Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Have you developed any habits to be more productive?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 38 posts

Re: Ask HN: Have you developed any habits to be more productive?

#21

Post by austin-cheney »

AS a former software developer here is what worked for me:

* Measure things. You really have no idea how slow you are unless you have data to compare against.

* Test automation. If you have good test automation in place you are free to take wild chances on improvements because the risks to regression are very low. If you have no idea what you are breaking when working on a new feature you are wrong on many levels.

* Total Cost of Ownership. Combine the prior two bullet points and realize that slow software steals moments of your life in little pieces. You should be completely OCD about software performance. When software takes less time to execute it takes less time to test, which means you can test more frequently. If you can run all your E2E tests in under two minutes your approach to architecture and risk evaluation wildly changes in ways you cannot imagine.

* Be Critical. In my time writing software I have seen many people do stupid costly things frequently out of social conformance, perceptions of easiness, and cowardice. Don't be a coward. Ask tough questions both to yourself and others. Frequently ask yourself why the fuck am I doing this? If you cannot receive an absolutely amazing (primitive, but with evidence) answer to that question alarms should be screaming in your head. If you work in an office full of stupid I would raise some concerns or look for work elsewhere.

That last bullet point is why I no longer program for money. There are too many cowards writing JavaScript. If you cannot even vocalize devastating concerns without becoming a pariah its time to do something else in life.

Re: Ask HN: Have you developed any habits to be more productive?

#24

Post by muzani »

What works for me:

1. Take a shower & brush teeth twice a day. Have all clothes in a clear area that I can take with my eyes closed. All the hygiene stuff should be automatic.

2. Two lists - to do & schedule. I like weekly scheduling. I list everything I plan to do in the week and then drop them by day. Because I tend to put things off until 4 PM and then have a burst of energy to finish them. Some do better scheduling every hour of the day. To do is just a stack you dump into and pull from. Don't fill it out too long.

3. Finish stuff. 95% done stuff lingers on the mind and drains energy, when you should just push it to 100%.

4. Clean up everything for 15 min at the end of the day. Also clears the mind. No more than 15 min. Dump email, slack, etc into your To Do or Schedule. If I don't have time to clean up, it's an alarm bell saying I lost control.

5. Batch non-maker time and be present. We found out we were losing 2 days per week to interruptions and stuff, and these meetings and interruptions weren't useful because nobody paid attention. So we batched Monday and Wednesday as meeting days. Find the right tempo for your workflow - you might need 3 days, you might need a few hours. If you work hybrid, then office days are your non-maker times.

What I'd like to do: Build workouts into (1) as well.

Re: Ask HN: Have you developed any habits to be more productive?

#25

Post by muzani »

purple-leafy wrote: post #4

Yes, but I don’t do these just for productivity - Delete ALL social media. I just have hackernews. No Facebook, no reddit, Insta, Snapchat, TikTok etc - Get rid of TV - Get a dumb phone (don’t have it now but did at one point) - Make a budget, track incoming income and all expenses. This allows you to ask the question, what is the goal/desire of my productivity? So with all that, I’m pretty productive

I found budgeting really unproductive and ended up costing more money ("I need to use up my gaming budget! I need a big enough monthly budget to cover the next sale!").

Taking from systems design, monitor stocks, not flows. Make several bank accounts (digital banks are good for this), watch how much money is in those accounts, and whether they're going up and down. It's more suited for the human brain. If the numbers are moving in an unexpected way, then you can check each one.

Re: Ask HN: Have you developed any habits to be more productive?

#26

Post by muzani »

bruce511 wrote: post #9

"Productivity" can be a frustrating term. Because there are things we have to do and things we want to do. When I supported my own code I'd "feel" like a productive day was when I programmed (what I wanted to do) versus support (which I has to do.) When I (finally) realized that support was part of my job, I could see that as productivity. 30 years on I'll still wake up with an idea of what I'm working on today, the…

Join a company which measures productivity in the way you do. It took me 10 years to find one. When people say do what you love, it really means doing what you're in alignment with.

Re: Ask HN: Have you developed any habits to be more productive?

#27

Post by mnky9800n »

I went to therapy. Figured out that a lot of the things I blamed on ADHD were actually learned behaviours from childhood to try and keep people around me happy and my life free of conflict. I started to learn that I didn't need to reply every email, slack, teams, whatever immediately. I didn't spend so much time listening to the critical voice in my head running me down. I can do things that are good for me and take care of myself. My life didn't need to always be on the edge of crisis. It's taken a long time but I feel like things are better these days. I certainly have an easier time working.

Re: Ask HN: Have you developed any habits to be more productive?

#28

Post by antwerp1 »

muzani wrote: post #25
purple-leafy wrote: post #4

Yes, but I don’t do these just for productivity - Delete ALL social media. I just have hackernews. No Facebook, no reddit, Insta, Snapchat, TikTok etc - Get rid of TV - Get a dumb phone (don’t have it now but did at one point) - Make a budget, track incoming income and all expenses. This allows you to ask the question, what is the goal/desire of my productivity? So with all that, I’m pretty productive

I found budgeting really unproductive and ended up costing more money ("I need to use up my gaming budget! I need a big enough monthly budget to cover the next sale!"). Taking from systems design, monitor stocks, not flows. Make several bank accounts (digital banks are good for this), watch how much money is in those accounts, and whether they're going up and down. It's more suited for the human brain. If the numbers…

Can you elaborate on the second point? Sounds like an interesting dynamic but I don’t understand..

Re: Ask HN: Have you developed any habits to be more productive?

#30

Post by annie_muss »

I have a huge toolbox of techniques I use to keep on top of my productivity. I think I am an averagely productive person, which is a huge achievement for me as I struggle with ADHD.

Having systems for things helps immensely. Use a calendar, write things in the calendar as much as possible. Use some kind of to do list to keep track of what tasks are on your plate.

These systems will work well 90% of the time. Be mentally prepared for the 10% of the time when they don't. Accept that you might use the system "wrong" like writing a todo in the calendar because it will remind you of something important at the right time.

Reduce distractions with blocking software, but don't try to use blocking software as a replacement for self-control. Chrome plugins that let you access YouTube but hide the "related videos" feed are great. You can click on a YouTube video, watch the content and then stay on the task. Trying to lock yourself out of all possibly distracting sites usually just results in going to even more extreme lengths to circumvent the block. It's very "binge/purge cycle".

When planning, try to predict road blocks, both internal and external. We often write plans with the perfect happy path in mind. If your plan is to jog to the gym in the morning, what will you do when it's pouring with rain? If you plan to study programming all afternoon but your neighbor decides it's time for a 5 hour drumming session, where will you go? You want to try some new hobby, what will you do when you feel anxious driving up the first session? Getting good at predicting and planning around problems is a fantastic skill. You'll start noticing your emotional state more and noticing how it affects your productivity too. Nervous? Anxious? Angry? They can all throw you off your game (this is the biggest part of ADHD in my opinion, you're dealing with a storm of emotions that you aren't very good at handling when trying to complete necessary tasks. Many procrastination behaviors stem from this)

As for tools: if in doubt, use a pen and paper. A small notebook and pen is an incredibly versatile and flexible device that is also cheap and low distraction. If you don't have a good reason to choose something else, start with pen and paper.

Post reply on HN