More juggling help: "hat" of the day

When I have several working "hats" to wear in a week - teaching, research, etc - a technique that also helps me to keep focused is setting a "hat" for each day, at the start of the week. This way I can do more related tasks in a single day thus reducing context-switching costs.

For example, this week my "hats" are:
Monday -> Teaching
Tuesday -> Big Picture
Wednesday -> PhD
Thursday -> PhD
Friday -> Teaching

John C. Dvorak on Software License Agreements

Generally speaking, a software license and various terms-of-service and terms-of-use agreements say the following:

• Whatever you think we said, or whatever we said, about the product may have nothing to do with reality, and you agree not to expect that it does.
• No matter what happens, including damage to your equipment or even someone's death, you agree not to blame us even if it is our fault.
• If we are a Web site and you use it, no matter what bad things happen, it is not our fault.
• If you contribute anything at all to a site or system, we own it.
• You will never sue us for anything, ever.

My advice is to have a 13-year-old do all the installations and make all the agreements. They cannot legally enter into these contracts. I wish someone would try that trick and litigate it.

John C. Dvorak in PC Magazine

Juggling tasks at work

No, this post isn't about Circus artists (or is it...? ;-)


Currently I'm struggling with several different nature tasks at the same time. Some are bureaucratic while others are highly focused knowledge work (in my case, programming).

When I'm programming, I'm constantly being interrupted and I lose track of what I'm doing. Bureaucratic tasks are never very complicated, but they require full attention.

If one of the sources of lower productivity (and motivation) is constant interruption, then I tried to eliminate the source of most interruptions, namely, e-mail. I have turned off the email programs while I'm programming and I willed myself into resisting the urge to go and check it every few minutes! Now I work hour-long intervals and things have been working out much better!

It wasn't my idea actually, but my wife's. (One more) big thanks to her!

I'd like to hear how you handle the same problem!

InspiRed by love...

... I keep on moving forward and upward!