As a programmer, it’s nice to imagine perfect productivity conditions: many well defined, small units of work lined up. If the work at hand is clear and you have ample time to get into a flow, you expect to finish many things. Unfortunately, real life rarely works out that way.

Instead of picturing an ideal, efficient scenario, I want to talk about a less than ideal productivity method that manages to pop up every now and then: Anger Driven Development (ADD). ADD in this context might mean different things to different people.

What ADD means to me is that I’m working on a task, get frustrated, and then refuse to be beaten. Some of my more productive times have occurred when I was so pissed at the situation that I refused to throw in the towel. I will NOT be beaten by a machine. The power of human will can be indomitable at times.

While driven to extreme frustration at what started off as an “easy task”, it becomes man versus machine. Man does not want to give up. Man refuses to give up.

Even if I was tired or had other reasons to put the work off until later, Anger Driven Development does not give me the choice to stop. Like taking a hammer to a screw and forcing it in through sheer will power and brute force, Anger Driven Development can be messy. Anger Driven Development can’t stop, won’t stop.

The most amazing part of ADD (besides the task that is now completed) is the sense of triumph at the end. While it always feels good to be productive and get things done, there are few things like the joy of victory after ADD.

Anger Driven Development would never be my modus operandi, but it inadvertently has its place in my toolbox.