You might be
thinking how can mobile usage hit code quality. How can these two be related ?
As you read through this blog you would be convinced the title is very true.
Mobile has come a
long way in the past decade or two. Now with the Data being very cheap and
everyone having the Smartest phones all of us have access to complete internet
and entertainment all the time. While it has it own perks it also has its own
disadvantage.
According to stats
in statista
the time spend by Millennial has more than doubled from 2012 to 2017.
Millennials spend around 223 minutes per day on Mobile which is around 4 hours.
Out of those four
hours which is spend on mobile every day how many hours or minutes do you think
we spend during work hours ? It could range from person to person but you get
the picture.
Now you might be
thinking of the counter argument for spending time on phone during Work. For
engineers the best excuse is code was getting compiled so just though of
checking my phone. While this excuse might feel apt at first but it is quite
detrimental to code Quality. These are
few of things that can go wrong:
- Taking time away from Thinking about the code : By checking your phone in between coding you are taking away time from thinking about the code. While a engineer is coding he/she has to build the complete architecture of the code in their mind. It is like build a castle in mind. While he/she is in the process of building the castle checking phone can cause the castle to collapse and the whole process has to done all over again. This-is-why-you-shouldnt-interrupt-a-programmer aptly describe what happens when you interrupt a programmer. Not only it is external disturbance our mobile also distract us by showing a message from a friend or a new Facebook story that a friend has added.
- Mistakes during coding : As we get distracted while coding there are high chances that the programmer does not think through all the scenarios. This causes bugs to be seeded in the code and it requires rework. All of us very well know the cost of fixing a bug. And if the bug is leaked to the clients then it takes the company a lot of money and resource to fix it.
- Innovative ways to Solve the Problem : To think of new ways to solve the problem or getting the performance of the existing code up programmer requires the mind to be free of distraction. Mobile are a easy source to create this distraction which can deprive the clients from having high performing code.
So now you might be
thinking should I not use my mobile at all during work ? No I am not suggesting
that. Mobile has become integral part of our life's and I know its not possible
to live without that.
Check your mobiles
only during the breaks. Go way from your desk while you are checking your
mobile or talking to friend or texting someone. This would help you judge how
long you were on your mobile. There are apps now which can tell you how many
hours you spend on the mobile on different apps. Use the apps to get a time
spent on the mobile.
You can also turn off
Data from your mobile which would stop unnecessary messages and notifications
coming on your mobile. If it is anything urgent other would call you.
Mobile could be the
only thing standing between you bringing the next big innovation for Clients.
With that I leave
you with a quote by Robert C Martin -
“Clean code is not
written by following a set of rules. You don’t become a software craftsman by
learning a list of heuristics. Professionalism and craftsmanship come from
values that drive disciplines.”
