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RE: Becoming More Productive

Jeff Moden — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:58:25 GMT

Heh... my response would have been the same 5 years ago. :-)

RE: Becoming More Productive

GilaMonster — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:33:30 GMT

5-year old thread alert.

RE: Becoming More Productive

Jeff Moden — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 11:32:16 GMT

[quote][b]Haidong Ji (1/13/2005)[/b][hr]Thanks Brain for pointing out that link. Steve's articles are my favorite, especially the one that talks about procrastination:http://www.dexterity.com/articles/overcoming-procrastination.htm[/quote]It's ironic that you've made the very mistake that so many people make when they're trying to be "productive". His name is "Brian"... not "Brain". Although many people will overlook such a thing, many more will not especially on "first contact" and may, in fact, judge you by that.Being productive doesn't mean cranking out a lot... it means cranking out a lot that's right. ;-) Too many people rush trying to be productive and end up making very costly mistakes even in something as simple as an email. If you make a mistake in code by rushing and it gets promoted to production, it will cost much more to find and fix the mistake than it would if you'd slow down and double check/test your work as you go. Possibly insulting a first contact, especially a possible customer, by mispelling their 5 letter name can cause damage that will never be repaired because first impressions are lasting and you may lose the customer because of it.It is NEVER worth doing over... do it right the first time even if it means you need to be "less productive". Ironically, you'll be much more productive by slowing down in the long run.So far as emails and instant messages go, I absolutely agree that it should be contained and constrained. I've had people in the next cube send me emails and IM's with no other distribution instead of just saying "Hey Jeff... can you yada-yada...". It's gotten so it's all very stupid. When a message comes in, it's difficult to tell from the "You have Mail" alert whether it's something critical or something that can wait and, of course, people just don't put whether it's something that needs immediate attention in the subject nor do they correctly mark the email priority. As a result, I have to check every time the bloody bell rings because it could be an automated email from a system in trouble or the big boss needs something for a customer right now.

RE: Becoming More Productive

Haidong Ji — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:51:21 GMT

Thanks.Lookout was bought by Microsoft a few years back. Nowadays I use Google's desktop search for outlook as well.

RE: Becoming More Productive

ethandowney — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 03:51:53 GMT

Hey thank you for the great article, there are really a few good tip how to manage your time!But beside this I can recommend you another great tool, with which I manage my e-mail chaos! Lookeen[url=http://www.lookeen.net][/url] Its a e-mail search tool and a desktop search tool, so you just need only one tool and not two! I agree with you that Lookout was really a great help, but because of undeveloped situation of Lookout I think Lookeen is the most eqaul follower for Lookout!Maybe you are interested in it! :-)

RE: Becoming More Productive

Haidong Ji — Thu, 13 Jan 2005 10:31:00 GMT

Thanks Brain for pointing out that link. Steve's articles are my favorite, especially the one that talks about procrastination:http://www.dexterity.com/articles/overcoming-procrastination.htmHaidong

RE: Becoming More Productive

YSLGuru — Thu, 30 Dec 2004 13:33:00 GMT

Brian,

I can't find the words to thank you enough for the links to the motivational articles at dexterity.com . The techniques provided in these articles will greatly help me and my co-workers with improving how we manage our time.

Thank You

RE: Becoming More Productive

Brian Lockwood — Thu, 30 Dec 2004 11:06:00 GMT

see http://www.dexterity.com/articles/ for some of the best articles in the world in developer productivity and motivation.

Becoming More Productive

Haidong Ji — Mon, 06 Dec 2004 16:56:00 GMT

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