Focus, Flow, and Cold Coffee
Posted on March 25, 2025 • 1 min read • 198 wordsHow my ADHD made me a better programmer
Focus, Flow, and Cold Coffee - ADHD-Driven Development Practices
ADHD can feel like chaos — a mind racing with ideas, a desk full of cold, half-drunk coffee cups, and a to-do list that’s both overwhelming and strangely invisible. For years, I struggled to stay afloat as a developer, battling hyper-focus, memory issues, and constant distraction. Then I discovered something surprising: the practices that help teams write better code — like Test-Driven Development (TDD), Collaborative Programming, and Discovery Trees — also helped me work with my brain, not against it.
In this talk, I share how ADHD shaped my journey as a developer and how quality coding practices became career-saving coping mechanisms. These tools helped me focus, manage complexity, and collaborate better — all while reducing burnout and improving the code we shipped. Whether you live with ADHD or just want to work smarter in a world full of distractions, you’ll walk away with practical techniques and a fresh appreciation for how neurodiversity can be a powerful asset in tech.
Learning Outcomes
Presentation Dates
| Date | Location | Recording Link |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-04-03 | Iowa .Net Users Group | no recording yet |
Resources
Slides - updated 2025-04-01