May 2012
29 posts
1 tag
Two-minute band-aid
Interruptions, interruptions, interruptions. Ding, dong, here are another 20 emails.
All those people, who want my attention. All the things I have committed to do. Feels like they own my time and attention, not me.
“Go, go, go,” I tell myself, “you can fight it, just have to be more efficient. Come on!”.
Truth be told, you can’t fight overload by becoming more...
Application for wedding
To get officially married in Russia a couple needs to go to a Civil registry place and personally put in an application for marriage 30 days before the wedding day. This could only be done on Wednesdays from 9 am till 5 pm.
So, if you wanted to get married on July 7, 2012 (and by the way, you can only get married on Fridays and Saturdays), then you and your partner should have gone to the...
iPad is not enough, yet
I was approached today by a colleague, who asked whether I was available for a short business trip to Moscow. Well, I am available for short business trips any time, but as it turns out I am not fully equipped for them.
I sold my 11-inch MacBook Air a little over a month ago, which left me with a six-year-old MacBook and the new iPad. Yet having less did not make me less productive. In fact, it...
2 tags
Best capture tool for paper-based GTD system
When I read about paper-based GTD systems, one of the capture tools, which gets recommended a lot, is hipster PDA.
I however was never a fan of hipster PDA. I distrust a pack of index cards held together just by a paper clip. I mean, really, these things could get unclipped just as easily as the were clipped in the first place, and a precious peace of information could just slip out of the back...
Jonathan Ive interview: simplicity isn't simple -... →
Simplicity is not the absence of clutter, that’s a consequence of simplicity. Simplicity is somehow essentially describing the purpose and place of an object and product. The absence of clutter is just a clutter-free product. That’s not simple.
An artist date
This one is about my rather accidental visit to a “house concert” today.
Stas, a good friend of mine, had his birthday this week. He mentioned he was going to be in town for a few hours today, and that the best time and place to meet him was Governor’s building at around 7 pm. I assumed there was going to be some event held there at the time, and as it turned out it was...
MIT Creates Amazing UI From Levitating Orbs →
One word: wow!
Rands In Repose: Bored People Quit →
Golden article. A must-read for an IT manager
Trying again →
When I challenged myself three weeks ago to write blog posts for 21 days in a row, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to accomplish it on my first try. Turns out I was right.
During the period (1) I did manage to write 15 posts, which is a record number for me, and (2) I have partially developed a habit of writing before going to sleep. Moreover, (3) I realized once again that failing is a...
Opportunities to be taken
Haven’t seen Michael, a friend from the Uni, for half a year at least. We met today for a cup of coffee.
We did not talk about the old times, rather discussed our lives today, hopes for the future, exciting new ideas. We talked about how we could collaborate and help each other out, and actually came up with a few projects.
I love how new opportunities arise all the time: you meet right...
One small step after another
This week I had a chance to see how effective defining next actions could become when working in a team.
Last Saturday Andrey and I decided to build a little web utility, which would allow creating twitter search queries based on location and twitter client used to write the tweet, e.g. I could search tweets written in Birdhouse all over the world or those shared from Instagram within 1 mile...
Time to switch
I sent a request to our admin department today asking whether it was possible to switch from my PC to a Mac mini. Turns out it is possible, I just need to have the switch approved by a delivery manager.
Why switch after one year of working on a PC?
Let me tell you first about the things I do at work.
I communicate with other people via
Skype
Lync
Email (MS Outlook)
Track my tasks...
Bikes
When I was leaving the office today I thought that it would probably be a good idea to get a bike.
There. A thought about buying a bike. Out of nowhere.
OK, I used to love bikes.
When I was three my parents got me a supercool bike with a butterfly sticker on the head tube. I adored this thing. I must have spent hours on it.
Then there was my second bike - “Orlyonok”. It was...
Smart twitter search
I do not search much on twitter, but when I do I like my search results to be clean from tweets generated by bots and feeds.
