
Time Management at Khan Academy - johncs
http://engineering.khanacademy.org/posts/time-management-multiple-authors.htm
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zimbatm
I tried maybe times. Every system I put into place quickly bores me to death,
it kills my creativity and my brain then tries really hard to escape from it.
Anyone else in that situation?

The only trick that really stuck to me is to write down on a piece of paper
where I'm at during a context switch. That really helps to pick it up again
faster afterwards.

~~~
branchless
I think for me the fundamental problem is I don't have a big stake in my work
as a regular employee. You just can't make yourself run at full throttle for 8
hours a day 5 days a week, plus (unpaid) overtime.

Work is getting stupid now. All the gains go to someone else for most people.

Everyone says they "tried X for a few weeks but let it lapse". Is this because
ultimately we cannot work full throttle without big incentives?

Yes we all have fear as a driver but I find this wears off quick.

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twunde
I find this incredibly useful. I work on a relatively small tech team as a
lead/project manager/manager and every so often I get very busy where I only
have 1-2 hours a day to do my dev work. I've also seen other devs and
sysadmins collapse under a work load where they were in meetings all day every
day. It can be very tough to get a schedule set where you're able to work on
your top priorities, so I value these stories and techniques.

~~~
vendakka
Would you be interested in trying our beta [1] once it's ready? We're working
on the hypothesis that bad meeting schedules can result in a large drop in
productivity, especially for software related jobs.

Our current solution is to make it easier to cordon off blocks of time and
easily reschedule disruptive meetings using a mix of auto-suggested times and
meeting polls.

[1] [http://www.timeferret.com](http://www.timeferret.com)

~~~
twunde
I'll try it out, thanks :)

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rdlecler1
The responders seemed to be hard core type A. That said, I found that it's
really useful to avoid context switching. Typically I pack calls in on Friday
afternoon and have meetings at the end of the day. Sales calls can be
exhausting so it's better to get work out if the way first. And avoid context
switching as much as possible (more time blocks).

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basyt
whats type A?

~~~
37
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_A_and_Type_B_personality_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_A_and_Type_B_personality_theory)

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spunker540
I have zero techniques or schedules or habits for productivity. After reading
this a part of me wonders if I should....but another part of me thinks that
most people don't, and its only type A people who could respond to that
question with anything other than "go with the flow".

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cpeterso
I used to be an avid GTD follower (David Allen's "Getting Things Done"). The
book was an epiphany for me, but the whole system can be overwhelming. I now
just use three text files (for work-related planning) for a Kanban-like
system:

    
    
      * work due today
      * work due this week
      * work due this month or later
    

Every Monday, I pull work from the monthly list to this week's list. Then
every day I pull work from this week's list to today's list. This allows me to
focus on _today_ , confident that I am not missing something. I can then
ignore anything that doesn't need to be done until later. This is the theory,
at least. ;-)

~~~
gadders
This is pretty good if you want an actual personal Kanban board:
[http://greggigon.github.io/my-personal-
kanban/](http://greggigon.github.io/my-personal-kanban/)

I use it for my to-dos at work.

~~~
nextos
I spent a lot of time thinking about kanbans, only to realise org-mode can be
very easily turned into one.

And IMHO an outliner is much more flexible than a webapp.

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codezero
I was hoping this was a course on time management. Stories are useful but do
little to reinforce the behaviors necessary to develop good time management
skills.

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chatwinra
What's most impressive for me in the first answer (that perhaps might not get
noticed by everyone) is the self-awareness of when one's most productive times
are. I think knowing this can really help anyone get more done because you can
re-schedule your day to suit when you're best at doing creative/routine/mind-
intensive tasks most effectively and efficiently.

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hiou
Those first two sound like pompous self important over achievers in the worst
way. The other two sound very straightforward and down to earth. I'm guessing
the latter are the ones that do the work and the former are managers.

~~~
spicyj
I've worked extensively with both of the first two and they are excellent
teammates; I'd be happy to work with either of them again. They are both very
productive, and your hypothesis that they are both managers is incorrect.

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bllguo
The first literally says she is a manager in the post.

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spicyj
Well, that fact combined with me saying they are not both managers must mean
that Andy is not a manager.

Seems unfair to claim "Elizabeth's post makes it sound like she's a manager-
type" when she literally says she is a manager in the post.

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perseusprime11
Why are engineering blogs littered with this kind of stuff? Who cares? The
only blog I ever liked is the tech blog from Netflix.

~~~
sotojuan
Sort of agree but I would've liked to see how John Resig manages his time.

That said, Khan Academy has some interesting tech:

[http://engineering.khanacademy.org/posts/aphrodite-inline-
cs...](http://engineering.khanacademy.org/posts/aphrodite-inline-css.htm)

