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David Pogue's productivity secrets
Venerable New York Times technology columnist David Pogue recently posted a list of his productivity tips and tricks that allow him to be uber productive. The list is good in that he tries to generalize and talk about ways of doing things instead of specific software or hardware. For example, Pogue talks about using macro utilities instead of specifically naming utilities like Quicksilver for the Mac or Launchy for Windows.
While some of his tools seem somewhat outdated, it's not a surprise given the time investment he has in them. And really, although we all to a greater or lesser extent have a case of "shiny object syndrome" and need to try the latest and greatest of everything, the truth is that if a tool is working, the most productive thing to do is to just leave it alone.
Of particular note (at least for me) is Pogue's first tip that he uses text expansion software. It's not so much that he uses it, but how he uses it that intrigues me; Pogue has expansion words configured for even the smallest word. For example, to type the word "the" he needs only type the letter "t". That's some serious configuration, but I can definitely see how it could be very useful once in the mindset of always using abbreviations.
What do you think of Pogue's tips, and what is your best productivity tip?
Comments
9
Subscribe to commentsAngel GrablevJun 19th 2009 3:31PM
Hey the link to the NYTimes isn't working :)
AngelJun 19th 2009 3:34PM
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/pogues-productivity-secrets-revealed/ is the link for anyone interested
Jason ClarkeJun 19th 2009 4:49PM
Thanks Angel - I've updated the link in the post.
minibarJun 19th 2009 5:23PM
the referenced article (fixed article link in comments, thx) seems more about his wife handling admistrivia b/c that's the biggest time saver i see.
i suspect most DLS readers would recoil at using 1980s freeform database software installed on their hard drive.
not naming his macro or calendar software seems lacking--he names his speech to text software.
using an email inbox as a to-do list can be effective, but to call this a secret as he does seems overkill.
i don't see the reference to typing 't' to get 'the' in the article, but from my experience that would likely not likely save and could cost time, but it would depend on the software, which i reiterate is not named.
overall, i find the referenced article lacking of critical detail.
minibarJun 19th 2009 5:27PM
correction: he names his calendar software Now Up-to-Date.
still, he doesn't name his text expansion software.
using a wireless modem doesn't inform me.
Jason ClarkeJun 19th 2009 6:04PM
The tip about typing "t" to get "the" is actually in the post that he references when talking about typing expansion.
minibarJun 19th 2009 6:51PM
i'll add that i like the concept of time saving even if this example was flawed.
i gave up macro software in lotus 1,2,3 or wordperfect days and my experience with text expansion underwhelmed, but maybe i just didn't stick with that or dvorak keyboard long enough. i haven't tried any speech-to-text software that i recommend or text-to-speech, but someday.
i take a minimalist approach with 3 quick launch icons for my most common programs visible on the taskbar with the remainder another click away. i also use a couple dozen small and carefully-configured Firefox addons, windows keyboard shortcuts, explorer bookmarks, batch files, Gmail notifier combined with email as a to-do notification system, toolbar to documents folder (not the usual) with a one character name to save taskbar space and i've crafted an efficient Firefox configuration (Fx 3.5 is proving quite fast.)
cleaning up all the cruft that accumulates not just on the system side but on the data side, my box runs faster. one helpful app for this is Treesize Free, invoked via context menu in explorer that leads directly to the biggest offenders and improved stability when i assumptively discovered excessively long pathnames were to blame (explorer glitches stopped after excessively long pathnames were eliminated.)
i've tried clever context menus and launch popup and thematic gadgets but my experience has been they usually cost more time than they save and they consume valuable cpu and memory resources.
that's how i save time. what about you?! :P
littlehacksJun 19th 2009 9:29PM
Hi guys,
I thought you might be interested in checking a GTD-style online productivity tool we have just launched:
http://www.littlehacks.com
You could find it very useful!
hazardJun 20th 2009 5:40AM
My time saving tips .. put your OS on a SSD and max your RAM