Top 10 Productivity Hacks

Top 10 Productivity Hacks

# 1: Do something you’re passionate about
# 2: Work off-line as much as possible
# 3: Do the tough tasks first
# 4: Avoid unnecessary work
# 5: Avoid meetings; when you must meet, make it effective
# 6: Get to work early; work fewer hours
# 7: Declutter your workspace; work on one thing at a time
# 8: Simplify information streams, crank through blogs & email
# 9: Wake up early
#10: Take care of your Most Important Things first

Source: zenhabits.net

Also in poster version.

Human costs of gadgets

These New York Times stories got me thinking: is there any way to stop this before it's too late?

Human Costs are built into the iPad

Apple, America, and the squeezed middle class

It's not an Apple-specific problem, Apple just illustrates how we have let our greed for better and cheaper gadgets get the best over our moral judgement.

My developer workbench

A very dear friend is having a hard time getting back into 'developer shape', so I decided to blog about how I organize my developer work files:

/dev
This is where I keep the current projects I am working on.
It is important to me to keep this folder as clean as possible.
If I have a project that is inactive, I just create a ZIP archive and delete it.

/dev/examples
This is where I keep code examples, historically called the 'grrreat tests' :-) (Miguel and João, you know why)
The idea is to keep small projects, each with a single purpose. It is the best way to test libraries before using them in larger projects.
I get snippets from here all the time. If you don't know, snippets are fragments of code that can be copy-pasted and easily reused.

/devlib
This is a collection of libraries. You can save a lot of time reusing existing code and learning from it.
The collection is organized in 3 sections: dist, doc, and source; for binaries, documentation, and source code, respectively.
I keep multiple versions of libraries, each in a separate subfolder, because sometimes it is useful to compare changes, using a tool like WinMerge.

If you only take away one thing, remember that single-purpose code examples are the way to write quality code, fast!

Feel free to share comments about your development practices. I'm always looking for ways to improve!

Inboxing

I'm not the first to come up with it (see urban dictionary) but I'd like to propose the word Inboxing.

An inbox is a container in which all the papers to be dealt with are put. Or, figuratively, it is the aggregate of items that demand one's attention or effort.

Boxing, of course, is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists.

Inboxing is the fight you have to go through every day to clean all the items that find their way to your inbox: emails, chats, feeds, papers, etc.
It's worth fighting to claim back your time to think and be creative!


Good luck! Unlike boxing, in inboxing the two participants don't have similar weight :-)

Stay on target!

In your everyday "Star Wars"...

Keep your focus, stay on target!

And may the "Force" be with you! ;-)

--
Image source: Wookieepedia

Pro 9

Today marks the 9th Anniversary of my professional career.

On September 15th 2000, I suited up - literally - and walked up to Unisys Portugal's office in Monumental, Saldanha, in Lisbon. I was a little nervous but confident that my years in Técnico had given me the skills to make it in the Pro world. To cut a long story short, I was right ;-)

I've been working at Técnico as a Lecturer and Researcher since 2002.

Today I start a new year in my academic career, focusing on research. I know that, as in all these years, "I'll get by with a little help from my friends"... ^.^ Thanks to all of them!

Photo credits

Whatever happened to the work ethic?

Whatever happened to the work ethic? by Steven Malanga


A very timely article published on New York's City Journal.

Meeting notes

Here a GTD-enabled meeting form. Thanks to Joana for another great work tip.

--

Date, time, participants (name and short-name)

Why are we here?

What do we want to achieve?

--

Calendar (new events)

To-do (personal tasks)

Waiting-for (tasks others will be doing)

--

Discussions topics in sequence

A question of sleep / Uma questão de sono

Father Hugo de Azevedo talks about how lack of sleep can impact the quality of our daily lives.

/ This post is bilingual: English (U.S.) and Portuguese (Portugal) /

O Padre Hugo de Azevedo fala-nos sobre o impacto da falta de sono na nossa qualidade de vida diária.

O nosso mal

O nosso mal é sono. Chega-se a casa tarde; tarde se janta; tarde se arruma a cozinha; tarde se acende a televisão; tarde se resmunga sobre os assuntos de família; tarde se acorda no sofá; tarde se deita… E cedo se levanta. Que vida é esta? Um disparate pegado.

Com sono tudo se faz, excepto pensar. Excepto sorrir. Excepto ouvir. Excepto prever. Excepto planear. Excepto ter gosto no trabalho, na família e no convívio com os colegas; e muito menos com os chefes. Excepto sonhar acordado, sobretudo com o fim de semana… em que novamente a gente se deitará tarde.

É verdade que, mesmo assim, somos capazes de meter-nos no trabalho até às orelhas, até porque, se não, despedem-nos, ou desclassificam-nos, ou falimos. Mas que não nos incomodem com mais nada! Estamos fartos!

