Hack Your Work: 23 Ways to Get Ahead, Work Less and Achieve More It’s something we’re all looking for – the perfect solution that will minimize our work life while still getting the stuff done that we need to get done. Well, that one solution doesn’t exist, but with a combination of strategies, you can get to where you want to be. Now, none of these tips will turn your life around. But they can make a big difference, and when used together, your work life might just be enjoyable, productive, low-stress and high fun. And these tips won’t work for everyone. One goal.
Toggl - online timetracker Evidence Based Scheduling Evidence Based Scheduling by Joel Spolsky Friday, October 26, 2007 Software developers don’t really like to make schedules. Most of the schedules you do see are halfhearted attempts. Hilarious! You want to be spending your time on things that get the most bang for the buck. Why won’t developers make schedules? Over the last year or so at Fog Creek we’ve been developing a system that’s so easy even our grouchiest developers are willing to go along with it. The steeper the curve, the more confident you are that the ship date is real. Here’s how you do it. 1) Break ‘er down When I see a schedule measured in days, or even weeks, I know it’s not going to work. This forces you to actually figure out what you are going to do. If you are sloppy, and pick big three-week tasks (e.g., “Implement Ajax photo editor”), then you haven’t thought about what you are going to do. Setting a 16-hour maximum forces you to design the damn feature. 2) Track elapsed time You can’t, really. So, keep timesheets. Summary
Scott H Young » The Art of the Finish: How to Go From Busy to Ac Today I have a treat for you. Cal Newport from Study Hacks is going to share some of his insights on productivity. Cal is also the author of How to Become a Straight-A Student and How to Win at College. He is currently studying for a PhD at MIT. Last August, I published an essay on my blog, Study Hacks, that was titled: Productivity is Overrated. The basic idea: productivity systems, like Getting Things Done, reduce stress and help you keep track of your obligations, they do not, however, make you accomplished. Productivity is Overrated That is, the two don’t need to go together. What Accomplished People Do Differently From my experience, the most common trait you will consistently observe in accomplished people is an obsession with completion. It’s this constant stream of finishing that begins, over time, to unlock more and more interesting opportunities and eventually leads to their big scores. Introducing Completion-Centric Planning Completion-centric planning rectifies this problem.
Making a simple Savonius wind turbine by Lance Turner There are many situations where you might need a small amount of electricity, for instance running gate openers, safety lights, water level indicators and other low-power devices. While solar would seem like the ideal solution, quite often this is not possible due to location and shading problems. Why have automatic gates anyway? Anyway, I decided to provide power to the electric gate openers from a small wind turbine. The gate opener system itself is a home-made job, using car windscreen wiper motors driving long brass threaded shafts. Too much turbulence I briefly thought about what type of turbine I could install and how it would look. This type of vertical axis rotor is very robust and durable if built correctly, is relatively slow turning and can be easily built at home, without the hassles of aerofoil blade design and other problems associated with horizontal axis ‘propeller’ type turbines. Making the turbine Generating the power The mast Voltage matching Final assembly