Besides the tools, what routines help you get your work done?

Not sure about this one because I’m not always on time on various tasks. At some point I tried to stick to GTD (https://www.labri.fr/perso/nrougier/GTD/index.html) but I slowly drifted towards a more straightforward process. My scientific life is made of a lot of meetings (with students or administrative) and mails such that for other tasks, I complete them when I’ve time. This is one of the reason I’m always late on answering issue on GitHub.

I live and die by a written todo list. Every week I use a page from my notebook to write down my task items for that week, and check off or add comments as needed through the week. Any items that weren’t finished must then be hand written into the next week’s page, as a sort of gamified incentive to get them done so they don’t have to be continuously rewritten. This sprint-like todo list is then used to track the progress of everything from personal projects to household chores.

I try to work on my apps in the morning because I feel that is when I have the most energy to do software development. I also try focusing on one app at a time and only start working on another when I finish the feature I’m currently working on. I recently released two new apps, so I’m still learning the best way to maintain and work on multiple apps simultaneously.

I have one list for each app in Reminders, which I use to organize feature requests and bugs I have to work on, and I manually sort these lists by priority. So before I start working on an app, I first open Reminders to see what I have to work on. And as I complete these items, I update a separate release notes document that I use in the “What’s new” section later in the App Store.

I also track the time I work on each project to get a sense of where I spend my time.

• *3 of the apps you’ve made — MusicHarbor, MusicSmart, and most recently, MusicBox — have to do with listening to & organizing music. What role does music play in your life? **

I love listening to music because it brings joy, inspires, and cheers me up! I think it is also a great way to connect to the story and the feelings the artist tried to communicate when creating it, and I love going deep and learning more about a specific song or album.

I think music helped me spark a lot of the interests that got me where I am today. I remember spending a lot of time organizing my music library back when we had to rip (or download) CDs to transfer them to our iPods. The iPod was my first Apple device and the product that got me interested in what Apple was doing. Music also inspired me to learn English to understand what artists were saying. And the idea to create MusicHarbor, one of my first indie apps, came from the wish to keep track of all new music releases from my favorite artists.

At any given time with development I have many different tasks going on. For example, in developing for the upcoming iOS 16 release, I have about 5 or 6 different pull requests on Streaks just for each new thing I’m working on. So I try to do some work on each of them every day - even if for only a few minutes.

The most important piece of the puzzle is taking notes, wherever you go. Without catching ideas on paper, you’re lost. So, naturally, I keep post-it notes in my car, in my jacket, on the bed-side table, … Gotta catch ’em all! Also, once every few months, I digitize my analog notes using something like GeniusScan, and add tags for each page to quickly find stuff. Everything eventually ends up in an Obsidian/DEVONThink vault, although to be honest, the more I work with Obsidian-like tools, the less I like them. Most work gets done in the notebooks themselves: I simply rely on digital tools to index my notes.  Connecting notes across journals is also possible on paper with a “bXpY”-like marker.

I am extremely methodological. I also love (TODO-)lists and enjoy striking through a line when it’s done. My simple but complete “system” makes me quite a productive programmer and academic.

Oh, lord, I have none. I might just be the least punctual person to ever roam the earth.

Two of my favorite routines are:

1. Daily writing: I use a webapp called 750words to write morning pages, typically first thing in the morning after I wake up. My entries typically involved a rundown of what happened the previous day and the things I plan to do for the coming day. I find that doing this first thing in the morning helps ground me and preps me for whatever needs to be done on that day.
2. Daily walks: I don’t walk a lot as some people, usually only around 4-5km a day (often split into two shorter walks in the morning and in the afternoon/early evening). In addition to being good exercise, I find it relaxing and gives me some “offline time” to let my thoughts percolate in my brain for a bit.

Another topic that I could go down a rabbit hole with, since I’m always refining my routine and habits.

I begin the day by priming my brain with physical activity to get the blood pumping and help snap me out of my sleepy state, followed by coffee and breakfast.

Afterwards I begin my work day by filling out a journal where I track my sleep, mood, food, and thoughts.

I then review tasks and goals that i’ve set at the beginning of the week, and start a focus session in my app Focused Work to minimise potential distractions. I’ve configured automations that mute alerts on all devices, and block distracting apps & websites during a session.

