This is how two simple changes can improve your code’s maintainability
Ever opened code that feels like ancient hieroglyphics? You’ve likely encountered primitive obsession or premature generalization. But don’t worry - there’s a way out!
Do not Interrupt Developers, Study Says
When you ask a developer for a quick chats or to do an ad‑hoc task, it's costing teams time and money.
In a study called Breaking the Flow: A Study of Interruptions During Software Engineering Activities, researchers at Duke and Vanderbilt analyzed how interruptions influence three common engineering tasks: code writing, code comprehension, and code review.
Twenty participants performed these tasks while experiencing six types of interruptions, both in person and on screen.
The research showed that it takes 10-15 minutes for a developer to return to editing code after an interruption, and as much as 30-45 minutes to recover the full context they had before breaking focus. That disruption does not mean that they’ve wasted only those 10 to 15 minutes; the cost is also in fragmented flow and decreased creativity. And the importance of the requester increased the impact of the interruption.
A study done by GitHub estimates that interruptions can erase up to 82% of productive work time when developers face frequent disruptions from meetings, messages, and quick questions.
Each interruption can cost a dev 30 minutes
Developing software demands a complex internal mental model-tracking system architecture, problem logic, edge cases, and more. Interruptions shatter that model, forcing a restart. Whether the distraction comes from Slack, a teammate, or even internal thoughts, context-switching costs both time and mental energy.
Developers themselves recognize the impact: Reddit discussions often cite 15-30 minutes lost per interruption, especially on complex tasks, and the cumulative effect means whole afternoons can vanish in broken focus.
What this means for teams?
Interruptions not only waste time, but they also reduce code quality and increase bugs. The Duke study showed higher error rates during fragmented workdays and noted that rushed re-entry into complex tasks often leads to sloppy code.
Even self-imposed context switches – voluntarily checking messages or shifting between tasks -can be as disruptive as external ones, according to studies of software developers’ work habits
Meet less, code more
Engineering leaders who want to protect the flow of their developers limit the number of meetings. Research shows that teams with just one meeting per day maintain daily progress nearly 99% of the time, while adding a third meeting drops progress to 14%.
Asynchronous communication – when answers to pings and messages are not expected to happen instantly – also helps. By answering messages in batches, software engineers can block periods of time for deep focus. Two hours of uninterrupted work delivers a 20% increase in focus time in organizations that track these metrics.
Open-plan layouts, split calendars, uncoordinated tools, and reactive meeting culture all chip away at developer mental bandwidth
Want to solve the case? Do the research
Researchers also point out that interruptions are usually silent productivity killers that rarely, if ever, appear on developer productivity metrics dashboards.
They advise engineering organizations to use a combination of metrics and developer satisfaction surveys to understand the impact of interruptions. No fancy tools are needed; the goal is to get feedback from developers, establish a baseline, and work on improvements.
