Tech Productivity Issue #256 (Effective Engineering Teams)

Issue #256 (Effective Engineering Teams) 01/08/24

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I often come across formal papers or studies that aim to analyze the effectiveness and efficiency (or lack thereof) of tech workers.

One that recently caught my attention specifically looks at developer productivity. It turns out this was the 7th part of an ongoing series published in a journal by an organization called IEEE.

Unfortunately, because these articles are published in a fancy journal, there doesn't seem to be a single page that lists all the articles in the series (the first of which was released in early 2023). To that end, to save you some searching, here's the list with links to all the parts published so far:

A Human-Centered Approach to Developer Productivity (seems to be Part 1, but not officially titled as such)
Developer Productivity for Humans, Part 2: Hybrid Productivity
Defining, Measuring, and Managing Technical Debt (again, not titled as "part 3" but seems to be the right one)
Developer Productivity for Humans, Part 4: Build Latency, Predictability, and Developer Productivity
Developer Productivity for Humans, Part 5: Onboarding and Ramp-Up
Developer Productivity for Humans, Part 6: Measuring Flow, Focus, and Friction for Developers
Developer Productivity for Humans, Part 7: Software Quality

The seventh installment of the column was published in December, so it's possible the series will continue. I'll try to revisit it at a later date and share if I think it's worth looking into further.

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

Tools & Apps

Inbox Zero — An open-source email management toolkit designed for Gmail and Gsuite users, with features that include email analytics, newsletter management, and AI assistance.

Pilot — An AI-based tool to transform your Google Drive into an AI-enabled team wiki and learning management system, with integrations for hundreds of apps.

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Clicks — I don't often include hardware in this newsletter, but I thought this was unique and interesting enough. It's an iPhone holder that includes a built-in keyboard, with support for iPhone 14 Pro and up.

Control Space — A Chrome extension that adds tab, history, and bookmark management capabilities to allow you to browse, organize, search, and switch tabs with a simple shortcut.

How Long to Read — This is a crowd-sourced online resource that lets you search for a book by title and it will tell you how long it will take to read the book, with word count, page count, and book description.

Scriber — Paste a YouTube link and this online AI-based tool will quick you a summary of the content, with options to translate to and from 9+ languages.

Articles & Resources

Perfectionism and Procrastination: How They’re Connected and What to Do About It — An in-depth and well-sourced piece comparing two things that you may not have thought were related with a healthy bullet list of actionable advice.

The Worst Time of Day to be Productive, According to New Slack Research — Absolutely nothing shocking about these results (spoiler: it's 3PM to 6PM) but the article also includes some advice to overcome the problem.

Do These Things Before You Quit Your Job — Some decent bits of advice if you're considering leaving your current position, to help make your job transition smoother and might even give you the courage to do it if you're having doubts.

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Effective Engineering Teams — A nice quote form this piece by Addy Osmani: "When teams feel safe, they may stay longer, tap into a diverse pool of ideas, boost revenue, and double their odds of being recognized for their effectiveness by leadership."

Tech Doesn’t Make Our Lives Easier. It Makes Them Faster — Certainly an opinionated piece, but one with some truth that exposes the fact that the desire to use more advanced stuff to get things done probably isn't improving our quality of life.

How I Get Things Done — Leo Babauta often has people ask how he gets so much done, so he shares some of his methods here without the push that often comes from the 'cult of productivity'.

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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