Building intuitive, aesthetically appealing websites is a daunting task for a web developer. It takes time to design and develop websites that attract the target audience and boost traffic. Even the most talented and disciplined web developers experience burnout and productivity decrease. Thousands of tasks, tight deadlines, difficult clients, and many distractions lead to a lack of focus and make the mind slip away to other things than the work at hand.
Whether you are working with a team of backend developers and designers or alone, there are ways to cure productive ailments. Read along to get a few useful tips on streamlining your web development workflow and ensuring every part of the web development process moves smoothly.
1- Prioritize work
While working on projects, web developers need to multitask and complete a lot of work. Therefore, it is important to learn how to prioritize work to complete pending tasks accordingly. You have to think of the timeline and the importance of a task when prioritizing. Make sure to give the highest importance to tasks that must finish at the earliest.
2- Schedule your tasks in advance and set alarms
Once the tasks have been prioritized, a productive web developer must schedule them accordingly to complete them within the timeline. You also need to schedule the less important tasks so that you don’t have to extend the timeline of the project. If you are working on Windows 10, you can use alarms and timers in the Alarms & Clock application. Launch the app > select Start > select Alarms & Clocks from the app > set the time. Even if your device is locked or the app is closed, alarms and timers work.
If you’re using Mac, you can learn here setapp.com how to set alarms and schedule your tasks in advance. So, you’ll never miss a deadline.
3- Use a suitable PMS
As a web developer, you are probably using a host of different software applications for your project. Besides picking the right design & testing tools, you’ll also benefit from selecting the most suitable PMS (project management system) application. A PMS app will help you stay organized, communicate better with team members and clients, stay focused, and more.
Github and Trello are two of the commonly used PMS applications that you can consider using to save time. These apps save you from the effort of having to use email separately for both client and team interactions.
When picking a PMS application, consider aspects like ease of use and its integration with existing software.
4- Invest in the right web development applications
Choosing the right web development applications are easier said than done. There are so many web development frameworks and tools available that you’ll be spoilt for choice. Some web developers prefer using open-source CMS tools and frameworks, while others opt for feature-rich licensed frameworks or tools for their projects. As a productive web developer, your choice will depend on your area of expertise, budget, and experience. Additionally, you can use time tracking tools to make sure your project isn’t lagging.
5- Invest in the better software
Being a web developer, you must stay up-to-date with the latest technologies and OS (operating systems) to enhance your productivity. Instead of fixing your existing software constantly and losing valuable time, switch to new software that will help you finish your work faster. For example, you can consider investing in a Mac and getting two monitors to avoid cluttered things. Also, ensure that there’s enough RAM and processing power on your device so that tasks can be handled with speed and ease.
6- Use tools to automate tasks
A web developer’s time revolves around repetitive and iterative tasks. You can save a deal of your time and effort if the menial processes can be automated. There are a few existing tools that can complete repetitive tasks for you, such as Automator. The tool can resize images, change filenames, or backup crucial files. Alfred is another popular tool that can significantly boost your efficiency and productivity with keywords, hotkeys, text expansion, and other customizable actions. There are also niche workflow tools for automating text-editing recurring patterns and more. Whatever task you would like to automate, perform a quick Google search, and you’ll get a list of the available features or tools.
Conclusion
Even though following the tips mentioned above can help increase your productivity, it is important to remember that Rome was not built in one day. You will grow to become a productive web developer over time. Make sure not to install all the possible applications on your system as that can make your device lag. Instead, take your time and choose tools, apps, or software according to the needs of your project and expertise level.
Happy to be a Web Developer 🙂
