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The Mindful Developers: Being Less Busy & More Productive (MidwestPHP 2017)

David McKay
March 17, 2017
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The Mindful Developers: Being Less Busy & More Productive (MidwestPHP 2017)

Being a developer, programmer, analyst, tester, designer, etc … is hard. We work in an industry that champions the 12+ hour work day; continued learning and open source contributions, but not on the company’s dollar. We’re continually berated with the idea of the 10x developer and so we must work harder, read more blogs, write more code and buy more books … but when will it ever end? Will technology ever stand still long enough to let us all catch up? No. You’ll always be busy, busy playing catch up in a race you didn’t sign up for.

Fortunately, there’s another way. Instead of being busy, I can help you be more productive. I will walk you through some of the tools and techniques that I use on a daily basis to maintain and upgrade my skills in a world of ever changing technology, and, more importantly; to protect my sanity, be more present and remove stress and fear from my life.

David McKay

March 17, 2017
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Transcript

  1. The Mindful
    Developer
    Be More Productive & Less Busy

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  3. David McKay ★ Scottish
    ★ Productivity Nerd
    ★ Aspiring Stoic
    @rawkode

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  4. Me:
    ➔ Software Consultant
    ➔ Speaker
    ➔ OpenSource Contributor
    Pets:
    ➔ Bichon Frise
    ➔ Ferret
    ➔ 3 Degus
    ➔ 5 Chinchillas
    ➔ 2 Russian Dwarf Hamsters
    Organiser of:
    ➔ ScotlandPHP
    ➔ Docker Glasgow
    ➔ DevOps Glasgow
    ➔ Pair Programming Glasgow
    ➔ MongoDB Glasgow
    Volunteer:
    ➔ Technical Lead TEDx Glasgow

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  5. Chinchilla?

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  6. Your brain is a liar!

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  9. Bat & Ball
    ➔ A bat and ball cost $1.10
    ➔ The bat is $1 more than the ball
    ➔ How much does the ball cost?

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  10. Pretzels
    ➔ It takes 5 machines, 5 minutes, to make 5 pretzels
    ➔ How many minutes does it take 100 machines to make 100 pretzels?

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  12. System 1
    Fast / Automatic
    aka “The Chimp”
    ➔ Fast Response
    ➔ Unconscious
    ➔ Effortless / Automatic
    ➔ Dumb and Gullible

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  13. System 2
    Slow / Pragmatic
    ➔ Deliberate / Conscious
    ➔ Effortful
    ➔ Controlled Mental Process
    ➔ Logical and Skeptical

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  14. Which brain would you rather use
    each day?

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  15. Mindfulness

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  16. Eight Weeks
    of Mindfulness
    ➔ 27 Minutes Per Day
    ➔ Major increase in gray matter
    density in the hippocampus
    ➔ Decreased gray-matter density
    in the amygdala
    ➔ None of these changes were
    seen in the control group
    http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/01/eight-weeks-to-a-better-brain/

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  17. One Mindful
    Breath

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  18. Getting
    Things Done

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  19. ➔ Capture
    ➔ Clarify
    ➔ Organise
    ➔ Reflect
    ➔ Engage

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  20. “Our mind is for having ideas, not
    holding them
    David Allen

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  21. Capture
    ANYTHING that needs your
    attention
    ➔ An email you need to respond to
    ➔ An article you want to read later
    ➔ Tickets to the Chevelle gig just
    announced
    ➔ The warranty on your new TV
    Fill that inbox!

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  22. Your brain needs to trust the
    system.

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  23. Clarify
    ➔ Is this an action or reference?
    ➔ If it’s an action, will it take less
    than two minutes?
    ➔ Is there a next action?

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  24. Organise
    ➔ Lists
    ◆ Work
    ◆ Relationship
    ◆ OSS Project
    ◆ Someday / Maybe
    ➔ Contexts

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  25. ➔ Some tasks are people based #David
    ➔ Some tasks are location based #Home #Office #Phone #Laptop
    ➔ Some tasks are blocked #Waiting
    Not all tasks are created
    equal.

