Time Management For Grumpy Programmers

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

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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