Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's seminal book on this subject "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" is worth a read. The article didn't mention it and neither have any of the comments thus far so I thought it fair to name. If you would like to understand what "flow" is and how you can achieve it on a regular basis I encourage you to read it. This applies to individuals, groups, work and leisure.
The productivity gains seen from things such as Kanban, TDD, and CI/CD can be easily explained by the science of flow. I've given several conference talks on this and they've been well received (asked for encore presentations).
As a quick teaser, think about how CI or fast tests contribute to flow when in order to achieve flow these three criteria must be met:
1. The goal must be clear
2. Feedback must be immediate
3. There must be a feeling that our capability is balanced to the challenge at hand
The productivity gains seen from things such as Kanban, TDD, and CI/CD can be easily explained by the science of flow. I've given several conference talks on this and they've been well received (asked for encore presentations).
As a quick teaser, think about how CI or fast tests contribute to flow when in order to achieve flow these three criteria must be met:
1. The goal must be clear 2. Feedback must be immediate 3. There must be a feeling that our capability is balanced to the challenge at hand