180 Personal productivity [1d]

As developers we are dealing with many tasks every week. We need a system to organize ourselves.

Important

Work on this lesson in advisor mode.

Learning goals

• You can explain why every incoming task must be captured outside your head, and you keep a to-do list that you maintain every day (any tool works, e.g. Holly or a todo.txt).
• You can break a task or project down into actionable first steps.
• You finish tasks before you start new ones, so your list doesn't fill up with "nearly done" items.
• You have a system for processing e-mail, so your inbox is not your to-do list.
• You use a calendar with notifications for appointments and deadlines.
• You can skim a large body of text before reading its relevant parts closely.
• You have decided which notifications may interrupt you and disabled the rest.

Resources

Read what's new to you, skim what's familiar, skip what you already master. Stop when you can meet the learning goals.

Your agent can also generate an overview, a tutorial or an explanation for anything here, tailored to what you already know. Just ask.

Getting things done

• ▶️ Selbstorganisation 1: Schaffe ein System als Grundlage 🇩🇪 Show archive.org snapshot and Selbstorganisation 2: Perfekt organisiert mit der GTD Methode 🇩🇪 Show archive.org snapshot — two video summaries of David Allen's Getting Things Done
• ▶️ So schaffst Du mehr als andere (Ivy-Lee-Methode) 🇩🇪 Show archive.org snapshot — a simpler system: pick the six things for tomorrow

Note

For work it's often sufficient to have a single to-do list.

Minimizing distractions

• 📄 Become a productive, distraction-free developer Show archive.org snapshot — on context switching
• 📄 Developer productivity: eliminating distractions and finding flow (archived)
• ▶️ Merlin Mann: Inbox Zero Show archive.org snapshot — the talk that coined the term; e-mail as a queue you empty, not a list you live in

Reading efficiently

• 📄 Reading strategies Show archive.org snapshot — skimming, scanning and close reading (UNSW)

Tip

Consider disabling desktop notifications for e-mail and Slack; decide deliberately which interruptions you allow.

Exercises

Set up your system

Set up your personal task system today, and use it from now on:

• Pick one place where every task lands — a notes app, a todo app, or paper. The tool doesn't matter; having exactly one inbox does.
• Capture everything currently floating in your head or your Slack mentions: open tasks from your mentor, review follow-ups, things you promised someone.
• For each captured task, write the next physical step, not the goal ("ask mentor for staging dump", not "database exercise").
• Put the recurring rhythm into your calendar: the weekly review, the check-in, and a daily slot for your #trainee status update.
• Configure your notifications so deep work is possible: Slack and e-mail get checked on your schedule, not theirs.

Bring your system to the next mentor review and walk your mentor through it — where tasks land, and how nothing gets lost.