6 Effects Of Mental Fatigue On Developers

Some questions which are not completely answered about fatigue in software development. Some fundamentals which are still incomplete. How mental fatigue affects developers? How is it harmful in programming tasks? What is the impact of fatigue in software industry? We researchers at NC State Software Engineering Lab surveyed programmers from academia and industry about their experiences and thoughts about fatigue in programming. The responses helped us gather data about fatigue and investigate possible detection mechanisms. We discovered 6 factors which are affected by mental fatigue in programming tasks. Let's discuss why they are important to understand and to be taken care of.

1. Performance/Progress/Sluggishness

Performance is the most studied factor for any type of task, whether it is a computer related task or a physical one. Performance is calculated with respect to quality of the work and the time taken to complete it. Suboptimal solution and having less reasoning capabilities contribute to degradation of performance. Responses in this factor also acknowledged that they lose clarity to think and they often need to redo

the work.

"When I am tired I cannot come up with solutions as quickly, or sometimes not at all, as compared to. . . "

"Even the simplest of tasks takes too much to complete. . . "

2. Focus/Concentration

Responses in this factor mostly presented poor attention and absentmindedness. Respondents were concerned about being easily distracted and less productive.

Impaired concentration leads to lack of regard for details, resulting in lower quality.

"When I am tired I find myself drifting from tasks that require a lot of focus (mental effort), or making programming choices that are inefficient. . . "

"It impacts my ability to troubleshoot and debug as I find that my concentration is lacking. . . "

3. Productivity/Output/Creativity

"It also stifles creativity so you might not come up with the best solution the first time. . . "

Productivity is defined as the extent of the performance with respect to the system goals and completion of those goals. Studies have focused on task performance to analyze the effects of fatigue on productivity. Responses have also acknowledged an

intersection between performance and productivity. Apart from speed and poor reasoning, it also affects quality and creativity.

"Sometimes it's a boon, other times it harms my productivity. The quality of my works declines drastically. . . "

4. Errors/Mistakes/Bug

"Introducing bugs into code, not deploying latest binaries and being surprised at lack of change in behavior. . . "

"Yes, it's easier to miss out a rule that should be implemented, or misread someone else's code or document. Tendency to cut corners, put things off and make mistakes. . . "

When the mind is tired, developers tend to make mistakes and sometimes forget to stick to standards. Distraction and lack of focus is also a contributor in introducing

bugs. Mostly the responses pointed out making logical and silly mistakes.

5. Mental Work-Set

Mental Workset is defined as a set of concurrent mental tasks on a programmer's mind at any given time. In mental fatigue state, developer's mind becomes cloudy and lacks mental clarity. The ability to coordinate concurrent activities is diminished. Developers tend to escape from complex tasks and focus on unnecessary trivial tasks.

"I cannot keep large coding context in my memory. I zone out all the time. I feel demotivated. Similar to coding while drunk. . . "

"Makes me to think of some other activity than to the current work. . . "

6. Motivation/Willingness

"Lack of motivation to carry on. Especially if I was not completely committed to the vision of the project to begin with. . . "

Studies explain the effect of sleep deprivation on performance. Motivation is one such factor which should be taken into consideration while proving that assertion. Sometimes with positive motivation, exhausted developers also incline to work efficiently and correctly. However without motivation to work, developers move towards delaying the work, in fact, they are unwilling to even start.

"When I'm tired I lose all desire to continue with the task at hand which is upsetting."

No/Nopes/Other/Negative Responses

"After finishing it I will be so tired that I wouldn't want to start my next task and I end up procrastinating the next task. . . "

"Not really; lack of sleep has become a norm for me and I function pretty normally on my typical amount of sleep. . ."

Some respondents disagreed to the statement that tiredness influences their work at all. Responses say that they are habituated to long working hours, which does not affect their efficiency. Less sleep is common among some developers and they still tend to be productive. Nonetheless, working for long productive hours can be normal, but it leaves behind some impact on other following tasks.

"all of a sudden an idea strikes and i am rejuvenated and fresh all of a sudden. Where as there are other times that even if i am fresh i might feel dull. So i feel that tiredness does not effect my performance.” The reasoning was indirectly pointing out Motivation which is one of the already defined factors. Hence, we can infer that if any of the factors are not affected by fatigue, there has to be a sound judgment for that.

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