[The cover of Focus & Flow: Productivity insights for software developers. A book by Wildbit. The bottom quarter of the book is a dark color containing the title and information with the top of the book showing a yellow-green semi-circle in the bottom middle with concentric wavy circles emanating out and becoming progressively darker.] The cover of Focus & Flow: Productivity insights for software developers. A book by Wildbit. The bottom quarter of the book is a dark color containing the title and information with the top of the book showing a yellow-green semi-circle in the bottom middle with concentric wavy circles emanating out and becoming progressively darker.
Figure 1

The book cover for Focus & Flow. Illustrated by Eugene Fedorenko.

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While working at Wildbit, developer productivity came up frequently. We discussed it internally and we regularly shared articles and books to help improve how we approached ensuring team members had the time and space they needed to do their best work.

Over time, as we accumulated knowledge, we decided to pull it all together into a short book sharing both anecdotal experiences as well as research-based findings about human brains, deep work, and the environmental factors that influence our ability get the most out of our brains in a world that feels like it runs on distractions.

Chris Nagele, CTO of Wildbit captured it best in the foreword to the book:

We wrote this book because we believe in an alternative method to producing great software. We’ve proven that you can work less hours and produce consistently better results. It requires a change in habits in both your personal and work life. If you’re a developer looking for ways to stay in the flow with more space to think, we’ll guide you through the theory and practice to get there. If you’re running a company, this will provide a different perspective on productivity, leading to new ways to structure your communication, culture, and process for your team.

The closing paragraph of the Focus & Flow Foreword by Chris Nagle, CTO of Wildbit

Over several months, I re-read our favorite books on the topic of develop productivity and deep work as well as dozens of research papers on related topics and pulled it all together into some simple principles and tactics to maximize our ability to get into the zone and stay there.

[An infographic showing an example cadence over the course of a day of how organizing days consistently around your energy levels and goals can help maximize your time in the zone.] An infographic showing an example cadence over the course of a day of how organizing days consistently around your energy levels and goals can help maximize your time in the zone.
Figure 2

In conjunction with the book, we also created a diagram to visually summarize some of the ideas and tactics from the book.

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Most of the findings in the book were based on research, and while many of the ideas weren’t especially novel, tying them all together in a cohesive manner with actionable advice provided a reasonable framework to approach how individuals could best improve their ability to stay focused on deep work.

You can read the book online or buy a physical copy from Amazon.