My solution is the humble Moleskine Weekly Notebook (below).  As the name suggests the weekly notebook is a cunning combination of weekly diary (on the left page) and notebook (on the right page).  This allows me to write my to-do list for the week on the notebook page and record what I do each day on the appropriate section of the diary page.

Having my work log and to-do list in the same physical entity has been a real break-through for me as it means I can track my progress towards my objectives and be able to account for where my time is spent each day.  This has allowed me to analyse my working patterns and evaluate what is taking up time that could be better spent working on the tasks in my to-do list.  Being able to record unexpected events that have taken up time e.g. build breaks or sickness has also proven very useful.

What I don’t use this notebook for is an actual appointment diary or strategic to-do list as I have found through experimentation that there is seldom sufficient space for such things.  I have Microsoft Outlook which does appointment and calendar management and Evernote which does high level strategic tasks lists and note gathering.

Despite being almost an hour long this is a very insightful video that I’d recommend any Software Engineer watches. I find it fascinating that so many programmers want to erase their perceived (or actual) mistakes in source control systems. I guess everyone secretly wants to be the perfect super programmer. However I typically learn more from my failures than my successes: perhaps it is natural to be more introspective about failure than success?

If you find the title or video too pretentious then the question and answers session (around 42:40) is still quite interesting as the presenters get grilled by the audience.

So here is a brief description of how to do it:

1. Install the X-Code developer tools (for GCC, make and other build tools) from your Snow Leopard installation DvD.
2. Install the X11 Window System from your Snow Leopard installation DvD.
3. Run ‘Software Update‘ from the apple menu on your Mac to get the latest X-Code updates.
4. Download the latest MacPorts installer (.dmg file extension) for Snow Leopard from here: http://distfiles.macports.org/MacPorts/.
5. Mount the installer image file (.dmg) and run the contained MacPorts installer (.pkg).
6. Once installation is complete open a terminal window from Applications->Utilities->Terminal.
7. Type ‘port‘ at the terminal then press enter to run MacPorts.  You should see output like the following if it installed correctly:
   MacPorts 1.8.1
   Entering interactive mode… (“help” for help, “quit” to quit)
   Then type ‘quit‘ then press enter to exit port’s interactive mode.
8. Type ‘sudo port selfupdate‘ and press enter to update MacPorts to the latest version.  You will be asked to enter the administrators password before continuing.  Depending on how new the version you downloaded is, MacPorts may do some upgrading.
9. Once the update is finished type ‘sudo port install py26-matplotlib‘ and press enter.  This will attempt to install the latest version of matplotlib for Python version 2.6.*.   You may be asked to enter the administrators password before continuing.  MacPorts will now download, configure, build and stage the dependencies needed to build the latest matplotlib for Python 2.6.  This took at least thirty minutes on my iMac and involved lots and lots of scrolling text output from the build process.
10. Next we need to switch our environment to use version 2.6.* of Python that MacPorts just built and installed with matplotlib.  To do this run the following two commands, note you may be asked to enter the administrators password before continuing:
    1. ‘sudo port install python_select‘ and hit enter.
    2. ‘sudo python_select python26‘ and hit enter.
11. To test this all worked type the following: ‘python -V’ and hit enter.  You should see output like ‘Python 2.6.4‘ which should match the version of python MacPorts built and installed.
12. Finally to test if matplotlib was installed correctly do the following:
    1. Type ‘python‘ and hit enter to enter the python interactive shell.
    2. Type ‘import matplotlib‘ and hit enter, this will import the matplotlib module.  There should be no output if this works.
    3. Type ‘print matplotlib.__version__‘ and hit enter. This will print the version of matplotlib that is installed, you should see output like ‘0.99.1.1‘.
    4. Type ‘exit()‘ to quit the python interactive shell.

I did this in preparation for getting my act and starting writing again, hopefully new posts should start appearing this week.

The simplest solution to this is to manually position and size the windows of your applications so you can view two or more at once.  Arranging application windows manually quickly becomes tedious, due to the many events that can occur in a modern operating system which cause your application windows to be moved around, re-sized or moved to another monitor.

The solution to this problem is using Window Management utilities which allow you to easily re-size and move application windows around, typically using key combinations.  These utilities exist for most operating systems for Mac OS X the window management utility is called SizeUp, the equivalent utility for the PC is called WinSplit Revolution.  I use both of these applications daily, WinSplit is freeware but SizeUp costs a minimum of $4.99 and its worth every cent.  Each utility has some unique features: WinSplit allows you to chain several window configurations on a single key combination and SizeUp allows you to set up a key combination for moving windows between monitors.

I would struggle to maximise my use of one or more large monitors without a Window Management utility.  Hopefully one day this functionality will be built into operating systems as large monitors become more common.  Until then Window Managment utilties are going to be an essential tool that ever serious power user needs.

An example of a hard to start habit for me is writing blog posts: it took a force of will to start me writing initially and it requires constant energy to keep me writing new posts.  Interruptions over even a week to my writing can be enough to disrupt my writing habit sufficiently to halt it.  At which point Inertia comes into play with devastating effect, to make the restarting of the habit hard.  It seems that a lot of virtuous habits like regular exercise and eating healthily also fall into this category.

A habit that is easy to start and yet easily becomes all consuming for me is playing computer games, usually this doesn’t get too out of hand as most games have a finite length and amount of content which limits the duration of the disruption.  Yet some games, especially MMOs like World of Warcraft (WoW) have a seemingly endless stream of content which means that it is possible to spend an almost infinite amount of time playing the game and still not complete it.