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  26. Reflect You don’t know if you’re on the right
    track, if you don’t know where
    you’ve been

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  27. ➔ Did I make progress on each of my lists?
    ➔ Can you chase up anything that is #Waiting?
    ➔ Organise your inbox
    ➔ Archive completed projects
    The Weekly Review

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  28. “If you don't pay appropriate
    attention to what has your
    attention, it will take more of your
    attention than it deserves
    David Allen

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  29. Time is the only commodity that
    matters
    Randy Pausch

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  30. Efficiency Effectiveness

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  31. Goals

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  32. Goals
    What do you want from life?
    1. Career / Education
    2. Financial
    3. Family
    4. Artistic
    5. Attitude
    6. Physical
    7. Pleasure
    8. Public Service

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  33. Goals
    ➔ Goals don’t need to be large
    ➔ Goals must be SMART
    ➔ Be honest with yourself
    ➔ Macro & Micro Goals

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  34. 3 Goals 30 Seconds

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  35. Goals
    If there’s an item on your to-do list that doesn’t help you reach one of your
    goals:
    ➔ Why are you doing it?
    ➔ Have you identified a missing goal?
    ➔ Delete it

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  36. Goals
    Weekly Review’s are your best way to monitor your goals
    ➔ Did I make progress on all of my goals?
    ➔ What one thing can I do in the next week to help my goals?
    ➔ Are my goals still relevant?

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  37. Building a system takes time
    and it can be frustrating

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  38. Habits

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  40. “What we found was that it takes 66
    days on average for people in our
    study to acquire a habit
    Professor Jane Wardle

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  41. Why are habits important?

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  45. You’re a rat

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  46. Keystone Habits
    ➔ Wake up at 5:30am
    ➔ Meditation
    ➔ Exercise
    ➔ Check your email only twice a
    day
    ➔ Your working clothes

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  47. It’s all Cookies and Radishes
    http://faculty.washington.edu/jdb/345/345%20Articles/Baumeister%20et%20al.%20%281998%29.pdf

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  48. How I Work

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  49. Becoming a Morning
    Person
    5am is amazing … but it’s not easy
    I use a Light Alarm Clock

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  50. Effective
    - Don’t look at your phone in the morning and try to avoid it
    during the day
    - Identify rabbit holes … Wikipedia!

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  51. Stoicism
    Become Comfortable with the Uncomfortable

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  52. Start with a cold shower

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  53. Meditation
    Meditation is a great way to remind yourself to be a bit more
    present
    We’re always rushing through life; take a moment to stop and
    really experience where you are and who you’re with

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  54. Tasks
    ➔ Digital & Physical
    ◆ TickTick (ticktick.com)
    ◆ Code & Quill Notebook
    ◆ Fountain Pens
    ◆ Rapid Logging
    ◆ Migration

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  55. Rapid Logging
    ? Question
    - Note
    Task
    > Migrated
    ¿ Make up your own!

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  57. Schedule
    ➔ Only put it in your calendar if it’s immutable
    ➔ Don’t try and “schedule” time for yourself
    ◆ Instead “Theme” your days

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  58. Eat the Frog

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  59. “Eat a live frog first thing in the
    morning and nothing worse will
    happen to you the rest of the day
    Mark Twain

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  60. The Rule of Three
    Applying Pareto’s Principle to your to-do list

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  61. Pomodoro
    Work in time-boxes of 25 minutes
    Take a 5 minute break
    Every 4 pomodoro’s, take a 25 minute break

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  62. #NoEstimates

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  63. “Work expands so as to fill the time
    available for its completion"
    C. Northcote Parkinson

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  64. Deep Work / Flow

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  65. “Professional activities performed
    in a state of distraction-free
    concentration that push your
    cognitive capabilities to their limit.
    Cal Newport

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  66. Deep Work
    1. Important
    2. Fun
    3. Within your skill set

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  67. Deep Work
    Foster the ability to perform Deep Work:
    ➔ Drown out office noise with headphones
    ➔ Ensure you have no distractions
    ◆ Close Slack, Twitter, etc
    ➔ Build a habit out of your Deep Work cycles
    ➔ Stop working at 5:30pm. Let your brain recharge

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  68. Music
    Don’t listen to music with vocals

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  69. Other People
    Get comfortable saying “no”

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  70. Eisenhower Matrix

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  72. Building a system takes time and
    it can be frustrating

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  73. “Your success in life is the sum of
    your habits.
    Brian Tracy

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