478: ADHD at work

What It Covers

Adi Slater and Sally Hall share their experiences managing ADHD as software developers, discussing practical workplace systems, accommodations, time management strategies, and the importance of accepting neurodivergent work styles without shame.

Key Questions Answered

• •Single-threading work: Keep only one ticket in progress at a time to avoid context-switching costs. Mark blocked items explicitly and move them to a blocked column rather than juggling multiple incomplete tasks simultaneously.
• •Wait time strategy: During test runs or CI builds, resist switching tasks for short waits under ten minutes. Context switching wastes more time than waiting, and prevents forgetting to check results when builds complete.
• •Calendar automation: Set meeting reminders for one minute before start time instead of ten minutes. Longer lead times allow getting distracted and missing meetings, while one-minute warnings force immediate context switching to meeting mode.
• •End-of-day anchors: Leave failing tests or Post-it notes with specific context before ending work sessions. Red terminal output or physical notes placed on monitors provide concrete re-entry points that bypass time-blindness and memory gaps.