Tech Productivity Issue #73 (Zettelkasten Notes)

Issue #73 (Zettelkasten Notes) 07/06/20

One of the most effective ways to improve your writing is to avoid sentences that tend to be ambiguous. Up until recently, I didn't realize there was a term for such a sentence: A garden-path sentence.

Some sentences lead readers down a "garden path", so to speak.

Here are the three examples of garden-path sentences from that Wikipedia article:

"The old man the boat."
"The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families."
"The horse raced past the barn fell."

And it's important to point out that these, believe it or not, are all grammatically correct sentences — otherwise they wouldn't qualify as garden-path sentences. See the Wikipedia article for more on what makes those examples garden-path and how they can be improved.

This is an important concept to understand if you want to ensure that you're writing is as clear as possible and it's certainly something I've continued to work on over the years.

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

Tools & Apps

Workflowy - 'Infinite document' app that offers a simpler way to stay organized. Also available as a desktop app for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Bookmark OS - An intuitive and elegant bookmark manager that lets you organize, sort, and browse your bookmarks just like files on your desktop.

Revere App - Remember the names and details about the people you meet with this iOS app. A single, trusted place for all your notes about people.

ClickUp - One app to replace them all. All your work in one place: Tasks, docs, chat, goals, and more.

now.me - Get to the meeting you’re supposed to be in right now. Simply go to now.me to get to your meeting, no more sifting through calendars and chasing links. Works with Zoom, team.video, Skype, GoToMeeting, and more.

Managing Complexity in Adopting Microservices - July 8 @ 10 AM PT | 5 PM UTC. Join Rollbar, Optimizely, Postman, and DeployHub for an enlightening panel discussion around the evolution of microservices and best practices for managing a microservices architecture. promoted

Articles & Resources

How To Take An Effective Break (And Be More Productive) - According to one source, the top 10% most productive people work an average of 52 minutes and take a break for 17 minutes.

You’re Probably Using The Wrong Dictionary - An interesting article from 2014 discussing how using a better dictionary can help you add more color to your writing.

Stop Taking Regular Notes; Use a Zettelkasten Instead - A Zettelkasten originated with German sociologist Niklas Luhmann who published more than 70 books and 500 scholarly articles in 40 years, so he clearly knows how to take productive notes.

Work From Home: A Pocket-Sized Guide - If the concept of a fully remote workplace is still intimidating to you, this guide from a 100% distributed team might help.

Marketing for Engineers - A GitHub repo that's a curated collection of marketing articles and tools to grow your product.

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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