Enigin Digital

Enigin Development Team ♥ Mac

All members of the Enigin development team use Mac products - either a Mac Pro or Macbook Pro and Apple Cinema displays. Here’s my personal reasons for using these fine machines:

1. They generally don’t go wrong! I’ve been using Macs for around 3 years now and I can’t recall a single time when I’ve had any major issues. It’s certainly true that they don’t crash as much as Windows-based PC’s.
2. Mac OS is UNIX based. This is the same technology which powers the Enigin server cluster.
3. They are optimised for user happiness! Being in front of Mac OS is such a nice place to be and let’s be honest, the hardware looks awesome. If you’re in the development business then why wouldn’t you want to use the nicest equipment around? You practically stare at it for 8 hours a day!

All the above items contribute to my productivity, I would estimate that I get 50% more work done since I switched from my Sony Vaio 3 years ago.

Here’s what the software development company 37 Signals think about Mac:

The last of the Enigin Directors has just completed the move to Mac so we are all hopeful for a company Mac policy soon!

Enigin Productivity Tip #1: Getting in ‘The Zone’

An office environment can sometimes be a hotpot for attention-seeking noises and activities. Telephones ringing, Enigin staff talking, customers visiting, emails arriving, meetings, air conditioning units and the list goes on! Even if we try not to listen and pay attention to this interference, our minds are inquisitive devices and you can often find your focus wondering.

The development department at Enigin is lucky as we have the benefit of a separate enclosed office but still sometimes the ‘outside world’ invades our space!

This may sound like a rant, but actually it’s a real problem. As programmers, we need to focus all our efforts on the job in hand, as writing software code takes a great deal of concentration and mistakes are easily made. You often hear developers talk about getting in ‘The Zone’. ‘The Zone’ is a state of mind when you are 100% focused on your software, you can almost visualise the application coming together as you type and generally you are thinking 3/4 steps ahead of where you are. For me personality, it takes about 20 minutes to get into this state. So now, that tiny amount of interruption to your ‘flow’ actually takes 20 minutes out of your fully productive day.

One method I use is to wear headphones during the day. Sometimes I don’t even have music playing! I find they block out many of the high-frequency sounds in the office. If the Enigin office is particularly noisy, for example when our air conditioning unit is running, then I tend to blast out music fairly loudly from my ‘phones. Interestingly enough, I find it really easy to concentrate when listening to loud Dance and House music! As a hugh Jazz fan, this is very puzzling and against my natural tendencies!

I’m sure there will be many more articles on productivity as it’s a hot topic with me at the moment!

Productive home working for this Enigin Developer!

One day a week Enigin encourage me to work from home, and I love it!

Why is this? Well, home working has the following benefits:

1. No commuting - This saves me a round trip of 2 hours a day!
2. No interruptions - People are less likely to interrupt you when you’re not in the office and only ask you urgent questions.
3. Flexible working - Although I do put in a full 7/8 hour day when i’m working from home, I don’t necessarily work 9 - 5. I find that breaking the working day up into 3 hour periods with breaks between helps to stay motivated.
4. Relaxing Environment - Sometimes an office environment is counter-productive; telephones ringing, people chatting, meetings. Being completely in charge of my own environment means that I can set my own mood!