TDC 2012

Yesterday I attended TDC.

It was fun to see so many from the software development community in Trondheim turn out all at once.

I also had a short talk about better ways to work, focusing on delays and feedback – especially how it’s more central to knowledge work than we think.

Here’s the slides if you’re curious (PDF):
201210 TDC Better ways to work

Update: I added a few slides for a talk at the office – see extended version (pdf) if you like, containing a few more links/ reading tips.

 

 

Want to Try the Pomodoro Technique with Online Tools?

The Pomodoro Technique is a timeboxing method where you can use a timer to help you focus on only one thing for a short period of time, typically 25 minutes.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Il_pomodoro.jpgYou can also do this onscreen and online.  A simple, interesting experiment is the Tomato Timer.  

For me, pomodoro works better if I keep my goal visible, too.  You could do this by using the following web-based tools:

Simple recipe:

  1. Open NowDoThis in a tab in Chrome
  2. Open Online Stopwatch or Tomato Timer in a new tab
  3. click the Frame two pages extension button
  4. set the next to-do item to focus on
  5. set the timer
  6. go!

maplex – time tracking

looks interesting – think i’m gonna try it out
Veex Software Technologies – MapleXp – Working time logger

MapleXp application gives you the ability to track multiple projects and categorize how much time went into each of the tasks involved. Each project can
be divided into a hierarchical structure of tasks, which allows for very precise tracking of working time. ….MapleXp is a freeware
application.