Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
> > On Wednesday 27 Dec 2006 4:35 pm, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: > > Like for example, when you get stuck in an airport / traffic jam, when > > someone is supposed to show up for a meeting and doesn't, when you are > > supposed to be working on the computer but your broadband / > > electricity won't work, when you really want to sleep, but sleep won't > > come. > > > I think you are trying to find the formula to get all sorts of stress > disorders, a divorce (or severely strained marriage) and regrets that you > never really spent time with your kids while they were growing up > using the > excuse that they were all part of "productivity" > > But then again - I may have misunderstood the intent of your first post. > > Frankly and with no malice intended - I am tempted to rip apart > your first > post line by line and say why I have said what I said above. > Instead I will > merely mention that well known story about time management which > speaks of > putting the "big rocks in first" > > http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadtime.html > > shiv "LEISURE" What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows. No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass. No time to see, in broad daylight, Streams full of stars, like skies at night. No time to turn at Beauty's glance, And watch her feet, how they can dance. No time to wait till her mouth can Enrich that smile her eyes began. A poor life this if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. By Wm. Henry Davies.
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
in infinite wisdom shiv sastry spoke thus On 12/29/2006 10:32 PM: There was a SciAm article on the subject Dependable Software by Design http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00020D04-CFD8-146C-8D8D83414B7F&pageNumber=2&catID=2 If you subscribe to the Risks Lists (http://www.risks.org), every week you get to see how systems can fail inspite of the best efforts of its creators. Here is one such incident that I doubt any software engineer(hehe) would be able to figure out " Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:13:36 -0600 From: "Ted Lee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Trig error checking (RISKS-24.51/52) Speaking of spurious faults, which "mike martin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> did in RISKS-24.52, I am reminded of an amusingly insidious fault I ended up tracking down at the PDP-1 at the Cambridge Electron Accelerator ca. 1968. The machine was used primarily to run experiments, but one of the professors had the idea of also using it as a teaching aid. The machine had been retrofitted with memory protection hardware so several experimenters could run their software at once without stepping on each other's toes. (As I recall, it didn't have any address translation, just protection) I ran a program (n-body simulator for elementary physics classes) I'd written that had been working fine -- and it came up with a memory fault, repeatedly. I tracked the fault down to happening in a display subroutine, in particular, a subroutine to draw a circle. I vaguely remember simplifying everything so all I was doing was drawing a single large circle (like a foot in diameter -- the screen was huge) -- and the machine and display were slow enough I could see that the fault happened exactly at something like the top of the screen. The only "interesting" thing about that is that it was at a point where the value in the accumulator would have been all 1's and on the next iteration overflowed to all 0's. For any of you old enough to know what a real computer was like, the buses in this machine were bundles of wires or flat cables with something like 18 wires in them. It turns out that the single wire (and it really was a single wire that just sort of hung across the electronic racks) that carried the signal indicating a protection violation had been routed close to the accumulator: the sudden energy of all the bits turning from 1 to 0 got coupled into that wire and caused the fault. " -- raj shekhar facts: http://rajshekhar.net | opinions: http://rajshekhar.net/blog I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none.
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On Thursday 28 Dec 2006 9:38 am, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: > Any method in which I can deal with the > uncertainities and stupidity that India throws at me will certainly > help. Another take .."taken" from another board :) A PRAYER FOR THE STRESSED Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,the courage to change things that I cannot accept,and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those I had to kill today because they got on my nerves... Also help me to be careful of the toes I step on today as they may be connected to the feet I have to kiss tomorrow.. Help me to always give 100% at work.. 12% on Mondays 23% on Tuesdays 40% on Wednesdays 20% on Thursdays 5% on Fridays And help me to remember when I am having a bad day and it seems people are trying to wind me up that.. It takes 42 muscles to frown, 28 muscles to smile, and only 4 to extend my arm and smack someone in the mouth shiv
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On 29/12/06 22:32 +0530, shiv sastry wrote: > On Friday 29 Dec 2006 4:54 pm, Vinayak Hegde wrote: > > On 12/29/06, Devdas Bhagat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Activities like debugging are even worse. > > > > Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. > > > There was a SciAm article on the subject > > Dependable Software by Design > http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00020D04-CFD8-146C-8D8D83414B7F&pageNumber=2&catID=2 > That works if you know all the requirements upfront, and they don't change. A lot of work has gone into being able to deal with changing requirements. Failure to do so can be fairly expensive. I notice that the examples given in the article are fairly simple ones, where failure scenarios can be completely enumarated. I would really like to see them doing the same study for say, an office suite running across a bunch of different operating systems, library versions, hardware, and interacting with other applications. Devdas Bhagat
