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Ask HN: Working Tactics?

5 points by shiny ↗ HN
What are the various tactics and strategies you use to get yourself working and get things done?

My favorite is 'time boxing', from Steve Pavlina, where one commits a certain amount of time, usually an hour and a half for me, to focusing 100% on some task.

Also, any links or book recommendations on this topic is greatly appreciated.

4 comments

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waleedka
A friend and I work on our own separate startups and we searched for ways to increase our productivity. We started a weekly challenge. Every week we meet in a coffee shop and set goals that we must achieve by the next meeting. If goals are not met, we commit to buying coffee and deserts for everyone else in the meeting. It worked wonders and we both got so much more done faster.
gtani
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/productivity

shouldn't take more than 3 weeks to read thru 187 threads!

Like ev'body else, skim/read David Allen's "Get Things DONe", my favorite tactics(not neces. from book) are daily priority lists, turning off productivity devices (email, cell phone, pager, and you don't have to read snail mail every day), controlled work environment (ambient lighting, noise-reducing headphones, good laptops, external keyboard/mouse)

tristmegistus
I found several effective techniques to get myself working in 'The Now Habit" by Neal Fiore. It focuses more on the psychology and why we procrastinate and provides some useful tools to deal with it.

An example is to schedule time for fun, instead of work. Schedule times to see a movie, see a friend, exercise, or other activities you want to do. The benefit is that when I'm sure I will get the fun things I want, it's easier for me to focus on other tasks in the meantime.

He also describes a 'time boxing' technique that I've found very useful myself. A 30 minute commitment for me does the trick. Usually I'll end up working longer in a stretch and find it easier to recover from interruptions during that 30 minute commitment.

makecheck
A simple to-do list alongside E-mail (e.g. Lightning plug-in in Thunderbird) is really nice. Seeing lists, prioritizing them and crossing off items can be motivating.

When you check E-mail, there's a tendency to want to immediately respond to whatever is said, and this can be very distracting and time-consuming. You should believe that if something is truly critical, you will receive a phone call or a personal visit. So I usually check E-mail only twice a day, around 10:00 and 4:00, which leaves just enough time that morning/afternoon to deal with requests or minor problems.

I use a revision control system, and train myself to commit exactly one "feature" at a time so that my work is focused. This prevents going down ratholes, and makes the rollback "clean" (a single version is a focused change, not some random mix of whatever you were working on). It is also a useful reminder, e.g. you come back an hour later and just ask the revision control system what you changed.