Life Hacking

[c9]

Too busy? Too interrupted? Losing focus at work, at home? New York Times Magazine tackles our need for *less* multitasking: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/magazine/16guru.html

Long article, but very interesting read for the geeks and PMs* among us. :)

* who may also be geeks

Comments

[cap-hill-latte.livejournal.com]

[sarah adds reading this article to her colour coded to-do list]

[c9.livejournal.com]

Good! Many would simply start reading, forgetting what they were doing previously. :)

[cap-hill-latte.livejournal.com]

Well, I only put it on the list instead of reading it right away because I was about to leave for brunch. :-). And the only reason I'm not reading it now is that there are only five hours of usable weekend left I have to stop procrastinating and do some homework and write a spec. Blah.

[simplisticton.livejournal.com]

I agree about the screen size thing. I can't work without two monitors anymore -- I get too easily distracted if I can't see "the other stuff". I also don't leave my mail app running in the background any more -- I only check it when I have nothing else to do.

Monitors are the single biggest problem with computers these days. Most LCDs top out at 1280x1024, which really isn't big enough to view more than one application comfortably. We need 42" monitors at ridiculous resolutions like 12800x10240 so we can fit more on the screen. The problem then is that you have to be 10' from the screen to take it all in.

[c9.livejournal.com]

All the email suggestions sounded good, but for me all I can think of is how often I get an email from some office that can be answered in seconds and how valuable that quick answer is to them. I'm known in Polar Bear as a guy who knows the answers fast, or finds them fast, so by dropping out of constant email, I'd be sacrificing that. I'm very hesitant to play that game, possibly to my detriment.

[cap-hill-latte.livejournal.com]

Could you have "email hours"? e.g. You're super-responsive until noon, then get quiet until another burt of response at 3pm-ish? I'm guessing that it doesn't hurt you to not answer mail when you're teaching. But then again, people can't just swing by to ask you a question in person when you're teaching either.

If anything, it would probably be better for the company if people started to think for themselves a litte more rather than just always rely on you. On the other hand, I suppose this gives you some job stability. ;-).

[cap-hill-latte.livejournal.com]

Neat. I haven't read the article yet, but just discovered that Mary Czerwinski works at MSFT research.