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On 29/12/06 22:39 +0530, shiv sastry wrote: > On Friday 29 Dec 2006 4:20 pm, Devdas Bhagat wrote: > > As soon as you find a way for humans to share their thoughts more > > efficiently than by speaking them out :). Some parts of programming > > workload can be split up, but some cannot. Activities like debugging are > > even worse. > > > > Devdas Bhagat > > On second thoughts, and I guess you should know this better than me - isn't > FOSS/FLOSS the way to go about it? > In this case, FOSS is pretty irrelevant. The smallest unit of programming thought is fairly complex. > Humans CAN and have designed ways to share thoughts in various ways. Sharing > code and documentation is a great way to do that. Have you considered the added overheads of communication? Refer: The Mythical Man Month, also http://en.wikipedia.org/en/The_Mythical_Man-Month Devdas Bhagat
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On Friday 29 Dec 2006 4:20 pm, Devdas Bhagat wrote: > As soon as you find a way for humans to share their thoughts more > efficiently than by speaking them out :). Some parts of programming > workload can be split up, but some cannot. Activities like debugging are > even worse. > > Devdas Bhagat On second thoughts, and I guess you should know this better than me - isn't FOSS/FLOSS the way to go about it? Humans CAN and have designed ways to share thoughts in various ways. Sharing code and documentation is a great way to do that. shiv
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On Friday 29 Dec 2006 4:54 pm, Vinayak Hegde wrote: > On 12/29/06, Devdas Bhagat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Activities like debugging are even worse. > > Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. There was a SciAm article on the subject Dependable Software by Design http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00020D04-CFD8-146C-8D8D83414B7F&pageNumber=2&catID=2
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On 12/29/06, Devdas Bhagat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Activities like debugging are even worse. Some quote related to debugging :) Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it. - Brian W. Kernighan If debugging is the process of removing bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in. - Edsger Dijkstra -- Vinayak
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On 29/12/06 06:19 +0530, shiv sastry wrote: > > If the act of programming gets thrown of gear by life events, could your > example mean that programming should really move from a single-person work > overload paradigm to a more effective and cooperative multiple person work > sharing arrangement so that nobody has to get upset by unavoidable life > circumstances? > As soon as you find a way for humans to share their thoughts more efficiently than by speaking them out :). Some parts of programming workload can be split up, but some cannot. Activities like debugging are even worse. Devdas Bhagat
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
shiv sastry [29/12/06 06:28 +0530]: On Friday 29 Dec 2006 6:22 am, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote: it's already moved there .. or why do you think infy, cognizant etc hire so many people? Indeed - and if this is not reducing stress caused by life events there has to be something wrong somewhere. Right? bad team setups (too many newbies crammed into a single team with maybe one ok to good guy in them) to pad numbers that the company presents to clients [hey, we have 10 guys working on your project full time!] .. -- Suresh Ramasubramanian | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | gpg EDEDEFB9 email sturmbahnfuehrer | lower middle class unix sysadmin
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On Friday 29 Dec 2006 6:22 am, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote: > it's already moved there .. or why do you think infy, cognizant etc hire so > many people? Indeed - and if this is not reducing stress caused by life events there has to be something wrong somewhere. Right? shiv
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
shiv sastry [29/12/06 06:19 +0530]: If the act of programming gets thrown of gear by life events, could your example mean that programming should really move from a single-person work overload paradigm to a more effective and cooperative multiple person work sharing arrangement so that nobody has to get upset by unavoidable life circumstances? it's already moved there .. or why do you think infy, cognizant etc hire so many people? -- Suresh Ramasubramanian | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | gpg EDEDEFB9 email sturmbahnfuehrer | lower middle class unix sysadmin
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On Friday 29 Dec 2006 12:00 am, Devdas Bhagat wrote: > Things which require you to keep large amounts of data in short term > memory, like programming, mathematics, chess, writing ... > > Think of it as the equivalent of doing surgery while maintaining > anaesthesia and blood flow and all the others things in an OT all by > yourself. Any interruption can be fatal to your thought process. The example you quote is of physical activities about which humans decided long ago that doing all those things together (while possible) is basically unsafe and undesirable and the patient (not the surgeon) is at risk. That is why task sharing and subspecialization developed in medicine. Surgeons need to go to the toilet urgently and surgeons also die while operating. That does not generally mean much for the patient - the system is robust enough to cope with that without having to complain about the environment. Chess players cope with life circumstances as do mathematicians, writers and I guess most programmers too. If the act of programming gets thrown of gear by life events, could your example mean that programming should really move from a single-person work overload paradigm to a more effective and cooperative multiple person work sharing arrangement so that nobody has to get upset by unavoidable life circumstances? shiv
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On 28/12/06 20:13 +0530, shiv sastry wrote: > On Thursday 28 Dec 2006 7:41 pm, Devdas Bhagat wrote: > > the things he is doing involve juggling insane amounts of state > > wat dat means - may I ask? Things which require you to keep large amounts of data in short term memory, like programming, mathematics, chess, writing ... Think of it as the equivalent of doing surgery while maintaining anaesthesia and blood flow and all the others things in an OT all by yourself. Any interruption can be fatal to your thought process. Devdas Bhagat
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On Thursday 28 Dec 2006 7:41 pm, Devdas Bhagat wrote: > the things he is doing involve juggling insane amounts of state wat dat means - may I ask?
