When toxicity spills over into my timeline despite my best filtering efforts, my head goes to a bad place. I lose focus on work, finding myself instead brooding on the dark proclamations of the vocal bitter who wield hashtags as cudgels.
With more days than I want falling into a pattern of working more hours than I'd like, I've gotten serious about determining what the problem is. Do I need to turn away projects? Should I hire someone to handle some of the load? Am I not embracing the life of a stereotypical small business owner? Or is this just a matter of being inefficient?
Here's a short car video where I recommend shutting off notifications as a way to increase productivity. Spoiler alert. That's pretty much the summary of the entire video, so you can save yourself the four minutes. Or...watch it to get the nuance.
The scripting language Python can retrieve information from or publish information to the messaging app Slack. This means you can write a program that puts info into Slack for you, or accepts your queries using Slack as the interface. Useful stuff if you spend a lot of time in Slack, as I do. And hey, chatbots!
In a dual-monitor setup, carefully planned application placement can help avoid broken flow states, improving productivity.
Automation steps in where humans shouldn't and software can't. Tedious, repetitive tasks are best done by carefully programmed robots.
This piece was originally published in the Packet Pushers’ Human Infrastructure Magazine, a publication about the human side of working in technology. HIM is sent every other week or so to Packet Pushers Ignition members. Sign up for free. I recently tweeted… I’ve become okay with only having so much time in my schedule. Would adding this { new | random | unexpected } thing to the mix...
I like to meet other's expectations, and have them think cuddly, happy thoughts about what a swell person I am. I know that when I send an email, I hope to get a response. Therefore, when I receive an e-mail, my natural inclination is to respond.
@ecbanks
Most people know me because I write & podcast about IT on the Packet Pushers network. I also co-authored "Computer Networks Problems & Solutions" with Russ White.
Find out more on my about page.