personal productivity for developers
DESCRIPTION
Getting in the zone is harder to do these days with the infinite sources of distractions that are readily available. In this talk, I’ll give you a framework, tools and actionable tips to help you become more efficient, both in work and play. I will draw on my experiences as a family man, college student, developer, business owner, employee and manager using techniques I’ve learned reading countless books and articles in the area of “Productivity”. The end goal is for you to have the focused time needed to do the things that you are passionate about, whether that be writing awesome software or spending more time with friends and family.TRANSCRIPT
Personal Productivity for Developers
Elmer ThomasHacker in Residence@thinkingserious
The Goal
SummaryFrameworks Techniques
ToolsReferences
Frameworks: RPM
Specific and Measurable Results
Motivate yourself with Purpose
Create a Massive action plan with specific actions
Frameworks: GTD
Main Elements of GTD Projects Next Actions Contexts
GTD Workflow
GTD Natural Planning TechniquePurpose / Guiding Principles Why are we doing this?
Mission / Vision / Goals / Successful Outcome What does success look, sound or feel like?
Brainstorming How will we accomplish it?
Organizing When will we do these things?
Next Actions Where do we start?
GTD Weekly ReviewCaptured, but unprocessed items
Review projects & next actions
Review calendar
Review checklists
Review someday/maybe lists
GTD High Level Analysis
Areas of Responsibility1 - 2 year goals3 - 5 year vision
Life purpose
Frameworks: Getting
Results the Agile Way
3 outcomes for the year
the monththe weekthe day
Agile Work/Life BalanceDefine Hotspots e.g. Career, Family, Health, Personal Growth
Set minimums for each Hotspots e.g. 3 hours of exercise time per week
Monday Vision, Daily Outcomes, Friday Reflection
Frameworks: 18 MinutesDay Begins: (5 Minutes)
Set Plan for the DayThroughout: (1 Minute / Hour)
RefocusDay Ends: (5 Minutes) Review
Techniques: Pomodoro
decide on the task to be done & estimate the # of Pomodorosset the pomodoro (timer) to 25 minuteswork on the task until the timer rings; record with an xtake a short break (5 minutes)every four "pomodoros" take a longer break (15–20 minutes)
Techniques: Digital Truth Dashboard
It’s the Dashboard to rule all Dashboards
Central point of all your “stuff”
Either link to resources or describe where they are
This dashboard should be easy to use and available most anywhere
Automate it if possible using RSS & APIs
Techniques: ZoneHideouts
Schedule appointments with yourself
Noise canceling headphones + music
Signage
The “Hacker Brow”
Growl and/or grunt
Not this zone!
Techniques: Checklists
Daily routines (morning/night)
Weekly routines
Monthly routines
Anything you will do more than once
Create checklists as you work
Techniques: Templates
New Projects
Think scaffolds
Perfect, then automate
Techniques: Outsourcing
99Designs.com / LogoBids.com
eLance.com / Guru.com / oDesk.com / Workana.com
CraigsList.com
TemplateMonster.com / Genesis Themes
4 Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
Jack Bicer - http://www.septium.com/10tips.pdf
Techniques: Hackathons
Find partners / Barter services
Upgrade your skills
Practice and sharpen existing skills
Directories: HackerLeague.org/hackathons TechZulu.com/events SoCalTech.com/calendar SiliconBeachLA.com/events-2/calendar SDTechScene.org
Tools: Feedly
News/Information Filter
Sync with apps (Reeder)
Not just for blogs
Use folders to segregate & focus
Tools: Email
GMail FiltersSendGrid Incoming Parsing Event triggers
Tools: Mind Maps
MindNode Pro / XMind mind mapping brainstorming
Tools: Screen Capture
Jing / SnagitSkitch
Tools: Text Snippets
TextExpander / Active Words avoid typing common items faster than a clipboard or text file
Tools: Google Appsdocs for quick collaborative sharingsites for a centralized dashboardcalendar for shared time managementgoogle hangouts for quick video meetingsgoogle talk for IMgmail for easy implementation of inbox zero
Tools: Social Media
filtered news via listsalternative to RSSnetworking
Tools: Social Bookmarking
Delicious / Pinboard global bookmarking crowd validated reference
Tools: Readers
Instapaper / Readit Later / Pocket defer your reading, offlineKindle / iBooks / GoodReader / Audible / Downcast read or listen on the go
Tools: Notes
Evernote / Onebox / OneNote everything box across all platforms multimedia notes + OCR offline access
Tools: Storage
Dropbox / Box.net / Google Drive easy synchronized storage keep your larger files at bay automated backup email large attachments
Tools: Security1Password / RoboForm / Keepass / LastPass save time and be secure don’t use the same password everywhere
Tools: Launchers
Launchbar / AppRocketfast application launcher and file finderstop dealing with clicking icons
Tools: MeetingsJoin.me / Google Hangouts / OpenTok + Twilio API free and easy screen sharing and conference calls save commute time
Tools: Todos/TasksOmnifocus / Toodledo GTD implementation See what you want, when you wantPivotal Tracker / Assembla / Asana Agile implementation A structure for practicing agile Great for collaboration
Tools: HardwareLaptop / Desktop Mac out your SSD & RAM Keyboard / Input DeviceTabletSmart Phone
Continued Learningthinkingserious.comasianefficiency.comtimemanagementninja.comlifehack.orgnews.ycombinator.comdzone.comstackoverflow.comgithub.com
Continued LearningGetting Things Done, Ready for Anything, Making it All Work18 Minutes: Find Your FocusReWork, Getting RealDo the Work, The War of ArtUpgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better
Creating Flow with OmniFocusSafari Bookshelf Online
Continued LearningBack to WorkThe Big Web ShowMac Power UsersMixergyGTD Study Group*iTunes UYour Niche
Key Takeaways
Be action oriented towards measurable specific goals
Find how to achieve zone time more often
Move towards balance
Create a custom system and iterate often
“You can have it all.You just can’t have it all at once.”
- Oprah Winfrey