Depois, não há quem entenda esta mulher, quem ature este marido; quem compreenda estas crianças; quem suporte estes sogros; quem tenha pachorra para os eternos problemas daquele irmão, ou do sócio…

E ainda por cima, esta crise! Mais os engarrafamentos…

Não é o nosso único mal, o sono, mas é um dos mais insidiosos e que nos passa mais despercebido.

Pe. Hugo de Azevedo, Boletim da Capelania - Junho de 2009

My first official paper reviews

I've been invited to review some papers for a major conference in my research area. I did it gladly, after all, peer-reviewing is the cornerstone of the scientific process.

I became a user of the EDAS Conference Manager and I can say it's a very competent knowledge work system. Not very flashy, but helps a lot in getting the job done.

The review form is very concise and provides guidance when writing a review.

--

Familiarity: Expert, Familiar, Some knowledge, Novice
Presentation: Well written and understandable, Mostly well written and understandable, Understandable but needs improvement, Difficult to follow poorly written or organized
Recommendation: Strong accept, Weak accept, Weak reject, Strong reject

Contribution: What are the major issues addressed in this paper? What are the main contributions? Are these important and relevant for the conference?

Strength: What is the strength of the paper? What would be major reasons to consider this paper for inclusion in the program? (1-3 sentences)
Weakness: What are the weak points in this paper? What would be the major reasons NOT to include this paper in the program? (1-3 sentences)
Detailed Comments: Please provide detailed feedback on technical quality and presentation to help the Program Committee assess the paper and to help the authors improve their paper.

Comments to the Program Committee: These comments will be seen ONLY by the Program Committee Members (not by the authors)

Email communication breakdown?

Communication breakdown,
It's always the same,
I'm having a nervous breakdown,
Drive me insane!

in "Communication Breakdown" by Led Zeppelin



Do you get this feeling when you're handling your email? I know I did.

Then I decided to change the way I worked with email using a Google-inspired approach: "archive and use search instead of spending a lot of time storing the messages meticulously in specific folders".

My current email folders are the following:
Inbox
My Mail
Mailing Lists

That's right! Just three!
'Inbox' has the new arrivals that I haven't read or handled yet. 'My Mail' holds all my messages. 'Mailing Lists' holds messages not specifically for me but that I'm interested in keeping. Mail can be directly stowed in Mailing Lists using filters.

When you want to look up a specific mail message, just use your program's search capabilities to retrieve it quickly! (e.g. Thunderbird's search capabilities are very good).

But doesn't this mean that the 'My Mail' and 'Mailing Lists' keep growing indefinitely? Yes, it does. This is why we need one more time: archives.

My archives folders look like this:

Archives
|-My Mail Archive
|-2005
|-2006
|-2007
|-Mailing Lists Archive
|-2005
|-2006
|-2007

Archiving is easy and is done once a year.

For me this email scheme works great. Do you want to give it a try?

Using index cards to help you write

Photo credits to Dustin Wax

I wrote down the ideas for the paper, one per index card.
Next I sorted them, and placed small post-its on the corner with a sequence (#) number (e.g. 1, 2, 2.1, 2.2, 3, ...).
Next I wrote the paper using the index card sequence. I didn't concentrate on the sentence connections that much. I left this for later rewriting.
I reread the paper and rewrote it several times, but the general structure was stable. It allowed me to focus on what I meant at the paragraph level rather than on the order of the paragraphs.
Finally, I wrote a new set of index cards, to summarize the paper contents and help me present the ideas on a meeting.
I felt very productive!

Thanks to Joana for the suggestion!

How to write a paper review

Outline:
1 - Write a quick summary of the paper in your own words. Don't repeat the abstract, but state what stuck in your mind;
2 - Enumerate the paper contributions;
3 - Describe the paper's strengths and weaknesses;
4 - Write detailed comments about specific things;
5 - Approve or disapprove the paper.

Of course, if you're on the paper writer side, try to anticipate what a reviewer would say about your paper in these terms, and improve what can be improved.

Pocket classes / Aulas de bolso

Here is a modern day dilemma: how to combine domestic chores with the demands of knowledge work? One inventive way of making the most of your time is to have "pocket classes"!

Photo credits: Joana

You just need an iPod and some eLectures (from iTunes U, for instance) to get started! And a notebook to make some notes once in a while.

/ This post is bilingual: English (U.S.) and Portuguese (Portugal) /

Eis um dilema dos tempos modernos: Como conciliar as tarefas domésticas com as exigências do trabalho de conhecimento? Uma forma creativa de aproveitar o tempo é ter "aulas de bolso"!

Para começar basta ter um iPod e algumas aulas electrónicas (do iTunes U, por exemplo). E um bloco de notas, para tirar apontamentos de vez em quando.

Image Crisis - Inspiring a New Generation of Computer Scientists

Rick Rashid in "Communications of the ACM", July 2008

The author of the article presents some of the misconceptions behind the drop of interest in Computer Science in the Unites States of America, namely:
1 - "the stereotype of the solitary male programmer who slaves over a keyboard and subsists on snack food";
2 - "underestimate the role that computing can play in changing the world";
3 - "belief that computer-related jobs are quickly being outsourced".

