Building software or applying configuration changes (Ansible, Puppet) takes some time. If it's just a couple of seconds, you wait for it to finish. If it is a matter of hours, you do something else and check back later.<p>But what do you do if a build takes about five minutes? Starting another task (like programming) is hardly possible, because you don't get anything meaningful done in five minutes. Checking emails, chat messages, or the the phone either doesn't fill up the time (no new messages) or just sidetracks you (starting another task that takes longer than five minutes).<p>Checking some random websites or social media is also a bad idea, especially if you have a lot of those five minute builds during the day, because then it creates a habit of distraction.<p>How do you spend that time?
Depends on where I am.<p>WFH: swivel my chair to my personal computer and work on personal stuff.<p>Office: Google random things, take a quick walk to stretch legs, get coffee, look at phone.
I stand up, look away from <i>any</i> screen, sometimes walk, and "process it all".<p>Meaning: observe as my thoughts flow until they slow down a bit. Regain my balance. That's all. This brings ideas, sometimes even creative ideas, without any particular effort. Occasionally the conclusion pops up that for the last two hours I missed the forest for the trees.<p>If I'm in the office and someone asks me what's going on I just respond "The work.", because it's kinda true.
Depends on your builds. Usually I work on parallel branches, if the time is longer than 30min.<p>A good strategy is to have fast and separate thorough/longer checks. My smoke builds try to be faster than 3min, the thorough builds, like for a PR or master update, could last 30min, but on some projects, esp with windows, about 2hrs.<p>Then it's good to switch to another branch to do some useful work.
I relax my eyes by looking at a distance (eg. out of the window). It'd be better to close them, but there is no easy way to tell when the build has finished.
Work on something else, until I forgot that I started a build (that could take up to 40min) and then go back to it when/if I randomly remember what i was working on.
I have a computer with another task ready to be completed and move to that. That task could be a next move in a game, work related, chore. At the end of the day you've managed so get so much more done.