Engineering Culture by InfoQ

Productivity Through Play: Why Messing Around Makes Better Software Engineers

13 snips
Jun 20, 2025
Guest
Holly Cummins
Holly Cummins, an engineer on the Quarkus team at Red Hat, shares her insights on enhancing productivity through unconventional methods. She discusses how "messing around" and integrating playful downtime can significantly boost problem-solving abilities in software engineering. Holly emphasizes the importance of managing cognitive load as engineers shift from coding to more complex roles involving AI tools. By fostering curiosity and creativity, she advocates for a balanced approach that nurtures long-term performance and combats burnout in the tech industry.
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INSIGHT

Play Boosts Productivity

  • Productivity in software engineering thrives on "messing around" and having fun.
  • Creative problem-solving benefits from mental freedom rather than forced, visible activity.
ADVICE

Justify Downtime to Business

  • Communicate productivity benefits of downtime using business language, like financial impact.
  • Use psychological and mathematical evidence to support the value of mental breaks to management.
INSIGHT

Rest Fuels Creativity and Efficiency

  • The brain's default mode network activates during periods of rest, enhancing creativity and problem solving.
  • Systems need downtime to avoid infinite task queues and to maintain effective throughput, similar to cognitive breaks for humans.
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