The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 3 (of 5) - Where do YOU get productivity tips?

Where do YOU get productivity tips?

I've been working from home (my ISV company) for several years now. ONe of the things I miss about working around other people is spotting the little productive "tricks" they have.

For example:

My old boss had ONE notebook in which he took ALL notes, ToDOs, etc.

I use that trick and then also put the date on the notebook when I finish, so I can refer back to if if necessary.

Any suggestions of how to pick up those tricks?
(Feel free to LIST your best 3 or 4 tips below).

Entrepreneur
Sunday, November 30, 2003

Take a look at the book "Time Tactics of Very Successful People".

John C.
Sunday, November 30, 2003

One book: Stephen Covey's "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." If you still want more, his "First Things First" is a great followup. If you ever, in a lifetime, manage to master the material in those books, then some other sources might be in order, but that's where I'd start (and probably where I'll finish, too).

JT
Sunday, November 30, 2003

I found these articles really helpful:

http://www.dexterity.com/articles/get-more-done.htm
http://www.dexterity.com/articles/cultivating-burning-desire.htm
http://www.dexterity.com/articles/do-it-now.htm

Matthew Lock
Sunday, November 30, 2003

I just setup a wiki for myself on my home network. I don't know what the impact on my productivity will be yet but at least everything is in one place.

Tom Vu
Sunday, November 30, 2003

Productivity tips? DO BACKUPS!

Evgeny Gesin /Javadesk/
Sunday, November 30, 2003

Oh yeah, and for a development productivity tip: Invest in a dual-head system. Seriously. Earlier this year I anted up for a pair of 18-inch LCDs, and it's absolutely shocking how much benefit it provides.

John C.
Sunday, November 30, 2003

Yes, dual (or triple!) display is on my list.

I'm moving myself, my family (3 kids+wife) 'cross country to Blacksburg, VA this week. More office space at the new house.

Covey books are excellent.

I'll take a look at the other one.

Entrepreneur
Sunday, November 30, 2003

Entrepreneur,

I'm in Blacksburg, VA too. I'm curious why you're moving here. Are you or your wife going to school? What kind of company do you own?

You can email me offline if you wish since it really isn't related to this topic.

Jonathan
Sunday, November 30, 2003

Wow, we have almost enough for JoS-Blacksburg. Maybe we should get together sometime.

Mikayla
Monday, December 1, 2003

"Yes, dual (or triple!) display is on my list."

Triple displays, unless you have them in portrait configuration, don't really do much for you. There's just too much distance horizontally. You'll lose track of your mouse position easily, it takes forever to mouse from the leftmost screen to the rightmost one, and you'll get neck strain from turning your head too much. You're better off investing in two large displays (21"). I use a dual setup with one 21" 4:3 and one 24" 16:9 display and I wouldn't want anything larger.

Even in portrait mode, it's a toss-up situation. The radiologists at my workplace use a setup with two 5 megapixel portrait displays for images and a third landscape display for their worklist app and I think that's pretty much at the limits of what a person can reasonably manage visually and mousing back and forth can be a bit annoying even with a hi-res optical mouse at the fastest mouse speed setting.

Matt Latourette
Wednesday, December 3, 2003