diff --git a/src/common/common.h b/src/common/common.h
index b34222c986c02c159fea766042f97bb7d022ad94..ded8368aa0d8d1c38eb1c2fdd92e9484b5c894aa 100644
--- a/src/common/common.h
+++ b/src/common/common.h
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 #else 
     #define TIME_DEF struct timespec __start, __end;
     #define TIME_START { \
+        MPI_Barrier(ctx -> mpi_communicator); \
         clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC,&__start); \
     }
     #define TIME_STOP \
@@ -53,7 +54,7 @@
             MPI_Reduce(&time, &avg, 1, MPI_DOUBLE, MPI_SUM, 0, ctx -> mpi_communicator); \
             MPI_Reduce(&time, &min, 1, MPI_DOUBLE, MPI_MIN, 0, ctx -> mpi_communicator); \
             MPI_Reduce(&time, &max, 1, MPI_DOUBLE, MPI_MAX, 0, ctx -> mpi_communicator); \
-            MPI_DB_PRINT("%s -> [avg: %.2lfs, min: %.2lfs, max: %.2lfs]\n", sec_name, avg/((double)ctx -> world_size), min, max); \
+            MPI_DB_PRINT("%50.50s -> [avg: %.2lfs, min: %.2lfs, max: %.2lfs]\n", sec_name, avg/((double)ctx -> world_size), min, max); \
         } \
         else \
         { \
diff --git a/src/tree/tree.c b/src/tree/tree.c
index 5d1ec61a5f0fbdf64dd83fdb4897175c477c0b4a..63a98c72cbf897ce54c7a4d5a6b579b3a5b25c4b 100644
--- a/src/tree/tree.c
+++ b/src/tree/tree.c
@@ -825,7 +825,9 @@ void build_top_kdtree(global_context_t *ctx, pointset_t *og_pointset, top_kdtree
     /*
 	MPI_DB_PRINT("[MASTER] Top tree builder invoked\n");
     */
-    MPI_DB_PRINT("Trying to build top tree on %lu with %d processors\n", tot_n_points, ctx->world_size);
+    MPI_DB_PRINT("\n");
+    MPI_DB_PRINT("Building top tree on %lu points with %d processors\n", tot_n_points, ctx->world_size);
+    MPI_DB_PRINT("\n");
 
 	size_t current_partition_n_points = tot_n_points;
 	size_t expected_points_per_node = tot_n_points / ctx->world_size;
@@ -1321,6 +1323,7 @@ void print_diagnositcs(global_context_t* ctx, int k)
                         MPI_INFO_NULL, &shmcomm);
     int shm_world_size;
     MPI_Comm_size(shmcomm, &shm_world_size);
+    MPI_DB_PRINT("\n");
     MPI_DB_PRINT("[INFO] Got %d ranks per node \n",shm_world_size); 
     /* data */
     float_t memory_use = (float_t)ctx -> local_n_points * ctx -> dims * sizeof(float_t);
@@ -1336,6 +1339,7 @@ void print_diagnositcs(global_context_t* ctx, int k)
     
     if(memory_use > 0.5 * (float_t)info.freeram / 1e9)
         MPI_DB_PRINT("/!\\    Projected memory usage is more than half of the node memory, may go into troubles while communicating ngbh\n"); 
+    MPI_DB_PRINT("\n");
 
     MPI_Barrier(ctx -> mpi_communicator);
 }
@@ -1512,9 +1516,9 @@ void mpi_ngbh_search(global_context_t* ctx, datapoint_info_t* dp_info, top_kdtre
     }
 
     /* compute everything */
-    MPI_Barrier(ctx -> mpi_communicator);
     elapsed_time = TIME_STOP;
     LOG_WRITE("Exchanging points", elapsed_time);
+    MPI_Barrier(ctx -> mpi_communicator);
 
 
     TIME_START;