It's 3 PM and I've already missed half of my programming workday because I'm laboring like a madman putting together a bed for my daughters. I'm sweating my ass off, my hands are getting raw, and the house is covered in cardboard.
I can't be the only one who, the minute they drag those flat pack IKEA boxes into the house, MUST get that thing built ASAP, right? Doesn't matter if it's a tiny nightstand or a huge wardrobe, I'm all in.
No breaks. Total focus. It's like the whole world just fades away.

However, most other tasks, including coding tasks, don't always grab me the same way. But why not? What's IKEA got that our code doesn't?

Think about it: IKEA gives you this giant jigsaw puzzle with a picture on the box (end goal!), step-by-step guide (no need to ponder how to start), and it's almost idiot-proof (they put a lot of engineering into pieces that only fit one way). Plus, you get to actually USE the thing right after.

Instant gratification!

I've been trying to figure out how to get that IKEA-vibe into my coding life and I'd love to use this post as a discussion for the community to come up with some ideas.

Here are some of my own:

1. Visualization: Can we make code feel more visual? Could AI sketch out a diagram of the finished product? Or maybe scribble it all down on a virtual whiteboard?

2. Bite-Sized Tasks: What if we turned a large project/feature into a bunch of small, conquerable tasks? Are there any reliable tools that can directly take a large feature specification, break it down into small tasks, and can create Github issues for each of them as part of a project?

3. Make it hard to fail: Would love to hear ideas around this area on how we could use tools to make it harder to make mistakes when coding. Not just preventing introducing bugs but perhaps also automated acceptance testing (am I actually making what I'm supposed to make?)

4. Tangible Progress: While you're building, you can see and feel the thing come together. So how about a code equivalent? A GitHub Milestone can generate a visual progress bar based on the completed issues but, man, it would be nice to somehow visually see how much of each of the pieces of the system is completed.

5. Urgency: IKEA furniture just stares at you till you finish. It takes up functional space in your house and annoys you when you have to step over it. How could we make code tasks feel just as urgent?

6. Instant Gratification: How do you celebrate lots of small wins when you are making progress on a large feature/project? TDD? Checking off tasks? Live reload and incessantly checking the visual progress?

I'm looking for tools for each of these points in particular since processes are things that I tend to just throw by the wayside without a tool or automation that enforces a process. :)

This is all still rough around the edges. Would love to hear what y'all think. Ever found a trick that makes your coding feel like an IKEA build?