When I hit a wall, I take a walk regardless whether it’s rain, wind, or shine and apply Diffuse Thinking to work through problems that I face. As I write this, i’m on a 1305-day Move streak on my Apple Watch!

I also ensure I take enough breaks during long focus sessions so I can maintain my willpower and level of productivity across the day.

I work from home so I try to stay disciplined and keep regular work hours, although, as an owner of the company, I tend to obsess over what I’m doing and work long days: often twelve hours (it helps that I love the work). I take regular breaks throughout the day, though, and I rarely work weekends (something I used to do).

Because I have a job that involves sitting down all day and staring at a screen, I have built up a number of routines in an attempt to combat its inherent unhealthiness. I go to the gym three mornings a week, I take a break every day either to swim or walk two miles in the local countryside, and I don’t drink on weekdays. I’m naturally lazy and like beer, so it’s taken me years to develop these habits, but they have really helped with my energy levels, concentration and productivity. That said, I still stay up too late watching TV and reading.

To be honest - I’ve always been struggling to maintain a strict routine. Still, I’ve found helpful personal Kanban, some aspects of the Getting Things Done framework, keeping a lot of notes, todos, reminders and events around.

I also try to segment my days into portions for personal development, OSS work, my day job, hobbies, etc. Having some structure in ones day always helps.

When possible, I try to avoid processed foods and get a good night’s sleep.

I use FoodNoms for evaluating my nutrition and AutoSleep for monitoring and improving my sleep.

I intermittent fast. These days I typically do a 16:8, though I did 20:4 for a long time. For years, I used an app to track it, but I found I was getting too obsessed with the app, so now I just eyeball it.

I lift weights with a personal trainer 3-4 times per week.

I like to make a daily checklist of to-dos in my Panobook and check off items as I go.

I like inbox zero. I’ll usually end the day with zero emails across all my inboxes, though I will occasionally leave emails there for several days as a “to do.”

I subscribe to newsletters, but snooze them until the weekend. I try to unsubscribe/block most incoming mail that isn’t important or customer support.

I occasionally enjoy meditation, going for walks, and self-hypnosis.

I often listen to WRTI Jazz while working. It helps calm the chatter in my mind.

Usually I try to get at least 3-4 hours of continuous work done at a stretch. For me the only routine that’s important is having a clear set of tasks to perform, and being able to do so in a flow for a long duration, I usually don’t prefer 30 - 45 minute work sessions.

I’m an early riser. I love having a couple of quiet hours to myself before starting work. Typically I’ll spend 7AM to 9AM reading and/or doing crossword puzzles, then doing yoga, then finally eating breakfast and doing the dishes. By that point I’ve had plenty of time in my own head, letting my brain warm up, and it’s off to the races.

I think that like most developers, I like order. I’m an early bird, so I wake up at 6AM, grind the coffee and put the coffee drip on, and sit down at the computer. I answer all support queries that are pending and then I focus on the actual development. On weekends, I usually wake up at 7AM and do the same, but I usually stop around 9AM and enjoy the free time.

For a person working from home, the most important thing is self-control and the will to push yourself to work. I think many of us have experience with that from the past few years.

To be honest, there isn’t much besides internal motivation. My schedule is a mess and I have no clue of what’s happening in three weeks from the current date. Because of the multitude of jobs I have, I’m always assessing what needs the most attention at any given point and shuffling my time around that activity.

If an episode for the channel needs to be done urgently, I’ll put other work on the back burner, but if some motion graphics delivery is due, that’ll override the rest.

The one constant through this chaos is I need long intervals of uninterrupted focus to get into the flow and make good progress. I’d rather not start working on something unless I know I can put in three or four hours without interruptions into it.

I’ve learned the hard way that you have to guard your time and set boundaries. It’s easy to always say yes, but people will take everything you can give. It’s why I live out of my calendar now, which also lets me visualise tasks and deadlines better than any other tool. I also specifically book downtime and focus time, and treat scheduling conflicts with them the same as any other meeting.

I’m a morning person, so I get up early and smash through as much work as I can before the world wakes up and deluges me with distractions! I probably get more done in those first few precious hours than the rest of the day combined.