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On 28/12/06 12:27 -, Badri Natarajan wrote: > > > > It's another thing that I find that most folks in India don't take you > > seriously unless you appear to be breathing fire, but this is just not > > what I want to become. Any method in which I can deal with the > > uncertainities and stupidity that India throws at me will certainly > > Cheeni, > > How did you adjust when you were a kid, before you went abroad and came > back? Presumably you just accepted things as they happened (like Shiv's > pointed out)..why can't you go back to that state of mind now? Because he is used to things actually working now? And because he wants to get things done to enjoy hopefully unbroken leisure? Or merely because the things he is doing involve juggling insane amounts of state and you can't keep doing that with breaks in between? Devdas Bhagat
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
This I agree with - both pranayama and shavasana are superb for relaxing and focusing the mind. I also agree with the 'reputed person' suggestion ... not one of the new fly-by-night 'gurus' who combine these with ayurvedic massages from Kerala. Having said that I would highly recommend AGAINST doing either of the asanas in a car. Sorry Sastry... I am not sure these are condusive to avoiding the sudden side-swipe from the ubiquitous biker / driver in a hurry... Adit. On 12/28/06, shiv sastry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Take a course from a reputed person (if possible) in doing pranayama (Yogic breathing) and shavasana. Shavasana literally means "dead-body-posture" and is incredibly relaxing and can be done sitting in your car in a traffic jam and
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
> > It's another thing that I find that most folks in India don't take you > seriously unless you appear to be breathing fire, but this is just not > what I want to become. Any method in which I can deal with the > uncertainities and stupidity that India throws at me will certainly Cheeni, How did you adjust when you were a kid, before you went abroad and came back? Presumably you just accepted things as they happened (like Shiv's pointed out)..why can't you go back to that state of mind now? Badri
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On Thursday 28 Dec 2006 9:38 am, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: > Any method in which I can deal with the > uncertainities and stupidity that India throws at me will certainly > help. Rule number ONE: Time schedules are almost meaningless. "two minutes" means 10 to 30 minutes "Ten minutes" means one to four hours. "Today" means in the next two or three days "Tomorrow" means - Nothing has been done about it and the person who has to do something about it is currently unavailable and there is bugger-all that you can do about it even if you have an apoplectic fit and surprise your wife yet again with your temper. 10 AM means 11 AM If your mother and father have not lost touch, try to take their help and look at the Hindu calendar for good days and bad days, auspicious days and festivals. A lot big things will never start on bad days. Festivals like Dussera and Diwali are a disaster. Work will generally not get done. Many people do work Sundays and they do work after hours - up to 7 or 8 PM if need be. Only the IT industry and Seventh Day adventists think Saturday is a holiday. Do not get ready with bribes unless you want to be hoodwinked and shown up as a sucker. Speak in Kannada if possible - failing that Telugu or Tamil may work, Hindi less often. English means you are a sucker. Take a course from a reputed person (if possible) in doing pranayama (Yogic breathing) and shavasana. Shavasana literally means "dead-body-posture" and is incredibly relaxing and can be done sitting in your car in a traffic jam and in front of your dead DSL modem. I actually learned these from a book by a French guy - can't recall the name. Let India grow into you. In India if you are frustrated you are totally alone. Like birth and death. All alone. If you are calm, relaxed and accepting of things you cannot help - you survive. Remember that when you can't change people and circumstances around you to fit your timescales, you can still change yourself. shiv
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: > not given to shouting. My wife can't remember any time that I've > seriously lost my temper, and she was just amazed listening to me on Ha. You haven't been married all that long, Cheeni .. so I dont know if that alters the case somewhat, re the frequency of your blowing your top :) srs
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On 12/27/06, Devdas Bhagat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [...] Stress can equally well be caused when you are raring to go and cannot work due to external factors. I find that is the case often these days for me, just the other day I was getting my home DSL connection installed. After verification that the DSL folks who had been giving me the run around for some time were going to be at my home around 6:30 PM, I left work early on a busy day to be in time. Many calls later there was still no DSL installation team at home. I completely lost it and flew at the DSL technician over the phone line like I've rarely seen people ever do. Of course the DSL got installed pretty quickly the next day (surprise, surprise), but I surprised myself. I am generally mild mannered and not given to shouting. My wife can't remember any time that I've seriously lost my temper, and she was just amazed listening to me on the phone with the DSL guy. I can probably remember a few other similar instances in the past few days. It's another thing that I find that most folks in India don't take you seriously unless you appear to be breathing fire, but this is just not what I want to become. Any method in which I can deal with the uncertainities and stupidity that India throws at me will certainly help. Cheeni