He knows what he is talking about, as he is head of Microsoft Research.

My opinions about the misconceptions are the following:

1 - This is not true. In fact, from my experience, computer science is a highly collaborative profession. Communication with other people is crucial to the success of your projects. Just look at the thriving open-source communities... However, the individual discipline and contributions are still very important.

2 - Computer science doesn't save the world by itself, but it helps almost all sciences and businesses to work better and progress faster.

3 - Some jobs will be outsourced, but the demand for computer knowledgeable people at the decision level is on the rise.

Quick guide to research / Guia rápido de iniciação à investigação

So you did some interesting scientific work, and the question looms in your mind: is it worth being published? The answer is a definite yes!
Writing is the way to express your ideas in a way useful to other people. Your own personal learning is greatly impaired if you don't distill your work by putting it in writing.

I've just published a short guide to research. It aims to help novice researchers learn some of the "trade secrets". It covers: writing, citing, publication types, structuring, reading and tools.

If you're interested, follow the link:
Quick guide to research.

/ This post is bilingual: English (U.S.) and Portuguese (Portugal) /

Fizeste um trabalho científico interessante e a questão impõe-se: será que vale a pena publicar? A resposta clara é sim!
Escrever é um modo de expressar as tuas ideias de uma forma útil para outras pessoas. A tua própria aprendizagem não fica completa se não distilares o teu trabalho de forma escrita.

Acabei de publicar um guia rápido de iniciação à investigação. Pretende ajudar os novos investigadores - alunos de mestrado - a aprender de forma expedita os truques da escrita científica. O guia aborda: escrever, citar, tipos de publicação, estruturação, leitura e ferramentas.

Se estás interessado, segue a ligação para o documento:
Guia rápido de iniciação à investigação.

A note on state-of-art surveys

A state-of-the-art survey at the beginning of a research work is an advisor's admission of ignorance on the subject.

I think the research work should start with something more objective and let the survey happen later, naturally driven by the actual research needs.

More assertive talks

How to make my talks more effective? I got some top-notch advice from people I'm working with right now.

Don't just present facts. Show that you applied your wisdom in preparing the talk. Second, begin with a short introduction, then introduce your hypothesis/conclusion to capture the audience's attention! If you leave it to the end, people are just spectators during most of the talk. Next, go through the hypothesis/conclusion items, one by one, justifying them (the whys). At the end, summarize what the talk was about.

- The presentation style should pull audience from their collars; punch-line first; i.e. tell the story from end, twist, and then to beginning;
- Never repeat outside information;
- Challenge status quo;
- Make "Wall Street Journal" headlines;
- Try to always have demos or connections to physical world - it draws people's attention, particularly if they don't care that much about the subject of the talk.

The difference between the top and the rest of the world is the arrogance of people. They may be wrong 50% of the times, but they're right the other 50%. Self-confidence is a requirement to move forward. That's how change can happen!

This is particularly true when trying to promote synergy between higher education and industry:

My first wikipedia edit

You've probably used Wikipedia, "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit." But have you ever edited it?

I had never edited it, until yesterday.

I was looking into the Object Naming Service (ONS) standard and I realized that a new version had came out - 1.0.1 - and that only the previous version was listed as reference on the wikipedia entry. So, I logged on using my wikipedia account and I added it! It was that easy! And now, lots of people will see the new reference. It's really amazing! And also you get a very clear notion of the precautions you have to take when using information listed on wikipedia.

Wikipedia is a very valuable resource in my research, not only as a secondary reference - good to get an overview about the subject but not definite, of course - but mostly as a keyword tuning tool.

How does the keyword tuning work? Instead of using your own keywords for your publications and research, you first check how it's called on Wikipedia. There are a lot of aliases for the same thing. At the end of the day, it's better for everyone to use the same keyword

This is a nice example of the so called "wisdom of the crowds". The crowd part is right, but the wisdom... let's just say that the truth is not always democratic. But more about that on another day.

Started to get things done

Yesterday I finished the assembling of a new work structure, based on ideas from the book "Getting things done" by David Allen.

The two main goals of the system are:
(1) capturing all things to be done in a trusted and reliable system, to let our minds go free
(2) dealing with the inputs in a more efficient manner

So far, so good. I'm enjoying it.

I've assembled my version of the system using Freemind mind-maps.

I've also created a business folder to store files I'm currently working (/biz/current). The idea is to work in this folder during the week. Then, at the weekly review, I go through the accumulated files and either keep them for the new week, store them in reference collections (e.g. /docs) or leave them behind (e.g. /biz/past/2008/09/15-21).

The idea is not to worry about where to save files during regular work, and leave this task for a weekly review.

The mind-maps are backed up weekly.