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Time Management For Grumpy Programmers

Chris Hartjes
February 04, 2017

Time Management For Grumpy Programmers

Slides of a talk on time management strategies I gave at SunshinePHP 2017

Chris Hartjes

February 04, 2017
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Transcript

  1. Time Management For
    Grumpy Programmers
    Chris Hartjes
    SunshinePHP 2017
    https://joind.in/talk/31298

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  2. Who Am I?
    Long-time PHP user
    Testing advocate
    Verified Twitter User
    Life-balance champion
    Semi-organized

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  3. What do people
    REALLY mean when
    they start talking about
    “Time Management”

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  4. “I want to get stuff done.”

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  5. “I have too much to do”

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  6. “I want control of my life.”

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  7. – WikiPedia
    “Time management is the act or process of planning
    and exercising conscious control over the amount of
    time spent on specific activities, especially to
    increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity.”

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  8. “Doing what you can
    with the time you have.”

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  9. “Getting Things Done” by David Allen
    “Time Management For Anarchists” by Jim Monroe

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  10. The Grumpy Time
    Management System
    1. Work from finish to start
    2. You can never “create more time”
    3. Do fewer things but do them better

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  11. Let’s use this talk as an
    example of the system
    in action

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  12. Work from finish to start
    I knew when I had to give the talk
    …and I know how long it takes me to write one…
    …so I picked a completion date

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  13. “I knew when I had to give
    the talk…”
    Open-ended tasks destroy productivity
    Create your own deadlines if necessary

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  14. “I knew when I had to give
    the talk…”
    Put future events in your calendar
    You WILL forget important things so reduce the risk

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  15. “So what goes in my
    calendar?”

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  16. EVERYTHING.
    Really.
    EVERYTHING

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  17. “What goes in my calendar?”
    Meetings at work
    Activities with my kids
    Down-time with my wife
    Hobbies

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  18. Putting things in my
    calendar reduces the stress
    I feel about what I do

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  19. I added the conference to
    my calendar

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  21. Resolved to finish the talk
    before I left for the cruise

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  22. “…and I know how long it
    takes me to write one…”
    Learn your work pace
    Break down tasks to the smallest bit
    Don’t lie to yourself!

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  23. Impossible to estimate tasks
    if you don’t know your own
    pace per unit of work

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  24. Talk Creation Work Pace
    Usually takes me 1 hour to create my talk outline
    Usually takes me 4-5 hours to create slides

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  25. 6 hour estimate for the talk

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  26. Break Tasks Down
    Be brutally honest with yourself
    Rely on past experience to drive timelines
    Stop when you can’t break it down any more

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  27. “…and I know how long it
    takes me to write one…”
    Leave room for mistakes
    Do the work in blocks
    Don’t overextend!

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  28. Leave room for mistakes
    You will make many mistakes
    You will need to take breaks
    Don’t be a hero

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  29. Do the work in blocks
    Helps you learn your work pace
    Allows pauses for rewards
    Stick to the blocks, don’t rush ahead!

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  30. Don’t overextend
    By figuring out blocks, you can schedule actions
    NEVER WORK OUTSIDE THOSE BLOCKS
    NO, I MEAN IT

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  31. “…so I set aside time on my
    calendar to work on it”
    Added in 6 1-hour blocks of time…
    …and got to work creating this talk

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  32. That’s really it

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  33. That’s really it
    (Not really)

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  34. DISCIPLINE

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  35. Learn it or you will be
    forever overworked and
    under-appreciated

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  36. “Creating time”

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  37. “I’ll make some time for that”

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  38. “I’ll do that when I have
    some time”

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  39. “You can make more money
    but you can’t make
    more time.”

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  40. The Truth About Time
    We all get the same 168 hours per week
    We all make choices about what to do with our time

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  41. “We’re not winners or losers,
    we’re choosers”

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  42. Using my calendar for
    everything showed me what
    I was actually doing

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  43. Taking control of your time
    is the best thing you can do
    for your career and your
    mental health

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  44. “Do fewer things better”

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  46. Warning Signs You Need To
    Do Less Work
    “I always have killer deadlines”
    “My brain needs me to keep busy”
    “I’m afraid I am going to get fired”

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  47. Nobody is the villain of their
    own time management story

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  48. Doing less work and
    concentrating on doing
    better leads to better
    outcomes

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  49. We don’t “rise to the occasion”
    We “fall back to our skill level"

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  50. Almost done

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  51. Time management hacks!

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  52. There aren’t any.

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  53. Anyone that says that is just
    moments away from trying
    to sell you something.

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  54. The 4-Day Work Week “Hack”

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  55. The 4-Day Work Week “Hack”
    Interview and get a job offer with a 20% raise
    Tell employer “I want to stay but only work 4 days a
    week for the same money”
    Either you get an extra day or extra money

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  56. The Grumpy Time
    Management System
    1. Work from finish to start
    2. You can never “create more time”
    3. Do fewer things but do them better

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  57. “But Chris…”

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  58. “…how can I learn ‘discipline’
    to do this?”

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  59. “…my workplace is chaotic and
    new requests come in all the time!”

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  60. “…how do I co-ordinate things
    with others who don’t do this?”

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  61. “…aren’t there times you have
    to reschedule events?”

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  62. Thank you and
    enjoy the other talks
    http://grumpy-learning.com
    @grmpyprogrammer
    https://joind.in/talk/31298

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