Tech Productivity Issue #160 (Write Plain Text Files)

Issue #160 (Write Plain Text Files) 03/07/22

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Here's an important question asked by a Hacker News reader: How do you stop thinking about work and software engineering on the weekend?

Personally, while I do have times during the weekend that are set aside for non-work activities, I'm definitely not 100% work-free on the weekend. In fact, I write this very newsletter every Sunday, usually in the evening. But I'm sure many of you worry that you're not drawing a strong enough line between work and non-work.

The same idea is discussed in one of the articles featured this week (see links below), though that one is specifically about keeping boundaries while working from home.

As for the thread I linked above, the top comment makes a good point that all should take to heart:

"Does a surgeon not read technical articles on her free time? Does an NBA player not work on his game in the off-season? All of that is unpaid labor, but they just really want to get better at what they do because they feel good getting better."

Of course, not all jobs requires this type of dedication, and for some jobs the ROI of all that extra work might not be worth it. Training for a multi-million dollar NBA contract is not exactly the same as writing code or doing project management – and so the incentives to do unpaid stuff may not be there.

Now on to this week's hand-picked productivity links!

Tools & Apps

Centered - Native to-do list app for Mac or PC that includes flow music, a virtual productivity coach, notification blocking, and more.

BlackBox - Chrome or Firefox extension that (amazingly) allows you to copy and paste programming code from a video and paste it into your text editor. Yes, really.

Clariti - All-in-one platform for teams to use chat, voice, email, calendars, documents, etc., linked by context to provide clarity in communication.

Donut - A free-forever Slack app that works as a 'virtual watercooler', allowing team members to connect serendipitously for virtual coffee, peer learning, and more.

Produktyf - A fast mobile CRM app for Android with decentralized data sharing to manage your personal or business relationships using locally-stored data.

Slate - A native Windows app that lets you multi-task more efficiently using features like adaptive floating windows, keyboard shortcuts, keep-on-top, and more.

How Modern Treasury Scaled Data Infrastructure Fast - Modern Treasury, the payment operations provider, needed to replace their BI tool with a robust data solution. With Mozart Data, they implemented faster and now over 50% of the company accesses data daily for faster insights. sponsored

Articles & Resources

Write Plain Text Files - Derek Sivers makes a pretty convincing argument that we should write everything in text files because they're reliable, flexible, and long-lasting.

What is Developer Productivity and How to Measure It - Looks at why it's harmful to look at developer output to determine the value of a developer's productivity.

Multi-Tasking and Our Greatest Fear - A philosophical and historical look at why we multi-task. Nothing too mind boggling here, but maybe this viewpoint can help us gain a better perspective on trying to do many things at once.

You Can Redraw Work Boundaries This Year—and Make Them Stick - An important read for those who've been burdened by a lack of division between home and work during the past few years.

New Theory Proposes Forgetting is Actually a Form of Learning - If this is true, then I'm the smartest human being that has ever walked the earth.

Group Dynamics: Norms and Emotion - Some food for thought if you're a team leader who's trying to improve results and efficiency among your members.

Find, Visualize and Apply the Hidden Gems in Your Spam Inbox - Checkmate is the first tool ever built to sort, visualize and apply the deals from your spam inbox while you shop, finding hidden gems and saving early users an average of $40 per checkout. It’s completely free! Try Checkmate today! sponsored

Suggestions?

Have a suggestion for a productivity-related tool, article, or other resource? Send me a direct message via X (@LouisLazaris) and I’ll consider including it in a future issue.

Stay productive!

Louis
techproductivity.co
@LouisLazaris

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