productivity – Rolfe Dlugy-Hegwer

Vale notes #2: Talk to experts and stakeholders

In addition to eating my own dogfood, I started finding and talking to experts and stakeholders. For experts, I went to folks inside and outside Red Hat. At Red Hat, I talked to Fabrice Flore-Thebault and Yana Hontyk. Last year, they presented on using Vale with their documentation sets: Eclipse Che and CodeReady Workspaces. I…More

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action | TED Talk

Let Gmail to sort your email

Gmail does a pretty good job of categorizing your messages. You can train it to do better. Primary tab Move messages that you must review, respond to, or take action upon to the Primary tab. Social tab Move social network notifications to the Social tab. These messages duplicate information in your social networks. You should…More

How to learned to love my email inbox

A screenshot of my empty email inbox with no messages

Stop using your email as a holding pen for I should do’s and somedays. Me, thinking to myself 🙂 My email inbox was a bottomless pile of messages seen and considered but not resolved. Having so many small choices increased my stress and reduced my ability to get things done. Then, about a month or…More

Conquering my to-do list

A hand placing post-it notes in a 3x3 arrangement. Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Recently, I explained how I implemented zero inbox and started capturing tasks in todoist. By pushing all of my tasks to one place, I cut down on the burden context-switching. However, this new approach has created a new problem: a ballooning to-do list. Now, I must find a better way manage these tasks. Fortunately, this…More

How I create my to-do list in todoist

I create a to do task using the "p1" and "every workday" keywords, and clicking the "Add website as task" link.

Recently, I wrote about zero inbox, my hack for getting rid of email stress and mess. I also mentioned that it depends on having a to-do list that can link back to your email messages. A few years ago, I started using the free version of Todoist, an elegant and dependable app developed by a Germany-based…More

zero inbox

a screenshot of my gmail inbox showing only three or four messages

Recently, I started practicing zero inbox. I didn’t read any specific how-to articles or books, I just implemented it based on these two principles: DON’T USE YOUR EMAIL AS A TO DO LIST. MESSAGES: DELETE, ARCHIVE, OR DEAL WITH THEM. A quick search for “zero inbox” turned up this article and a 2007 Google TechTalks…More

Silicon Valley is dead! Long live Silicon Valley!

TLDR Remote work and the current health crisis has made Silicon Valley obsolete. Companies and workers are moving away in droves. Will they find a new place like Silicon Valley? Yes and No. The end of the health crisis will enable a resumption of office work. However, having invested in and adopted remote work, organizations…More

Why I write about me instead of you

As a technical writer, I’m accustomed to telling users what to do using imperative phrases such as “do this or do that.” More recently, in my tech docs, I’ve adopted the practice of directly addressing the user by saying “you.” Many organizations have embraced this practice because it improves comprehension and establishes a warmer relationship…More

Try the Solanum pomodoro timer

If you want to use something more pomodoro than Fedora’s built-in timer, try Solanum. Divide your work into four 25 minute sessions with 5 minute breaks in between. One longer break after four sessions.More