Software development is a pretty cerebral thing to do… it’s all mind and fingers. Which also means that there’s a reliance on a clear, focused, solution oriented mind, that’s able to push us into that productive state whenever we need it.

Mindfulness has been associated, through thousands of studies, with many benefits.  One of the most basic benefits and skills of mindfulness is the ability to direct focus, particularly useful in the midst of distraction… even if that distraction comes from ourselves.

And then there’s having the ability to let go, for example when that illusive bug is evading discovery.  Perhaps your experience tells you that if you take a break, you’re more likely to find it, but “let’s just try this before I do… oh, what about this…,” just drag it out.  Which is particularly difficult if it’s the end of the day, and now would be a good time to sleep.

Mindfulness practice can help with this too, both in helping you take the break earlier, and in helping you relax enough to allow your creativity to do it finest detective work.

If you’ve not seen our introduction to mindfulness for developers over on the Code, Coffee &  Cloud youtube site, then take a look; and afterwards, read more about the mindfulness courses Mark runs for organisations or individuals, face to face or online.