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
shiv sastry wrote: [ on 07:02 AM 12/28/2006 ] Your dad will probably love you whether you call him or not. That's his karma. In most cases of relationships - it takes two to Tango. If you decide to satisfy your part of the relationship deal during unpredictable periods like traffic jams, you can expect that sort of treatment from others as well. Cue "Cats in the cradle" lyrics here: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/u/ugly+kid+joe/cats+in+the+cradle_20141999.html Udhay -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On Wednesday 27 Dec 2006 6:30 pm, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: > Whoa! How does calling my dad on the phone in a traffic jam cause my > family to fall apart? Your dad will probably love you whether you call him or not. That's his karma. In most cases of relationships - it takes two to Tango. If you decide to satisfy your part of the relationship deal during unpredictable periods like traffic jams, you can expect that sort of treatment from others as well. If you have lived 30 years - only the last 15 years or so have been spent as an "adult". From 30 you have another 45 years at least to live - i.e. 300% more than you can recall as an adult - in which you will find yourself becoming increasingly dependent on others - even as an increasing number of people become dependent on you. And if you should fall ill or become otherwise hampered by inconvenient indisposition on the part of others such as childbirth or a child's illness, you have to decide whether you are going to consider these as unproductive pauses in life and whether you are going to fill these pauses up productively with phone calls to your dad. Typically when a really productive person disappears from the scene temporarily or permanently - the world finds that it is able to cope perfectly well without that person after a brief period of mourning. In other words being obsessively "productive" is something you are doing for yourself and not for anyone else, and given that there are only 24 hours in a day that productivity is being achieved at the expense of other things that you probably should be doing for yourself. It's your call. I recall a joke doing the rounds in college when we would take amphetamines to stay up and study and still say that we should put an appeal through to God to create 28 or 48 hour days. I deliberately gladly opted for a job in the UK that put me on call and working 144 hours in a week (a 1 in 2 rota). But such hours are illegal now across the EU. You would not want to be operated upon by a doctor who has slept only 2 hours in 48 hours. I (and a whole lot of others) did exactly that and there are statistics to show what that did to patients. Relaxation, pauses and contemplation are important for productivity but are not easily quantifiable in terms of the "What should I be doing in the 86,400 seconds I have available today?" venturi that you could mistakenly choose to put your life through. Just my opinion shiv
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On 27/12/06 23:32 +0530, Vinayak Hegde wrote: > That sounds like a stringent form of the typical schedule Mumbai families > follow and where time for bath, breakfast ... etc in the morning are a > function of the north-bound train timings. s/north/south/ Devdas Bhagat
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On 12/27/06, Srini Ramakrishnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I used to know this down to the second, but I remember it was less than 15 minutes. My diet was restricted to ramen and pasta on most days. The routine was to get up and get the pot with the veggies boiling before brushing my teeth, and I usually dropped in the ramen and seasoning before hitting the shower. In all I used to be able to leave home with lunch and dinner packed within 30 minutes of waking. Thank goodness for frozen veggies, packed potato chips and ramen, I'd never have survived otherwise. I admit it was a bit like being in the army in more ways than one, but the benefit was that with an unvarying routine I didn't have to think much. I knew I always took 165 seconds in the shower or some such. I had to, or the ramen would boil over. My schedule was naturally timed to coincide with the bus timings, so on a good day I would reach the bus-stop the same time as the bus. On the days the bus let me down, I would begin jogging to school, it was important to be reasonably true to the clock, it wasn't more than a mile anyway. That sounds like a stringent form of the typical schedule Mumbai families follow and where time for bath, breakfast ... etc in the morning are a function of the north-bound train timings. -- Vinayak
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On 12/27/06, Srini Ramakrishnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: In the past when I've needed to concentrate on work, and get massive amounts of work out of the door I've resorted to a very simple strategy - I've maxed out my time. I found some of the ideas on this blog pretty useful. Simple but effective. http://www.davecheong.com/2006/08/14/18-ways-to-stay-focused-at-work/ -- Vinayak
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On 12/27/06, Srini Ramakrishnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: On 12/27/06, shiv sastry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > What is a meaningless pause in life? Let's not take things too literally here. I was refering to any event outside of your control where you are usually idle and doing next to nothing. Like for example, when you get stuck in an airport / traffic jam, when someone is supposed to show up for a meeting and doesn't, when you are supposed to be working on the computer but your broadband / electricity won't work, when you really want to sleep, but sleep won't come. I find taking 3 to 5 slow and utterly mindful breaths to be an excellent activity to engaged in when you are stuck with a pause by external factors. Thaths -- Homer: He has all the money in the world, but there's one thing he can't buy. Marge: What's that? Homer: (pause) A dinosaur. -- Homer J. Simpson Sudhakar ChandraSlacker Without Borders