I mastered twitter search query parameters a long while ago. My favorite two are:
source: - client that was use to write the tweet
near: - searching the tweets written in the proximity to a given location
Easy to remember, long to write.
So.
Today Andrey and I...
1 tag
Recipe for success
Sometimes I find myself thinking of the best way to implement GTD methodology for teams, teams in which only a few members are interested in the GTD methodology itself, but (luckily) everyone wants to get things done.
Theoretically this should be a recipe for success:
Everyone can have any system they want.
Tasks are not only delegated, they have to be acknowledged by the delegatee.
Once...
A salesman and a developer go on a bear hunting... →
No Solution for Procrastination
Sometimes I get a task that for some unknown reason I try to avoid doing at all costs.
Meet procrastination
Two indicators of such a state:
My home gets much cleaner
I become extremely creative, e.g. today I had two ideas that could potentially become two or maybe even three good software products.
Unfortunately, I have not found a better solution than forcing myself to do the task: sit...
2 tags
GTD with 10 sheets of paper
Get 10 sheets of paper. It is time to build your system.
Capture
Use three sheets for the brain dump. Write all the things you need and want to do, one item per line. If you need extra sheets at this point, take them.
Once you are done write the following titles on three other sheets: “Projects”, “Actions”, “Waiting for…”.
Time to Process and Organize
...
How to Build an App Empire: Can You Create The... →
Here are some questions to ask while you’re researching successful apps in the market:
Why is this app successful?
What is its rank and has it been consistent?
Why do people want this app? (Look at the reviews.).
Has this app made the customer a raving fan?
Does this app provoke an impulse buy?
Does this app meet any of my needs?
Did I become a raving fan after trying it?...
You shall not regret it →
I have no particular topic for today, therefore I will just run my fingers over the keyboard and let my thoughts guide them.
I rarely start my 750 words with a statement like this, because most of the times it is implied.
I go to this website, log in, type 750+ words of whatever comes to my mind (stream of consciousness mostly) and feel better afterwards.
Try it for a week, you shall not...
1 tag
On getting shopping done
Today we bought my wedding suit, and it took us only 1.5 hours. How was that possible?
I had a pretty good idea what I wanted, my love did as well, and luckily our visions were close enough.
We went to just one place - a mall where all the brands I usually wear were available for purchase.
I really wanted to get it done today :)
Once I found something I really liked and what felt right, I...
Happier, more productive
Every time I find something interesting to read, I become so engrossed with it, sometimes even the world has to wait until I’m done.
For days I have been “hooked” on the first book in George R. R. Martin’s series “A Song of Ice and Fire” - “Game of Thrones.”
I am now 2/3 through the book. I started last Wednesday. Since then more than 24 hours of...
Powernaps
I have forgotten the secret art of “powernapping”, and then remembered it today.
In short: powernaps are amazing.
You set a timer to 10-25 minutes (no more), then you relax and try to sleep. It’s as simple as that!
When you wake up, you feel refreshed, energized and ready for action. A perfect condition to do something cool, like record a weekly podcast about technology,...
Love makes you better
My love asked today what was that 21-day-blog-challenge I had mentioned the day before, and why I am so eager to get my iPad out and write every evening.
I explained briefly that, yeah, I have a blog, and I sort of committed to write here for 21 consecutive days; and that I wanted my writing to get better before I invited her here.
I realize now that it is better the other way ‘round. I...
1 tag
Direction
Work is not the only thing that needs to be broken down into projects, and then actions organized by context. There are also such things to consider as recreation, fun, being with the ones you love.
These things need as much attention, if not more (probably more), than work.
It is only natural that our GTD systems correctly represent this idea.
Or is it?
I find my OmniFocus overwhelmed...
21 post – a challenge
Building a habit is a hard thing.
I want to write more, but seem unable to find time for it. I own lots of writing apps, but I barely use them.
Know what my problem is? I want, but I don’t do.
Enough!
Challenge: one post (minimum 300 characters) every day for 21 days.
Prize: this site gets moved to Squarespace.
Go!
