At Google Talks is always a great resource for current info and in this case an excellent summary and overview of productivity principles. The talk is by Jared Goralnick and is titled Productivity, Happiness, and Avoiding Sudden Death.
Slides used in the presentation are at Slide Share: Google Tech Talk: Productivity, happiness, and avoiding sudden death.
Some key quotes from the presentation:
Tweaks - tools for productivity (have more freedom and choice in how you spend your time):
Techniques
Jared's blog, Technotheory, has a wealth of good content. For example, the importance of keeping your eye on the big picture rather than the many small details of a list. The Critical Path is one good method for managing at that level.
I would also recommend
See my comments from last week on work schedules and tasks
Slides used in the presentation are at Slide Share: Google Tech Talk: Productivity, happiness, and avoiding sudden death.
Some key quotes from the presentation:
- productivity is actually kind of like language in that way, in that if you have fluency, there is a lot more depth that is possible in your experiences. And without that, you all still can get a lot done, but what happens is there's certain things you just can't choose to do.
- And I personally believe that Google does not pay you to be productive. That's not their goal. Their goal is for you to do something that achieves real scale.
Tweaks - tools for productivity (have more freedom and choice in how you spend your time):
- turn off notifications from social networking sites Notify Me Not
- turn off mobile alerts (instructions and link to Not Checking Email document)
- archive email (Gmail specific; also consider Merlin Mann Inbox Zero concept)
- delete
- stop checking email
Techniques
- Purge your mind (make a long list, mind like water)
- Measure. Measure. Stop.
- 50/10 (work/rest)
- In the stream/out of the stream - get your value and go home
- Unplug. use paper to think.
- Silence and focus, uni-task
- The essential (Goals) vs the incidental
- Be Remarkable, not productive
Jared's blog, Technotheory, has a wealth of good content. For example, the importance of keeping your eye on the big picture rather than the many small details of a list. The Critical Path is one good method for managing at that level.
I would also recommend
- a big picture diagram such as a mind map
- a weekly review of projects and lists
- an "evening before" review and prioritization
See my comments from last week on work schedules and tasks