Becoming More Productive

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Becoming More Productive

Haidong Ji

SSCrazy

Points: 2453
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December 6, 2004 at 4:56 pm

#109112

Comments posted to this topic are about the content posted at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/hji/becomingm

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Brian Lockwood SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4028 More actions · Answer 1

see http://www.dexterity.com/articles/ for some of the best articles in the world in developer productivity and motivation.

Brian Lockwood
President
ApexSQL - SQL Developer Essentials

http://www.apexsql.com/blog

Stand up for an Independent SQL Community - be Informed

YSLGuru SSC-Insane Points: 21661 More actions · Answer 2

Brian,

I can't find the words to thank you enough for the links to the motivational articles at dexterity.com . The techniques provided in these articles will greatly help me and my co-workers with improving how we manage our time.

Thank You

Ed

Kindest Regards,

Just say No to Facebook!

Haidong Ji SSCrazy Points: 2453 More actions · Answer 3

Thanks Brain for pointing out that link. Steve's articles are my favorite, especially the one that talks about procrastination:

http://www.dexterity.com/articles/overcoming-procrastination.htm

Haidong

ethandowney SSC Rookie Points: 29 More actions · Answer 4

Hey thank you for the great article, there are really a few good tip how to manage your time!

But beside this I can recommend you another great tool, with which I manage my e-mail chaos! Lookeen Its a e-mail search tool and a desktop search tool, so you just need only one tool and not two! I agree with you that Lookout was really a great help, but because of undeveloped situation of Lookout I think Lookeen is the most eqaul follower for Lookout!

Maybe you are interested in it! 🙂

Haidong Ji SSCrazy Points: 2453 More actions · Answer 5

Thanks.

Lookout was bought by Microsoft a few years back. Nowadays I use Google's desktop search for outlook as well.

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004321 More actions · Answer 6

Haidong Ji (1/13/2005)
Thanks Brain for pointing out that link. Steve's articles are my favorite, especially the one that talks about procrastination:
http://www.dexterity.com/articles/overcoming-procrastination.htm

It's ironic that you've made the very mistake that so many people make when they're trying to be "productive". His name is "Brian"... not "Brain". Although many people will overlook such a thing, many more will not especially on "first contact" and may, in fact, judge you by that.

Being productive doesn't mean cranking out a lot... it means cranking out a lot that's right. 😉 Too many people rush trying to be productive and end up making very costly mistakes even in something as simple as an email. If you make a mistake in code by rushing and it gets promoted to production, it will cost much more to find and fix the mistake than it would if you'd slow down and double check/test your work as you go. Possibly insulting a first contact, especially a possible customer, by mispelling their 5 letter name can cause damage that will never be repaired because first impressions are lasting and you may lose the customer because of it.

It is NEVER worth doing over... do it right the first time even if it means you need to be "less productive". Ironically, you'll be much more productive by slowing down in the long run.

So far as emails and instant messages go, I absolutely agree that it should be contained and constrained. I've had people in the next cube send me emails and IM's with no other distribution instead of just saying "Hey Jeff... can you yada-yada...". It's gotten so it's all very stupid. When a message comes in, it's difficult to tell from the "You have Mail" alert whether it's something critical or something that can wait and, of course, people just don't put whether it's something that needs immediate attention in the subject nor do they correctly mark the email priority. As a result, I have to check every time the bloody bell rings because it could be an automated email from a system in trouble or the big boss needs something for a customer right now.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004504 More actions · Answer 7

5-year old thread alert.

Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

We walk in the dark places no others will enter
We stand on the bridge and no one may pass

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004321 More actions · Answer 8

Heh... my response would have been the same 5 years ago. 🙂

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)