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On 27/12/06 17:58 +0530, Udhay Shankar N wrote: > Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: [ on 04:35 PM 12/27/2006 ] > > >>What is a meaningless pause in life? > > > >Let's not take things too literally here. I was refering to any event > >outside of your control where you are usually idle and doing next to > >nothing. > > I noted your wording as well but chose not to comment earlier. I > believe that the need to do something "productive" during every > waking second is a huge cause of stress and burnout, but since you > said you don't want comments in that vein, I resisted the temptation > to get on the hobbyhorse. :) Stress can equally well be caused when you are raring to go and cannot work due to external factors. Devdas Bhagat
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On 12/27/06, shiv sastry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: On Wednesday 27 Dec 2006 4:35 pm, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: > Like for example, when you get stuck in an airport / traffic jam, when > someone is supposed to show up for a meeting and doesn't, when you are > supposed to be working on the computer but your broadband / > electricity won't work, when you really want to sleep, but sleep won't > come. I think you are trying to find the formula to get all sorts of stress disorders, a divorce (or severely strained marriage) and regrets that you never really spent time with your kids while they were growing up using the excuse that they were all part of "productivity" Whoa! How does calling my dad on the phone in a traffic jam cause my family to fall apart? On the contrary I am hoping that by squeezing the free space in my calendar that is created by the inefficiencies around me to work to my advantage I don't lose my previously allocated work time to make up for the time spent in traffic. Divorces occur when you don't add the marriage to your list of priorities, preferrably right at the top. http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadtime.html Thanks, I am reading it. Cheeni
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On Wednesday 27 Dec 2006 6:06 pm, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote: > watch "Click" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_(film)
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
Cheeni, you want to go watch "Click" shiv sastry wrote: > On Wednesday 27 Dec 2006 4:35 pm, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: >> Like for example, when you get stuck in an airport / traffic jam, when >> someone is supposed to show up for a meeting and doesn't, when you are > > I think you are trying to find the formula to get all sorts of stress > disorders, a divorce (or severely strained marriage) and regrets that you > never really spent time with your kids while they were growing up using the > excuse that they were all part of "productivity"
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On Wednesday 27 Dec 2006 4:35 pm, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: > Like for example, when you get stuck in an airport / traffic jam, when > someone is supposed to show up for a meeting and doesn't, when you are > supposed to be working on the computer but your broadband / > electricity won't work, when you really want to sleep, but sleep won't > come. I think you are trying to find the formula to get all sorts of stress disorders, a divorce (or severely strained marriage) and regrets that you never really spent time with your kids while they were growing up using the excuse that they were all part of "productivity" But then again - I may have misunderstood the intent of your first post. Frankly and with no malice intended - I am tempted to rip apart your first post line by line and say why I have said what I said above. Instead I will merely mention that well known story about time management which speaks of putting the "big rocks in first" http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadtime.html shiv
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: [ on 04:35 PM 12/27/2006 ] What is a meaningless pause in life? Let's not take things too literally here. I was refering to any event outside of your control where you are usually idle and doing next to nothing. I noted your wording as well but chose not to comment earlier. I believe that the need to do something "productive" during every waking second is a huge cause of stress and burnout, but since you said you don't want comments in that vein, I resisted the temptation to get on the hobbyhorse. :) Udhay -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On 12/27/06, shiv sastry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: On Wednesday 27 Dec 2006 10:36 am, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: > meaningless pauses in life. What is a meaningless pause in life? Let's not take things too literally here. I was refering to any event outside of your control where you are usually idle and doing next to nothing. Like for example, when you get stuck in an airport / traffic jam, when someone is supposed to show up for a meeting and doesn't, when you are supposed to be working on the computer but your broadband / electricity won't work, when you really want to sleep, but sleep won't come. Cheeni
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
