/Productivity

How To Break Out Of The Thread Of Doom

- Tanya Reilly tl;dr: The thread of doom - when an email or slack chain descends into chaos can be a challenge. Two leadership tactics: (1) The rollup - reset the thread at a new point by summarizing it and a call to action e.g. "we're leaning towards A." (2) Ask embarrassingly basic questions, safer for managers to do.

featured in #251

Why Doesn't Software Show Up In Productivity?

- Austin Vernon tl;dr: The "digital revolution" hasn't increased economic productivity. To understand this, you need to understand the difference between General-Purpose Technologies (GPTs) and Management Technologies. GPTs plug-in to existing business and are easily adopted e.g. steel, electricity. Software is a management technology and hasn't solved complex enough problems yet. Austin explores what software trends could create GPTs.

featured in #250

Software Development Waste

- Greg Wilson tl;dr: "I've looked back at the end of every software project I've ever been on and thought, "If I'd known then what I know now, I'd have been done in half the time." A study followed eight projects, each over two and a half years and categorized the waste seen in development e.g. building the wrong feature or product, mismanaging backlog, and the causes for each type of waste.

featured in #249

The Bad Habit That Even Productive People Keep Falling Into

- Hunter Walk tl;dr: Know how to prioritize. Hunter gives 3 tactical tips: (1) Prioritize what requires your input for others to move forward. (2) Think "top down, not bottom up" and avoid low impact work. (3) Set deadlines in your to-do list.

featured in #240

I Tracked Every Minute Of My Time For The Last 4 Months. Here Are 7 Totally Unexpected Results

- Bilaniuc Dragos tl;dr: Bilaniuc meticulously tracked his time on a calendar which: (1) Drastically improved his focus and productivity. (2) Saved a lot of time from unexpected places. (3) Enabled him to form habits & routines more easily, and more.

featured in #239

How To Work Hard

- Paul Graham tl;dr: "Working hard is a complicated, dynamic system that has to be tuned just right at each point. You have to understand the shape of real work, see clearly what kind you're best suited for, aim as close to the true core of it as you can, accurately judge at each moment both what you're capable of and how you're doing, and put in as many hours each day as you can without harming the quality of the result."

featured in #238

83% of Developers Suffer From Burnout, Haystack Analytics Study Finds

tl;dr: (1) Study finds 83% of software developers feel burnout from work. (2) 81% of software developers reported an increase in burnout as a result of the pandemic, with increased workload cited as the main reason. (3) 83% of developers are concerned about software reliability at their workplace.

featured in #238

5 Ways to Prioritize Your Engineers’ Time

tl;dr: Muts Inayama, VP of Product & Eng at Imgur, provides 5 top tips "to ensure engineers stay on track, understand their priorities, and remain motivated to create the best product possible." Promoted by Stream

featured in #237

A More Human Approach To Productivity (Video)

- Chris Bailey tl;dr: (1) Plan 3 tasks to finish each day. (2) Do one thing at a time to work deliberately on one thing. (3) Get the most out of your energy - eating well, exercise, sleep. (4) Stay offline to avoid procrastination. (5) Daydream: let the mind wander to connect the dots in your mind.

featured in #237

The Perfect Number Of Hours To Work Every Day? Five

- Margaret Taylor tl;dr: Research indicates that five hours is about the maximum that most of us can concentrate hard on something. Instead of reducing the number of days per week worked to four, it's better for productivity to reduce the number of hours per day and give employees the option of working longer if needed.

featured in #234