How To Plan, Execute And Stay Synced With Your Team, Every Time

The developers’ guide to focused and enjoyable teamwork.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Paul Glen provides an astute explanation for the disconnect between developers and managers — especially project managers.

For developers to do productive work, they have to enter a “state where they can foresee flows and contingencies, test out ideas, and follow intricate threads of thought.”

This Flow State — as described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi — is delicate. Interruptions can set projects back several weeks, a delay that could cost a company significant market share.

Don’t know what his grandpa was thinking but that’s how you pronounce Csikszentmihalyi

Part of the project manager’s job is to shield the developers from distraction and eliminate interruptions. By dealing with these interruptions, the PM ensures the team maintains a Flow State throughout the sprint.

So, a managers job is interruption-ridden by nature. But that’s the easy part.

PMs are required to manage these interruptions and maintain complete control of the project’s execution, while preserving the Flow State of engineers.