Productivity

• Speeding up development: A collection of tips
  • Feel good and keep stress to a minimum
  • Keep yourself focused
  • Allocate specific times for emails
  • Do not answer your colleagues within 5 minutes. Let them find the answer themselves
  • Use quick win labels — short term victories and strategically placed low hanging fruit
  • Automation
  • Gain more knowledge.
  • Be an expert in what you do.

General Tricks §

• The highest performing people are those who have installed the best tricks in their lives.
• Much of learning how to manage workflow in a “black belt” way is about laying out the gear and practicing the moves so that the requisite thinking happens more automatically and it’s a lot easier to get engaged in the game
• See more here.

Goals §

• Set SMART goals in line with your vision.
  • Specific - Target a particular area for improvement. The goal is clear and narrow.
  • Measurable - Quantify an indicator of progress.
  • Assignable - Define responsibility clearly.
  • Realistic - Results can be achieved with available resources.
  • Time-Related - Results are time bound and there is a timeline for expected results.
• Avoid VAPID goals - goals which are
  • Vague - Both the goal and the steps needed to achieve the goal are unclear.
  • Amorphous - There is no finish line or sense of achievement.
  • Pie-in-the-sky - The goal is too ambitious.
  • Irrelevant - It is not linked to what we value.
  • Delayed - There is no time frame.

Time §

• Consider Time Blocking -divide the day into blocks of time with each block allocated to a specific task or group of tasks.
  • Advantages:
    • To-do list items become more time bounded.
    • Similar items become clustered and work becomes more organized.
    • There is a clear structure to the day.
  • The process
    • Identify the tasks
    • Assign specific periods for each task or group of tasks. Remember to account for breaks and leisure activities as well.
    • Stick to the schedule. If a task doesn’t get finished in its work block, move it to a future block rather than extending the current one.
    • Review and refine the system.
  • Some sister-variants
    • Time blocking - each block is dedicated to one task.
    • Time batch - each block is dedicated to one category of tasks to reduce context switches
    • Theming - each day has a specific theme and each block contributes to that theme
    • Time boxing - aim to do as much as you can within the block.
  • Some pitfalls
    • Underestimating the time needed for tasks.
    • Being too rigid with the schedule and not adapting if things don’t go as planned.
    • Overscheduling leisure time
    • Not prioritizing tasks.
    • Not accounting for interruptions.
  • Some tips
    • Pad the schedule with buffer times. When starting, prefer to allocate too much rather than too little.
    • The time block is a guide not a strict plan.

Topics §

• Getting Things Done

• The Cult of Done Manifesto

• Stoicism

• Management - for productivity involving other people.

• Time blocking