When Software Engineers Think They Need More Focus Time

You think software engineers need more focus time? Think again.

Writing code is, let’s face it, a lot of fun. There’s a strong feedback loop of solving problems and feeling the reward when everything clicks. The bigger the problem, the bigger the rush. Few things beat making that critical breakthrough after weeks of being stuck. Your algorithm now runs a million times faster, you’ve cut the codebase in half, or you’ve invented an elegant new approach to data streaming. It’s genuinely addictive.

But here’s the thing: that’s not actually your job.

Your job is creating impact. Solving problems. Delivering value that matters. If you’re optimizing for 8 uninterrupted hours of deep coding every day, you’re optimizing for the wrong metric entirely.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes the right answer absolutely is writing code. But more often than you think, your highest impact work happens when you close the laptop. It’s joining that product meeting and catching a critical assumption before it becomes a three-week detour. It’s having the right conversation with the right person at exactly the right moment. It’s writing clear documentation that prevents your teammate from building the wrong thing. It’s even navigating the inevitable politics required to move your company in the right direction.

The Real Work Happens Outside Your IDE

I’ve seen this pattern play out countless times. Engineers who guard their calendar like Fort Knox, declining meetings to preserve their “flow state,” often miss the most important parts of the job. They’re so focused on the craft of coding that they forget why they’re coding in the first place.

The most valuable work in any startup environment is learning. Learning what actually works and what doesn’t. Testing whether your product solves a real problem. Running experiments. Comparing approaches before you commit to building anything. And that learning almost never happens alone in a room with just you and your code editor.

Think about the last time you saved your team weeks of work. Was it because you wrote an incredibly elegant piece of code? Or was it because you asked a clarifying question in a meeting that revealed everyone was building based on a wrong assumption?

The Engineers Who Actually Ship

The engineers who create the most impact aren’t the ones who disappear for days at a time. They’re the ones who stay connected, ask the right questions, and know when to code and when to collaborate.

They understand that sometimes the highest leverage activity is reviewing someone else’s design doc before they spend a month building the wrong thing. Or pair programming with a junior engineer who’s been stuck for two days on something you could help them solve in 20 minutes. Or even just being available on Slack when the product manager has a quick question that could fundamentally change the approach.

This doesn’t mean you should spend all day in meetings or constantly interrupt your coding time. But it does mean recognizing that your value as an engineer goes way beyond the lines of code you write.

Finding the Balance

So how do you balance this? How do you make sure you’re both writing quality code and staying connected to the bigger picture?

Start by thinking about impact, not activity. Instead of measuring your productivity by how many hours of uninterrupted coding time you get, measure it by how much value you deliver. Did you ship something that users actually want? Did you help your team avoid a costly mistake? Did you unblock someone else who was stuck?

Be intentional about your availability. Maybe you have morning focus time for deep work, but you’re reachable in the afternoons. Or you batch your meetings on certain days. The key is communicating your schedule clearly so people know when they can reach you.

Most importantly, remember that the goal isn’t to write code. The goal is to solve problems. Sometimes that means writing code. Sometimes it means having a conversation. Sometimes it means stepping back and questioning whether you’re solving the right problem at all.

When was the last time your biggest win came from stepping away from the keyboard?