At work we use an internal task management system similar to Jira for monitoring the lifecycle of a task. It’s very visual and easy to track across teams, but personally I find it overkill.

I’m a big advocate of the write every day philosophy. I’ve seen various versions of it attributed to authors like Stephen King. Or there’s a whole subreddit that’s similar called NonZeroDay. Every day, you should chip away at whatever it is you’re working on. On some days that will be writing 500 incredibly shitty words. Or revising your post (which you should be doing multiple times before publishing). Or maybe you have a really productive research day. It’s all about compounding your time on it. 20 minutes a day on something is more than enough to make a ton of progress.

The most useful thing I’ve done is institute work nights (my wife’s idea). Two nights per week are reserved for working on Sofa. The other days are reserved for personal time. I’ve been doing this for a few years, and it’s been working pretty well. I stick to this schedule around 80% of the time.

Other than that, it’s just persistence. If I keep showing up and doing work, progress will be made.

Creating clear illustrations of shoe lacing methods or shoelace knots is harder than it first seems! Over the years, I’ve created a whole library of source images plus a collection of saved shortcuts (“actions”) as well as memorized procedures for the whole workflow. I’ve even written my own custom software for converting and/or optimizing images.

In theory, all of this means that I can now produce images many times more quickly and easily than I could decades ago. In practice, I’m probably slower today because expectations have increased ten-fold. Twenty years ago, I’d create a single image for my website. Done! Today, a single image needs to be output in multiple resolutions to suit my website, social media sites, three versions of Android app, two versions of iOS app, etc.

I do everything at the last minute, which I wouldn’t recommend to anyone, but it just about works for me. I fetishise fancy stationery, which I never use - all my best writing is on the backs of envelopes or in my Notes app while waiting for a bus.

I try very hard to go for a walk each day. Sometimes it’s right after dropping my kids off at school before I start my workday, and other times during lunch. I leave my phone behind and walk for two or three miles - about half an hour to an hour. It’s very meditative for me. It allows my mind to naturally work its way through whatever anxieties I’m currently feeling. Usually, by the halfway point, my head is clear enough to start thinking about the development tasks ahead of me. While some people have their best ideas while taking a shower, I’ll often solve problems and have eureka moments while walking and thinking about something unrelated.

My seventh-grade Geography teacher taught me that you have to take notes twice. The first time, during a lecture, you frantically write down all the information coming at you. You don’t have time to think. And then, later, you review your messy on-the-fly notes and rewrite them for clarity into some structured form.

I still apply that methodology to my work as an adult. I jot down notes and thoughts haphazardly throughout the workday and during meetings. I type on my Mac, thumb-tap into my iPhone, dictate a quick idea with my Apple Watch, or handwrite a note onto the small pad of paper I keep in my backpack. I collect ideas, reminders, and notes constantly all day long. But at the end of the day, or the next day before work begins, I’ll review and process everything I previously wrote down into a final resting place. I may never actually refer to these notes again, but the simple habit of rewriting them a second time forces me to digest the ideas and make connections I probably would have missed.

Programmers often talk about getting into a flow state where you’re hyper-focused on the task at hand. It’s when you do your best work. And as I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that the time of day when I’m most likely to reach that level of focus changes. It used to be late at night, but more often, it’s now in the morning. Regardless of the time of day, what’s consistent is that you can’t force yourself into that state of mind. It happens, or it doesn’t. There are days, and sometimes weeks, where I slog through work, uninspired.

The insight I finally had about ten years ago was to give myself a bit of grace. Sometimes you’ll have an unproductive day and accomplish nothing, and you must learn to be OK with that and permit yourself to be bad at your job. It happens. Rather than fight against it, take the crappy days in stride and have confidence that the spark and excitement that made you choose this career, and made you good at your job, will come back.

I read David Allen’s Getting Things Done as a teenager and I reread it every few years. It’s the thing that has helped me the most with productivity throughout my life. Tools like OmniFocus, Things, and Obsidian are great, but having a philosophical understanding of why systems are important is fundamental. David’s book gave me habits like daily and weekly reviews, universal capture, and the two-minute rule, that I absolutely live by to this day. If you haven’t read it yet, stop reading this and go pick up that book.