On Wednesday 27 Dec 2006 10:36 am, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: > meaningless pauses in life. What is a meaningless pause in life? shiv
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
I am looking therefore for a solution that will allow me to keep my thoughts together, reducing the time needed to switch tasks while retaining maximal task efficiency. It would be ideal if there was also a way to get the fun back into the tasks without having to allocate time on the calendar to spend with the family. That seems so robotronic. Have you looked at GTD? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gtd It's fairly popular with hackers now, and there's some form of GTD hackery available with almost all email/productivity apps around (including mutt, and Email.app). I've been using the system for ~6 months and have observed a significant increase in productivity and less stress due to trust in a system that actually works well. The problem with most 'productivity enhancing systems' though is that they all require management overhead, (such as morning reviews in GTD which is taking 15 minutes every morning to make sure all your data collection is properly organized, etc.) but I've noticed that with GTD this overhead is very low and the system works as long as you're collecting everything in a single place and using the system for all tasks, even longer-term stuff such as 'Become a sailor'. The book is an easy read, and highly recommended over a work-free weekend to organize yourself: http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things- Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0142000280/sr=8-1/qid=1167211258/ ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-0290580-1201679?ie=UTF8&s=books Also see: www.43folders.com for more stuff. Also, I agree with the recommendation to get a Pearl -- it's an excellent way to automate collecting 'todos', etc. otoh, scheduling time to spend with the family on your calendar is pretty inhuman. it must suck to be married. :) Cheers, Aditya
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
This is all in the past, I lead a much saner life now, but if you need the statistics, I can oblige. On 12/27/06, Abhishek Hazra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > this means 2 months at a stretch without ever seeing a Sunday, working > 16 hours straight every day that's fine. in your 16 hour schedule, how many hours of sleep goes into the remaining 8 hours? Usually about 5-6 hours and when *not* into this 16 hour schedule, what is your normal daily sleep time? 6-8 hours how many days can you remain above average productive with say, 2 hours of sleep daily? About 3-4 days, but in this period of 16 hour days with no holidays work period I rarely had a 2 hour sleep period, with adequate planning, I found that I could grab a 4-5 hour nap even on the really bad days. It was almost a rule that I never worked beyond 24 hours without a 2 hour nap. also, were you working from home, when you were doing the 16 hour spell? (that would mean zero commuting time.) Commute was about 20 minutes each way, I was in grad school so folks usually left me alone. I didn't have to attend meetings I really didn't have to, unless there was free pizza. also what would be the food? and how much (even if a minimal amount) would be spent cooking it? I used to know this down to the second, but I remember it was less than 15 minutes. My diet was restricted to ramen and pasta on most days. The routine was to get up and get the pot with the veggies boiling before brushing my teeth, and I usually dropped in the ramen and seasoning before hitting the shower. In all I used to be able to leave home with lunch and dinner packed within 30 minutes of waking. Thank goodness for frozen veggies, packed potato chips and ramen, I'd never have survived otherwise. I admit it was a bit like being in the army in more ways than one, but the benefit was that with an unvarying routine I didn't have to think much. I knew I always took 165 seconds in the shower or some such. I had to, or the ramen would boil over. My schedule was naturally timed to coincide with the bus timings, so on a good day I would reach the bus-stop the same time as the bus. On the days the bus let me down, I would begin jogging to school, it was important to be reasonably true to the clock, it wasn't more than a mile anyway. Being a poor grad student helped, but eating out also took too much time, and was a needless decision. Knowing the choice was always ramen and ramen made life simple, likewise with the attire. It was always a pair of jeans and t-shirt, with a jacket for the cold days. Thankfully all of this was only for one semester, I had things well under control and could relax thereafter. i always aspire to such 16 hour shifts but always fall horribly short :-( The human body is remarkable that way, I never needed an alarm to get up. I would be asleep within seconds of lying down, and I would wake up fully alert in roughly a little less than 6 hours just a little before the alarm clock would ring. I understood the phrase 'waking up like a soldier' back then, you wake up with a jolt, and the body is fully active, there is no groggy awakening. Cheeni
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
One thing that helped me was that I started playing guitar again and taking it as seriously (only as a hobby though). The point is that I've actively tried to put my mind to other things that I can do at home (with family) but need as much concentration as work. It was hard at first but things seem to be falling in place. Sometimes just being around helps. Besides my son likes to watch when I play (he's only 4). Adit. On 12/27/06, Srini Ramakrishnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Adit, [...] Your recommendation is well taken, except I seem to be currently doing some of that already. I can definitely do more in that direction, let me think about it. [...]
