability to access remote hosts, general-purpose tools, editing, debugging, application development, and the specific problem at hand.