Data & Stuff // Neil Houston

There were a lot of inspirational sessions at SXSW, but the talk by Heinemier of 37 Signals, ‘Why You Aren’t Done Yet’ was certainly one that had a lot of resonance in my own experiences.

I agree with the majority of things discussed, rethinking timeslots, how you approach deadlines, and things that are really needed to be done, will no doubt make us more productive.

Also checkout the Rework Book, which these ideas come from.

1. Distractions, everywhere.
You can’t get anything done at work, you have to do work ‘before work’, or ‘after work’ when there are no people you can – but not ‘at work’ times.

Meetings, end up being the bain of your life, perhaps take the view that if not providing content of interest to you/your work, then most are a waste of time. How often in meetings do the people attending actually care about the subject?

A lot of work you need to do doesn’t fit in the small available timeslots that you have in your day.

The simple fact is that the work days ultimate enemy of productivity is interruptions and distractions.

2. You are working too hard

More hours do not equal more done, it just appears that you are getting more done (to other people, in their view).

Multitasking, if you can’t dedicate time to focus on one project then you won’t be doing your best.

Most organisations reward the wrong thing, a workaholic does not equal a hero. The culture of ‘look at X he pulled an all-nighter – isn’t he great’ should not exist)

Most deadlines are imaginary, don’t burnout, cool down

Productivity over time, is better than peaks just so you can hit goals

3. You are in over your head

Sometimes you put yourself in this position, you guessed a timeframe, but guess what your estimates suck.

You treat deadlines as a promise, not a best guess.

Things crop up in your schedule, like meetings. You are issuing time estmates based on ‘a perfect approach’. Sure you could do it in 3 full 8 hour days, but you don’t have any! (See Interruptions above)

It can be obvious why we give outselves bad dealines, people use ‘bad words’ ASAP, need, can’t, easy, fast – These corrupt the natural reasonable time it would take to do a job, we change our deadline due to the pressure in place.

The word easy, is something someone else uses to describe your job/task ‘Can you make a quick change, that’s easy right?’

There can be a sense of false emergency, neither true or required Is a Friday deadline really worth it, who’s going to look at it over the weeekend etc?

5. You have to take charge
There is a personal responibility for your own productivity, decisions are progress.  There is a choice if you see that you are not going to hit the deadline

Remember, that sometimes good enough is fine.

What ever happens, not making decisions = bad (for you, and everyone). Do not be tempted to put your head in the sand.

Do less, most things can be droppped and it won’t matter. Take a look at your list of priorities and start to remove out items that aren’t really required.

Deadlines, can helps focus your mind.

• What can you drop?
• What is really necessary?

Part of this is about setting up the right cultural environment

Always keep goals in mind, restate the problem, and maybe considering giving up. By being able to walk away from X, you might be able to allow Y to continue.

Your results show value, not the time you have spent at work.

Again, these aren’t my idea’s – all come from the Rework book, from 37 Signals.

So, we are on day three of the event, and what a few days it has been. The initial overwhelming experience has now settled down into a comfortable routine.

The journey over was long, a 9AM flight (UK time), and an arrival round 8.30PM (Austin time). Luckily after meeting up with some of the other West Midlands (#WXWM) folks we managed to pick up our event passes without the need to queue. Which meant that a few beers could be had before heading off to our Arts Council of England accommodation (nicknamed the Big Brother house). It also had the side benefit of being able to have a decent lie-in, as things were not kicking off till 2PM on the Friday.

Now, a lie-in would have been nice bit unfortunately, the jetlag had a side effect which meant a 6.30AM start. A productive morning ensued of catching up on the admin that I hadn’t been able to look at for Kitecrowd for quite a while.

Session wise, I’ve managed to visit a wide variety, from panels, solo speakers, core conversations and duo talk. I must admit in some cases I’ve learnt a) how shoddy my hearing can be, or b) how badly setup sound wise some of the rooms are.

That experience means that some sessions I chose based on their locations, as well as their content. The other key point is not to be afraid of walking out of the session if it’s not what is expected. After all there is always something else occurring around the corner.

Another side benefit, is free. Free is good, whether it’s water, coffee, beer or food it can be found if you know where, and when to look!

I’ll be doing a catchup of sessions I’ve been trying to hit and we’ll see what my notes really look like. Meanwhile, checkout the Saturday opening keynote notes, by Danah Boyd on SXSW.com. (Also available, her full talk notes