These ‘time sink’ games can be a real challenge to getting anything else done, my usual solution to this situation is to stop playing the game by unsubscribing…

I finally got my Orc Shaman ‘Urki‘ in World of Warcraft to level eighty!  I only started levelling him in January so I’ve been pretty slow (restrained) but now I can finally start playing in the arena (PvP).

I also managed to get the artisan riding skill so I can use epic flying mounts.  Having an epic speed flying mount (this is my current) makes a huge difference to travel times, which I hadn’t fully appreciated before.

Three Column layout
I have been finding that a two column layout does not have sufficient space for all the widgets I would like to have, without having to resort to a really long second column.  So after a bit of thinking and some research I converted my current theme into a three column layout.

I found the following two posts very helpful when converting my theme into a three column layout: Adding Extra Sidebar to your Wordpress Theme and How to Create Multiple Dynamic Sidebars for Wordpress Widgets.  I also found the CSS Edit application by MacRabbit to be an essential tool for easy CSS tweaking, its so good I actually bought a licence.

Most Popular Posts Widget
It is important to be able to point visitors to the most popular content to keep them interested.  The ‘Most discussed posts’ widget provides a customisable list of the most commented on posts on your blog.  There are other widgets that can list the most popular posts by visits (page views) but they require extra database activity to record the visits which I’d rather not have to use on my hosting plan.

Google Reader Widget
This widget interacts with Google’s Reader service to provide a list of your recently shared items in Google Reader.  This is a great widget for sharing the posts or articles you have found most interesting with your readers, you can even add comments to each item.  This won’t completely replace my Friday linkage posts as there are sites I find without going through an RSS feed but it is something I have wanted on my blog from its conception.

Twitter for Wordpress Widget
I have been using this Widget to display my latest tweets for a while now.  However due to not having enough space in the second column I’ve never been able to have more than my last tweet visible.  Now I am using a three column layout I can now have my last few tweets displayed which I think makes them a bit more coherent.

RSS Icon Widget
An RSS feed link and icon is something I have been wanting to add to my template for a while, this handy little widget lets me do just that without any template voodoo.  Although it would be nice if it could also give and icon and link for the comments feed too.

The main thing I have left to deal with is some further minor tweaking of the theme and to replace the current banner with something a less geometric and a bit more fluid and interesting.  For the new image I had been thinking of something to do with ink in water but so far I’ve not found the sort of horizontal image I’d like.

How to broadcast your Google Reader ’starred items’ to an RSS feed or widget on your blog
This post explains how to share your Favorite (starred) items in Google Reader via either an RSS feed or as a widget on your blog.  This is something I am  interested in, as these weekly linkage posts are essential a summary of my starred items in Google Reader for that week.  Although not all my Friday Linkage links come form Google Reader but it would cover most of the interesting blog posts.

Playing in Traffic
David’s well titled post on generating traffic on your website in a classy manner e.g. not through buzz word bingo is well worth a read.  Especially if you are interested in increasing your traffic while retaining your credibility.  His portfolio of photographs is also well worth a browse.

Unit Testing: One Test, One Assertion – Why It Works
This post makes the case for one assertion per unit test.  As relative beginner to unit testing and as someone who tends to have multiple assertions per test I find this an interesting idea which I think I will need to try out.

The Psychology of Passive Barriers: Why Your Friends Don’t Save Money, Eat Healthier, or Clean Their Garages
Ever wondered why people don’t do things that are clearly beneficial for themselves?  This post discusses some of the Psychology of this phenomenon.  Although this is not specifically about software engineering, it is talking about an important aspect of user interaction: motivating/compelling the user to do something.

Actively Avoid Insights: 4 Useful KPI Measurement Techniques
This article on Web Analytics discusses four commonly used measurement techniques: averages, percentages, ratios and compound metrics and how they can actually hinder your understanding of your progress against your goals unless they are applied with some thought.

This balance can be seen in most projects involving more than a couple of participants.  A team’s experience distribution can typically be visualised as a pyramid with the most experienced individuals at the top of the pyramid and the most numerous and least experienced group of individuals at the bottom.  There is the occasional team where the experience pyramid is inverted but I have yet to have the opportunity to work with such a group.

The experience composition of a typical team usually works quite well, with the more experienced members directing those that are less experienced than them.  This helps to explain why the more experienced you become the more time you seem to spend in meetings planning, discussing and thinking about the design of the product.

The breakdown of the project tasks based on individual experience levels also means that each individual should be supplied with tasks that are mostly within their capabilities.  Some stretch tasks should also be set (with sufficient support from more experienced team members) to ensure each individual continues to develop their skills.  This should mean that the tasks you work on should be within your capabilities and as your capabilities increase so should the complexity of the tasks you are set, to prevent stagnation.

It should be noted that if an individual fails at a task then their next task should be something that is well within their capabilities. To do otherwise is to risk a loss of confidence, as multiple failures in a row can seriously undermine an individual’s confidence and ability (see negative reinforcement).  This is why most modern coaches will not allow their athletes to finish a training session with a failure.

Tasks that stretch or challenge you as an individual are a good thing but they should not be forced upon you and they should not be chained together, some respite is required between challenges.  More experienced team members are an essential resource to those undertaking stretch tasks due to the advice and moral support they can offer.