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
Cheeni, > I am looking therefore for a solution that will allow me to keep my > thoughts together, reducing the time needed to switch tasks while > retaining maximal task efficiency. It would be ideal if there was also > a way to get the fun back into the tasks without having to allocate > time on the calendar to spend with the family. That seems so > robotronic. It's also all to easy to assume you'll remember something later... only then you get interrupted... and later becomes *much* later... I'm there. :) My system can be summed up like this: o Keep notes as you go using your text editor (vim/emacs). Don't be tempted to make these notes pretty. These are your raw chicken scratchings. They're for you. Be free. RULES: insert date stamps, and put the most recent stuff at the top of the file. My notes log is called "notes.txt" o Make a daily list of things accomplished yesterday/today and goals remainder of day / tomorrow. Keep it really short. Again, these are notes for you, not a "report" for someone else. I keep my work log in a different file called "work.txt". Initially, entries look like this: Tue Dec 26 22:05:32 PST 2006 - blah blah blah - so forth and so on - yada yada yada I turn the '-' into a '+' for stuff that's done: Tue Dec 26 22:05:32 PST 2006 - blah blah blah + so forth and so on - yada yada yada Stuff that doesn't get done gets cut/pasted to the next day. Sort of like the "Franklin Planner" system, only without the stupid/expensive paper. After all, you own a computer... ;) RULES: You will end up missing days in your "work.txt" file. That's ok. The thing is, you need to backfill ... so if you skip 3 days, you've got 3 days of catching-up. This reinforces the habit. o Get a Blackberry Pearl. It's not evil. They are small (unlike normal Blackberries), and the calendar is fantastic. To make this more concrete, here's a snippet from my my "work.txt" file: Tue Dec 26 08:40:02 EST 2006 + In SVN r4700, made the close() async when virtualization server registration fails (avoids the potential for lengthy timouts) + Outlined delegated merge to Dave (wasn't sure if anybody had discussed it with him yet). - TODO: want to rationalize sandbox prop names + Gave Yong a tour of transparent layers, directory versioning, virtualization, and EchoDNS. + In SVN r4699, removed socket leak in virt server. + Review of EchoDNS. o Need 2 backup nameservers. o Get devoted / locked-down box. o Pay attn to geographic distribution + JVM bug: Event Handle Leak while using JNI http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6399321 JVM: 1.5.0_06 (which I'm using) > I'm open to suggestions that help productivity, whether in the manner > of tool suggestions, or schedule / lifestyle suggestions. Meta > discussions that will eventually arrive at a solution are ok too, but > responses that criticize this work ethos or preach a less-work > oriented lifestyle are strictly not kosher. It isn't that I don't > appreciate those lifestyles, but such discussions won't help me in my > current quest. > > I am not looking to kill myself with work, but merely eliminate slack > time and meaningless pauses in life. The nice thing about scratching notes out as you go is that you can collect info into sub-topics later if needed (but always make copies ... don't delete anything from the raw note log). Combine this "lazy note refinement" technique with with a Blackberry that helps you set aside blocks of time for doing tasks that have high priority but low intrinsic urgency... and you have a system. It really does work. I hope this helps, -Jon
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
Adit, [...] I was setting deadlines for myself that were not crucial for company success at the time. One can argue that there are other deliverables that ARE crucial for success and these could now be squeezed into a 60 hr week. but I say... why? [...] Analyzing priorities is definitely one way to go, I have used it in the past, even in the work frenzy phase of my life I mentioned earlier. I usually look to eliminate uncertainties, gathering data wherever possible. Working on a task that stretches interminably, or often gets stuck for want of some input causes a lot of irritation, and that leads to stress. I am currently timing myself [1] on the time spent on this thread, but that's probably temporary until I set myself some rule of thumb metrics. Constant measurement of time causes too much overhead. Your recommendation is well taken, except I seem to be currently doing some of that already. I can definitely do more in that direction, let me think about it. Most of my planning and co-ordination tasks require loading a lot of variables into memory and chewing on them for a bit. When life interrupts I usually get annoyed, so my earlier quest for a fast task switching idea remains. One way is for me to break down large tasks into smaller portions, but this usually takes at least one or more unbroken long sessions in the beginning to identify the smaller tasks, and if the underlying variables change at some point during the exercise the smaller tasks either need to be thrown out of the window, or need reorganization. Cheeni [1] http://slimtimer.com
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
Udhay Shankar N wrote [at 11:31 AM 12/27/2006] : Sounds like the Life Hacks column might have something useful. Maybe Danny will have something to add to this discussion? http://www.makezine.com/lifehacks/ Oops, looks like this is behind a subscription wall. Oh well. Udhay -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
