Does anyone find the Particle Electron insanely difficult to get into the blue flashing ‘programming mode’? It seems to be when I’m enabling serial communication in my sketches that it becomes an issue!
I never use the blinking blue programming mode. I use the DFU mode (hold down RESET and MODE, release RESET, hold down MODE while it blinks magenta until it blinks yellow, then release MODE). Then use the --usb option instead of the --serial option for particle flash. The reason it makes a difference is that DFU mode resets the Electron and is not running your code while programming.
The instructions for installing it are here:
https://docs.particle.io/support/troubleshooting/troubleshooting-tools/photon/#dfu-commands
If you are using Windows, you can also use the Particle CLI Windows installer which installs it automatically. The link to the installer is at the bottom of this page:
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I have the CLI, but it still gives me the error message…
That’s because you need DFU-util, which is installed automatically when using the installer. You can also do so manually, up to you.
Alternatively, place your device in Safe mode before going into Listening Mode. That too should stop running your code 
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