Issue #9
Hello and Welcome to issue number 9 of “The 3”, where each issue contains precisely three resources related to Software Development & Productivity.
How many hours can you actually be productive in a day?
Do you know how many hours you work on an average day? Out of those hours - do you know the number of hours you work at total capacity?
I’ve conducted that experiment on myself for the last couple of months. For that, I used a simple computer timer. Each time I stopped working, I also made sure to pause the time.
I encourage you to do the same. Take a minimum of two weeks. Then, you’re more likely than not to be surprised by the results.
At the end of each day, look at the accumulated time. Then, look for correlations between that time to the type of work you had.
Have you been working on a task you’ve done already in the past? Or have you been doing mentally demanding work that took more energy than usual?
When the daytime was below average - had it anything to do with the number of sleep hours you had (and its quality, of course)?
What was the effect of meetings held during each day? (meetings should not be counted for the measured time in this experiment).
We’ll talk about how many productive hours you should expect in the next issue.
The phrase “a picture paints a thousand words” also holds for code documentation. For example, this year, I’ve increased the volume of ASCII charts I use to improve my documentation.
You might find ASCIIFlow a helpful tool to embed ASCII charts in your code since it helps create ASCII charts faster. And even if not, think about adding more visualization to your documentation. It’ll pay for itself many times over.
Recently I got into listening to Podcasts. I find that listening to Podcasts while doing Sports makes time fly. Before, I used to listen to motivational music, but at some point, it became a bit repetitive listening to the same songs. So it’s good to be able to mix music and Podcasts.
One of my favorite Podcasts these days is “The Huberman Lab Podcast”.
This Podcast is by Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist Professor at Stanford.
I mostly love that even though Andrew is a Professor, he delivers his content in a simple, easy-to-follow manner for people with no relevant background.
The content is, of course, science-backed, which makes listening to the Podcast very practical. So if you’re into Sports, Health, and Productivity in General, you should check this out.