Srini Ramakrishnan wrote [at 10:36 AM 12/27/2006] : I am looking therefore for a solution that will allow me to keep my thoughts together, reducing the time needed to switch tasks while retaining maximal task efficiency. It would be ideal if there was also a way to get the fun back into the tasks without having to allocate time on the calendar to spend with the family. That seems so robotronic. Sounds like the Life Hacks column might have something useful. Maybe Danny will have something to add to this discussion? http://www.makezine.com/lifehacks/ Udhay -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
this means 2 months at a stretch without ever seeing a Sunday, working 16 hours straight every day that's fine. in your 16 hour schedule, how many hours of sleep goes into the remaining 8 hours? and when *not* into this 16 hour schedule, what is your normal daily sleep time? how many days can you remain above average productive with say, 2 hours of sleep daily? also, were you working from home, when you were doing the 16 hour spell? (that would mean zero commuting time.) also what would be the food? and how much (even if a minimal amount) would be spent cooking it? i always aspire to such 16 hour shifts but always fall horribly short :-( On 12/27/06, Srini Ramakrishnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: In the past when I've needed to concentrate on work, and get massive amounts of work out of the door I've resorted to a very simple strategy - I've maxed out my time. In essence I tell myself that I don't get a break ever, and just concentrate on getting work done. If this means 2 months at a stretch without ever seeing a Sunday, working 16 hours straight every day that's fine. This has its obvious drawbacks, but basically since I am spending enormous number of hours on work, stuff happens even with minimal amounts of prioritization. A zero tolerance for procrastination / slack time is good, but it also gets incredibly boring since it's just work, work and more work. After a while you stop noticing, but then it also cuts you off from leading a normal life, like usually I wouldn't realize if the city was on fire, and I wouldn't remember what it feels like to sleep in late, or take a lazy shower. This was a few years ago when I was single, and I didn't care if anyone thought me weird for being so as long as I was getting work done. On the other hand, I am now married and I am expected to spend reasonable amounts of time at home to maintain a work - life balance. Plus, I live in India now, which means the mechanics of life will forcibly interrupt my thoughts pretty darn often. My phone line / electricity / broadband / water / transport / city will stop working all together or individually for no reason, and I need to fix it. I am looking therefore for a solution that will allow me to keep my thoughts together, reducing the time needed to switch tasks while retaining maximal task efficiency. It would be ideal if there was also a way to get the fun back into the tasks without having to allocate time on the calendar to spend with the family. That seems so robotronic. I'm open to suggestions that help productivity, whether in the manner of tool suggestions, or schedule / lifestyle suggestions. Meta discussions that will eventually arrive at a solution are ok too, but responses that criticize this work ethos or preach a less-work oriented lifestyle are strictly not kosher. It isn't that I don't appreciate those lifestyles, but such discussions won't help me in my current quest. I am not looking to kill myself with work, but merely eliminate slack time and meaningless pauses in life. ~Cheeni -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - does the frog know it has a latin name? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Re: [silk] Productivity ideas
Cheeni, My work environment may be different to yours, so some aspects may be fairly specific to what I do; but I think the essence of what you're trying to address is what I had to do 4 years ago. This is when a moved from a lazy academic environment into a VC firm. The pace hit me like a truck. I first drove my self nuts with 60 hr weeks. I am also married and have a kid and the work-life balance thing came up. I remember one night when I got back and looked at my son sleeping and realised that I had not seen him or a week; leaving before he was up and coming back after he was asleep. My wife said in jest 'he's going to start calling you uncle soon'. On hind sight it was a remarkably simple decision that I took, but one that may seem impossible at first to contemplate: I reduced my work load and stretched out the deliverables over a longer period of time. I was now coming home by 7:30 PM (barring the odd mid-nighter). I think prioritization is often a state of mind. Here are examples of what I did: there are always things that need doing but are not seminal for the immediate goal - generating web content Vs closing a deal; planning a PR campaign Vs preparing an investor presentation; drafting company ethics policies Vs managing portfolio company crises. What eventually happened was that websites, PR campaigns and policy-making got delayed (by 2-3 weeks). It did not matter in the overall scheme of things nor did anyone in my team seem to mind. What was relevant is that we closed the important deal, our investors were happy and our ethics policy document was eventually so good that other VC's now use this. I was setting deadlines for myself that were not crucial for company success at the time. One can argue that there are other deliverables that ARE crucial for success and these could now be squeezed into a 60 hr week. but I say... why? But this has worked for me ... it may not for people where deadlines are completely client / team driven. Adit. -- ...But always remember that irritation is what allows oysters to create pearls. Thank goodness for oysters because ulcers make crappy necklaces [Scott Adams]
