"...But every second you spend learning about productivity is a second you aren’t, well, being productive..."
Making Time for Side Projects
41–46 of 46 posts
Re: Making Time for Side Projects
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
One thing that's been useful for me on this topic is to keep a simple dev diary. Mine looks like this: https://github.com/jrheard/voke/blob/master/dev-diary.txt . I use it to get as much project state as possible out of my head and into git. For "10 minutes figuring out where I was", I can just look at the end of my last diary entry, where I've often left a note like "this is what i'm working on: foo" or "do this nex…
That's very similar to what I do. I have a TODO list that includes notes, and big features that I break down into very small tasks. I can get back where I was on a project in just one minute, because the TODO list tells me. When debugging a difficult issue, I also take notes about my findings, and ideas of directions to investigate next.
I also do something similar with a TODO list however I haven't figured out a good solution to organize it. For example lets say i'm working on feature A and then B. During the developement of A, I find I also need C & D so I add them to the TODO list which now looks like ABCD when the actual development order needs to be ACDB. This cause my TODO list to become quickly out of sync with the order in which things need to be done. With long lists of inter-dependencies, have you found a good method of keeping your TODO list from jumping all over the place?
Re: Making Time for Side Projects
#43Regarding accepting meetings, etc. Robert Heinlein has a great quote... “Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect. But there is no reward…
But the article is about side projects, i.e. projects being done at home or otherwise outside of work. Who the heck struggles with juggling meetings outside of work? Do people have conference rooms in their house or something?
Volunteer organisations also have regular meetings, and if you're involved with multiple volunteer organisations then it can quickly become a time management issue.
Re: Making Time for Side Projects
#44Also: - spend less time at work (nobody cares about those stupid TPS reports anyway) - work smarter, i.e. produce more per unit of work. - focus only on the stuff that actually matters. - commit to task. I now set a goal (completing a small task such as fix a bug, implement a feature etc) for everytime I plan to work on my projects. For example next weekend: saturday -> setup webdev environment, sunday -> redesign my…
Setting up bitesize tasks is the best way to make progress. Add a new div to my page today, set up a function to handle it tomorrow, clean up a page after, etc.
Re: Making Time for Side Projects
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
How, with just an hour, do you manage to get anything meaningful done? I've tried that and I have to spend 10 minutes figuring out where I was, 15 minutes researching how to do the next bit that I want (esp. for a project in a new dev environment), 10 minutes upgrading various libraries or other stuff that is needed/needs updating, and then maybe 25 minutes of actual coding. I progresses very slowly. Maybe my side pr…
There are some methods to figure out where you were - I will not prescribe one, but a few are; leave work unfinished, manage a trello board with small functional pieces and prioritize the list, write lots of comments, write non-passing tests, etc. Also, if you're putting in an hour a night, why are you updating packages?
True, it's more like an hour every few days.
Re: Making Time for Side Projects
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's very similar to what I do. I have a TODO list that includes notes, and big features that I break down into very small tasks. I can get back where I was on a project in just one minute, because the TODO list tells me. When debugging a difficult issue, I also take notes about my findings, and ideas of directions to investigate next.
I also do something similar with a TODO list however I haven't figured out a good solution to organize it. For example lets say i'm working on feature A and then B. During the developement of A, I find I also need C & D so I add them to the TODO list which now looks like ABCD when the actual development order needs to be ACDB. This cause my TODO list to become quickly out of sync with the order in which things need t…
I reorder the items periodically. When I start my day, I make a plan for what I'd like to achieve, and organize it based on priorities, dependencies, and also what I feel like doing. If I'm tired and can't concentrate well one day, I will take on smaller and easier tasks.