3 dead-simple ways to plan better work days for engineers

Consider this: You start your workday with debugging code, knowing you have a meeting in an hour. You spend that hour half-debugging, then join the meeting still thinking about code. Finally, you return to debugging with disrupted focus.

What could have been a 2-hour debugging session has now taken up your entire day.

Result = Overtime work, and worse, mediocre. 

The first and most obvious conclusion is that you didn’t plan your workday right. But that’s not necessarily true. 

We found that the root cause behind this isn't that engineers are bad planners - it's that they don't optimize their plans to handle context switching.

See, this blog isn’t going to help you reduce your workload. It will help you with context switching though.

Here’s what you need for it:

• A smarter to-do list
• An “interruption map” for your brain
• Plan your day to support your smarter to-do list.

Let’s break it down, one by one.

1. Create a smarter to-do list.

Your to-do list is your first touch-point of productivity. So, it must accommodate interruptions. But a generic to-do list doesn’t do this. Instead, it assumes that you will work in an ideal, uninterrupted environment, smoothly finishing one task after the other. In reality, this doesn’t work. 

What you need is a to-do list that acknowledges this reality and helps you navigate interruptions efficiently.

Here’s how you create it:

Step 1: Brain dump all tasks. 
Write down everything you need to do, as you usually would. For example: 

• Implement the login feature
• Attend team meeting
• Review pull request
• Start new feature development
• Update API documentation
  
  

Step 2: Add context to each task. 
For each task, 3 add key pieces of information:

1. Context - What you need to get started (e.g., relevant documents, tools, people
2. Next steps - The next immediate step you need to take
3. Time requirement - Identify which tasks require more time and deep focus versus those that are quicker and less demanding.

For example:

• Task: Implement the login feature 
• Context: User stories #45-48, API documentation in Confluence
• Next steps: 1) Set up authentication service 2) Create login UI 3) Integrate with backend
• Time requirement: More time with deep focus
  
  

Step 3: Prioritize your list. 
Rank tasks as high, medium, or low priority. Remember, priorities are specific to your role, your company's stage, your product's lifecycle, and current team goals. So, tailor your prioritization to your unique situation. So, that will end up looking something like this: 

Before:

1. Fix login bug
2. Team meeting
3. Update documentation
4. Start new feature
5. Code review

After: 

High Priority

1. Implement the login feature (Deep focus, Context: Error logs, Next: Reproduce locally)
2. Start new feature (Deep focus, Context: Product specs, Next: Develop UI components)

Medium Priority

1. Code review (Interruptible, Context: PR #123, Next: Review database changes)
2. Team meeting (Interruptible, Context: Agenda in Slack, Next: Prepare updates)

Low Priority

1. Update API documentation (Interruptible, Context: API v2 docs, Next: Update auth section)

Result:

→ Keeps your context ready to reduce interruption impact
→ Prioritization ensures critical work gets done, even on high-interrupt days.

You DON’T risk randomly doing tasks without accomplishing anything tangible.

2. Create an “interruption map” for your brain

Even with a well-planned day that includes task context and priorities, you can't stick to the plan rigidly. Planning an engineer’s day right involves knowing how to handle interruptions effectively.

Not all interruptions are created equal. Some demand immediate attention, while others can wait. An "interruption map" is your mental filter to know the difference. 

Consider these scenarios:

Scenario 1: It's 9 pm and you get a notification from the CTO. A new priority just landed on your task list. Your team had planned to complete a key task tomorrow. Now everything is a mess. 

This scenario requires immediate attention and likely a reprioritization of your tasks.

Scenario 2: A colleague asks for your input on a minor UI change they're considering for a feature that's not due for weeks. 

In this scenario, while your opinion might be valuable, this doesn't require an immediate context switch.

The key is to train your brain to distinguish between interruptions that demand immediate attention and those that can wait. This may seem a lot, but eventually, this becomes an auto-pilot behavior. 

Here’s how to get started:

Always assess the interruption

• Is it truly urgent AND important? 
• Can it wait until your next natural break or scheduled "open" time?

For urgent and important interruptions

• Add it to your to-do list under “High Priority” 
• Handle the interruption, the way we have created this list will make sure you can handle the rest after this 

For non-urgent interruptions

• Politely acknowledge the request
• Propose a specific time to address it later
• Add it to your “context-switch-accommodating to-do list” under “Medium/Low Priority” 
• If possible, batch similar interruptions together to minimize future context switches

Result 

→ Maintains focus on high-priority tasks while remaining responsive to crucial issues.
→ Reduces stress by providing a clear system for handling unexpected work.

You stay in control of your workday plan, DESPITE interruptions.

3. Plan a day that supports the “Smart To Do List” 

Engineers often list tasks without considering when to tackle them. This approach misses a BIG factor: the quality of your focus varies throughout the day.

This is what a deep session looks like: 

Deep Focus
→ No calls
→ No meetings
→ No quick 2-minute chats
→ No switching to any other task

It does NOT look like this: 

Shallow Focus
→ Open to calls
→ Can attend meetings
→ Allows for quick chats
→ Permits switching between tasks

So, just as we segmented the task list by priority and focus needs, segment your day based on your energy levels and focus quality.

Here's how:

Step 1: Identify your peak focus hours 
Are you more productive in the morning or the evening? Identify when you can concentrate the best for a long time. Now, block these hours as “deep work sessions”. 

Step 2: Identify when the team needs you 
Check when your team likes to do meetings. If it’s in the first half of the day, don’t schedule deep work. Park those for later, after you've reviewed any team feedback.

Step 3: Assign time blocks for your “Smart to-do list” 
Using Steps 1 & 2, you can easily identify the best times for deep work and collaboration.

Now, assign specific time blocks for tasks from your "Smart to-do list":
→ Schedule high-priority, deep-focus tasks during your peak concentration hours
→ Assign low-priority, interruptible tasks to time slots that align with your team's needs
→ Allocate buffer time for unexpected issues and communications

Result
→ You tackle your most important work when you're at your best.

So, plan your tasks + plan your days. Here's an example: 

Planning tasks: 
→ Implement a new login feature  
(High Priority, Deep Focus, Context: Error logs, Next: Reproduce locally)

→ Update API documentation 
(Low Priority, Interruptible, Context: API v2 docs, Next: Update auth section)

Planning days: 
→ 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Deep focus, Implement  a new login feature 

→ 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Interruptible, Update API documentation

Don’t do this solo.

When you plan your days like this, you make sure your work doesn’t suffer - both in quality AND quantity. Because it's not that you're bad at planning and it's definitely not that you enjoy working overtime every day.

The challenge comes from the inevitable context switching that's a regular part of your job.

Now once you start implementing this, you'll soon realize one thing: you can't do it alone. After all, your work happens in the context of your team. So, the final step to make sure your strategy works flawlessly is to get your team's support.

We've put together a simple 3-step guide to help you do just that. Read it here.