November 12th, 2008
How to Do More with Less Time
Time is the most important thing for web developers, this is the only thing that matters. Deadlines and whole businesses depend on it. If you don’t have any, you’re lost.
Managing time is a complex task, but let me show you how to actually finish your set tasks in a reasonably small time frame.
It’s all about optimization and refactoring, you as a web developer should know best how to optimize and refactor source code, why not do it with your time too?
This is how I do it. I list all the tasks that I want to get it done right now. I just list a bunch of items that I consider I can finish in a day or two, but most importantly I collaborate with other developers and/or clients to know exactly what the work is all about.
I set myself a ridiculously small time frame when I will work on a single task and NOTHING else such as talking on the phone, skype, chatting, googling around, watching Youtube, etc.
I just simply cut out all the distractions. I found that you can do a lot and I mean a lot of things when you don’t get distracted.
I must emphasize that if you want to do things this way, you need to have a solid plan beforehand (a task list, etc).
Merlin Mann at 43 Folders has a really good post on how to minimize distractions when you work. What software you should use, etc. Worth reading that post too.
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on Wednesday 12, 2008
Sagely advice! There is nothing worse than distractions, whatever
your job, but for web developers I agree it can be a killer.
Development is about problem solving – elegantly – so every
distraction creates a void of solutions. I think it’s important to
do the most complex jobs first, as we tend to run out of mental
energy over time. I think, though, most people do the easy jobs
first – the low-hanging fruit – big mistake! The big jobs will
always end up at the bottom of the pile as focus makes way for
distractions and then collapse!
on Wednesday 12, 2008
Totally agreed.
Everybody should start with the hardest task and working their way down to the easiest one.
on Wednesday 12, 2008
I admit to usually doing the simple tasks first, but I do this so I can later focus on the big difficult task. It’s a simple logic really, I can do five small things now and then spend the rest of the day on the one big thing. But if I do the one big thing now, I will almost surely run out of time to do the five small things or will shrug them off for today and shove them to tomorrow. Then tomorrow I’ll think “oh I can do this quickly” and leave it for another day. Then the deadline comes and guess what, I have a bunch of small things left to fix, but by now there’s so much of them it’d take me a week to sort through
So yeah, whenever I can, I do the small quick things first.
on Wednesday 12, 2008
Your logic isn’t right (I hope you don’t take this personal…), but time is linear. I mean if you have let’s say 3 small tasks that take 1 hour and a complex task that takes 2 hours it really doesn’t matter with which one you start in ideal circumstances.
The problem starting with the easier tasks is that you get tired and when you see the complex task waiting, you just delegate it.
But if you start with the complex task, finish it and you see that there are easy tasks that needs to get done, you’re more likely to do it.
At the end it’s a matter of discipline.
on Wednesday 12, 2008
I guess it does come down to preference and discipline, as Gyorgy sats. I must admit that my discipline isn’t great so I have to do the big-ticket-items first or I will never get around to them. The low hanging fruit, if done first, satisfies a short-term need and then I get on with something more ‘interesting’. But that’s me. I should add that, generally, the big stuff tends to be the most valuable so it’s also about prioritization, so I have to accept that I must deal with this first and maintain the discipline.