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2016-05-09

w̶i̶e̶l̶d̶l̶i̶n̶u̶x̶.̶c̶o̶m̶

Work productivity trick for a Software Support and Development Engineer.

Work productivity trick for a Software Support and Development Engineer. This trick is designed to help me not to spend too long on one task, *and* also to get at least a minimum number of tasks completed each day.

Make it my goal to, each half-hour on the half-hour, try to get one task done in the first 5 minutes of the half-hour.

Of course half-hour-long chunks of time tend to roll into one another (after 30 minutes they do). So to plan for this and make this trick work, it’s also necessary to break at the twenty-minute-mark of each half-hour-long time block.

The trick is this: for a person who tends to spend too long on one task, the trick to increasing productivity is actually to *take more frequent breaks*. And also to *more frequently start or continue working on tasks*. This breaking into half-hour-long-chunks method, in conjunction with my natural tendency to spend a long time on a task, will tend to result in me wasting less time, starting working on tasks more frequently, working on a greater number of different tasks, completing a greater number of tasks, and more frequently completing tasks.

In other words, before this method, my day might have looked like this: …

—

*9:00am:

– spend 60 minutes worrying that it’s going to be a waste of an hour to work on the task, and then start working on it, and then work on it straight for the remainder of the 60 minutes.

(repeat, continue throughout the hours of the work day)

, and now after implementing this method, my day looks more like this: …

—

* 9:00am:

– spend the first five minutes working on a task. (and try to complete the task)

* 9:20am:

-take a break and step away physically from the work area.

* 9:30am:

– spend the first five minutes working on a task. (and try to complete the task)

* 9:50am:

-take a break and step away physically from the work area.

(repeat, continue throughout the hours of the work day)

—

The result is that in the examples above, in the former I’ve only worked on one task in an hour’s time, and by the end haven’t yet completed it.

In the latter example I’ve at least worked on two tasks.

The difference is that I’ve likely completed two tasks with the latter method, and worst-case, I’ve at least progressed two tasks.

Whereas with the former method, I likely haven’t completed even one task (because I don’t have a stop-and-step-away. and worst-case, I’ve only progressed one task.


Edit: This post was previously published at: w̶i̶e̶l̶d̶l̶i̶n̶u̶x̶.̶c̶o̶m̶/2016-05-09-software-developer-productivity-trick.php
[2019 edit: Moved to: https://i̶n̶v̶e̶s̶t̶o̶r̶w̶o̶r̶k̶e̶r̶.̶c̶o̶m̶/2016/... .html.]