The Tyranny of a Calendar Invite

This quote is the type of thing that’s passed around by developer like it’s gospel. I agree with this like your idea that we do as little coding as possible to create our solution rather than overengineering it.

“It is only half an hour… only an afternoon… only an evening… people say to me over and over again; but they don’t know that it is impossible to command one’s self sometimes to any stipulated and set disposal of five minutes.”

Charles Dickens

This is the most relatable thing I’ve read all year. Except I’d add:

“It is only a stand-up… only a quick sync… only a retrospective… only a 15-minute coffee chat…”

We Don’t Work in Meetings

It’s not that I hate meetings. The issue is that product people get their work done in meetings, whereas developers get their work done when there aren’t meetings and they never seem to get that.

So when the tiny Lego bricks of 15-minutes add up to completely wasted days eventually your manager is going to notice. Not the distraction and not the cause, your lack of productivity.

The thing is the people who judge us often have meetings, and meetings represent their work. In our roles coding represents work. If your BA is coding, they’re probably wasting time and should be doing work that they’re supposed to be doing. Likewise if you’re spending your time in meetings you’re likely missing work you should be doing.

(Okay, I do.) But what I really hate is being interrupted before I’ve even had a chance to start.

There’s a special kind of mind-murder that happens when your calendar is broken into tiny Lego bricks of “Just 15 Minutes.” You can’t build anything with that. Not properly.

I’ve had days where the only uninterrupted stretch I get is the time between realizing a build is broken and it finishing failing. And even that gets cut short by someone asking, “Hey, can you just jump on a call?”

The Consciousness of the Engagement

Dickens knew what was up. He wasn’t just complaining about being busy. He was talking about cognitive dread. The way a single obligation can haunt your day like a malformed if-statement.

You know you’ve got a 3PM call. You’ve got all morning free. But can you go deep on anything? No. You check the time every 15 minutes like you’re waiting for judgment.

By the time it rolls around, you’ve already sacrificed four hours to the gods of anticipation. And it wasn’t even a good meeting. It was about fonts. Or margins. Or someone else’s ticket.

Flow Is Fragile

Flow — that elusive, magical state where code pours out of your fingers like you’re summoning it from the void — doesn’t like calendars.

It doesn’t like interruptions. It doesn’t like “real quick” or “it’ll only take a sec.” Flow takes time to build and nanoseconds to destroy.

And the people who think they can just “drop something in your calendar” never seem to be the ones doing the actual building.

The Art of Saying No

Dickens says:

“Whoever is devoted to an art must be content to deliver himself wholly up to it, and to find his recompense in it.”

Exactly. Developers are artists. Problem-solving artists. And art requires space. Not in your schedule. In your mind.

When I say “no” to your invite, it’s not because I don’t like you. It’s not because I think your meeting isn’t important. It’s because I’m in the middle of creating something, and I need to be all in.

So if I say “not now,” or if I ignore your message until tomorrow, please understand:

I’m not being rude.

I’m not being difficult.

I’m just trying to keep the thread of an idea alive.

And in this line of work, that’s everything.

Conclusion

Next time you’re about to say, “It’s just a five-minute meeting”, remember:

You might be pulling someone out of the one productive hour they had today.

You might be breaking a mental model that took hours to build.

You might be costing more than you realize.

We don’t need fewer meetings.

We need fewer interruptions masquerading as meetings.

And maybe a little more respect for the people actually building the damn thing.

Context

It is only half an hour’–’It is only an afternoon’–’It is only an evening,’ people say to me over and over again; but they don’t know that it is impossible to command one’s self sometimes to any stipulated and set disposal of five minutes–or that the mere consciousness of an engagement will sometime worry a whole day… Who ever is devoted to an art must be content to deliver himself wholly up to it, and to find his recompense in it. I am grieved if you suspect me of not wanting to see you, but I can’t help it; I must go in my way whether or no.

Charles Dickens rejecting an invitation from a friend.

About The Author

Professional Software Developer “The Secret Developer” can be found on Twitter @TheSDeveloper.

The Secret Developer seldom gets invited to anywhere, work meetings or elsewhere.