An opinion piece on web developers, productive website development and the essential tools.

Even the most disciplined and talented web developers can experience productivity decrease and burnout. Tight deadlines, thousands of tasks, lots of distractions, and difficult clients can lead to lack of focus making your mind slip away to a lot of other things instead of your work.

You may feel that coding is no longer enjoyable and that you are more interested in procrastinating than in completing your projects on time. Luckily, there are plenty of tools and tips that you can use to regain your focus and become a more productive developer.

Here are 9 productivity tips and tools every web developer should know: 

Improve teamwork with HeySpace and Codeanywhere

When done right, teamwork can do magic in increasing efficiency and productivity and lead to the best results of any project. William Kenny, project manager at WoWGrade explains that” If the team fosters an environment of friendship, support, and efficient communication, any task or project can be completed a thousand times faster”. 

Developers who work in teams can face a multitude of challenges such as poor communication, wasted time for frequent meetings, or the inability to keep all members up-to-date with task progress. HeySpace and Codeanywhere are two amazing tools that can help you and your team work great together.

HeySpace is a project management software with great communication features that can be helpful for you and your team to adjust tasks, chat, and have constant access to the list of the tasks.  Also, Codeanywhere can improve your team’s productivity by allowing you to collaborate at one code at the same time. It is a code editor that allows you and your teammates to work together at the same time only by sharing a link. 

Find bugs with MantisBT

One of the biggest challenges any web developer faces is to find an existing bug in a code. Mike Simons, an experienced front end developer at Trust My Paper explains that” Finding bugs and errors can be incredibly time-consuming and can make you lose your focus on other important tasks which ultimately decreases your productivity”.

MantisBT is a web-based bug tracking system which can easily track any error in your work and send you reports about them. You will no longer have to waste time to go through your entire work to identify the problem. Instead, you can focus and invest more time in finding the best solution to fix it.

Save time with Evernote 

One of the gold rules of high-quality work is in-depth research. Keeping your online information organized and easy to access at all times is essential if you don’t want to waste time and stop several times to find important information. 

Evernote offers you the ability to save texts, screenshots and more to go back to them when you need to read them. You can organize all your notes with tags and folders so that you can find them easily whenever they are needed in your work.

Access your files easily with Dropbox 

Cloud-sharing or file-syncing features are extremely important in your work as a web developer, especially if you are working in a team. You may be collaborating with your teammates remotely, you may need to change your working location, or your development machine may suffer a fault, get lost or stolen. 

These are some of the challenges that web developers face all the time which you can easily overcome by using cloud services such as Dropbox. You will be able to access your files from any device at all times.

Stop wasting time with RescueTime 

Distractions of all types are the real enemies of your productivity. It takes a single email or phone call from an inpatient client to make you lose your focus. When you need to stay on top of your tasks and complete your projects on time, you simply can’t afford to get distracted.

RescueTime is a great tool for helping you become a more productive web developer. It has a number of productivity features such as tracking your working time, Productivity Pulse which you can use to get a baseline of your overall productivity, and blocks distracting websites while you are working on your project tasks.

Stay organized with Todoist

Maximizing the utility of your time is one of the best ways to become a more productive web developer. Wasting time simply slows down your productivity and leads to procrastination. If you don’t want to sabotage your own work, you need to find a good task management strategy to help you stay focused on your responsibilities. 

Luckily, you can use Todoist for better task management and increased efficiency. This app can help you stay on top of the deadlines by allowing you to organize all your tasks depending on their urgency, importance, or other categories.

Maintain your focus with Relax Melodies 

Several studies have proved that music can have a huge impact on increasing productivity. The results of the studies have shown that people who listened to music have completed their tasks faster and had more innovative ideas than the participants who didn’t. 

For most people, ambient background music can help them maintain their focus and boosts their creativity. Relax Melodies is a great app for soothing music and nature sound effects that can have a positive effect on your work. 

Protect your eyes with F.lux 

Spending the entire day in front of the computer can have serious consequences on your sleeping habits and your eyes’ health. Computer screens can cause insomnia if you don’t protect yourself. It all comes down to the circadian rhythm which can’t tell the difference between daylight or the light of a monitor.  

Since having a good night sleep is vital for your productivity at work, you can use F.lux to protect your eyes and sleeping habits. F.lux gradually adapts the monitor’s colors throughout the day based on your time and location.  

Keep an inspiring working environment 

Last but not least, working in an inspiring environment is one of the best ways to become a better web developer.  Melanie Flinn, HR specialist at Pick the Writer, writing services review site, explains that “the working environment can play a huge role in increasing productivity and boosting the creativity of the employees by significantly improving their mood”.  Keeping your desk tidy, clean and well-organized can help you focus better on what you need to do.

Conclusion

It doesn’t really matter on what type of project you are working on, increasing your productivity is essential for obtaining the best results. Working without distractions, maintaining your focus, properly managing your tasks, and collaborating efficiently with your team are all important to become a more productive web developer.