This list has been updated for 2006. Here is the new list of academic podcasts you can listen to for free. I discovered early on that an iPod or MP3 player full of good spoken audio content went a long way toward keeping me productive when traveling, doing yard work, exercising, etc, but the charges from audible.com and buying CDs adds up quickly. Podcasts can automate the process of getting content and lower the cost, but much of the content available has more in common with radio entertainment than a well written book. Several universities are making lectures available as Podcasts. Not every class is work well on an iPod, but the content is much more directed toward people who want to … [Read more...] about List of Academic Lecture Podcasts
Archives for October 2005
Writing Down Goals
Marston online has some comments on research related to productivity. The most interesting comment was: The researchers wanted to know what accounted for the dramatic difference between that top 3 percent and the others. They found that of all the possible variables, the only difference between the top performers and the rest was the the top 3% wrote down their goals. The research was done by the Ford Foundation, but I haven't been able to locate that particular study. … [Read more...] about Writing Down Goals
Some New Tools
YackPack is a tool to communicate with people in your "circle". It lets you click on someone and record a message for them to hear when they next log on. The founder has a PhD. in Physicology and the product was built as a solution to the disconnect that happens when groups communicate exclusively by email. Currently the product is free in its beta form. ActiveWords helps cut down on the time it takes to accomplish work with your PC. It allows you to type in a single word and push a button to do something. For example, you can type in "word" and push F8 to launch Microsoft Word. In some ways it brings the speed of working at a command line back to the computer. It also has the … [Read more...] about Some New Tools
Work vs. Time
A great deal of productivity is lost because people focus on time instead of work. It isn't the amount of time spent on a task that matters--it is the amount of work that is accomplished. Unfortunately, time is often the easiest thing to measure. Because it is easy to measure, most people are paid for their time instead of what they actually accomplish. Of course, in some rough way, time does translate into work. You can usually get more done in 2 hours than you can in 1, but the time element isn't where the focus should be. It is easy to spend 2 hours without really accomplishing anything significant. When we are focused on time instead of work, we tend to do the tasks that … [Read more...] about Work vs. Time
Collaborative Note Taking – SubEthaEdit
SubEthaEdit is a tool that allows several people to take notes simultaneously in the same document. While it doesn't work in every situation, it can be a surprisingly good way to capture everyone's point of view quickly and without interrupting the flow of the meeting. The example above shows SubEthaEdit being used to write a program with multiple people contributing at the same time. Each person's changes show up in their color and you can see the changes they are making in real time. SubEthaEdit is designed to create plain text files, so you can't do any fancy formatting, but for large groups of people, this helps keep the documents consistent. The newest version allows you to … [Read more...] about Collaborative Note Taking – SubEthaEdit
Links and Tools Roundup
This is is a roundup of some of the useful articles and tools I've run across in the past few weeks. Checkout the sidebar for other links on Productivity and Organization as well. Kinkless is an OmniOutliner document that lets you manage things using the "Getting Things Done" methodology. PocketMod offers an easy way to print your own personalized organizer. LifeHacks has a great post on how to clean almost everything and once it's clean you can follow Real Simple's plan to keep it clean with only 19 minutes of work per day. Some tips on using Tracks and a molskine notebook to create a system based on "Getting Things Done." A good article on how to write an effective todo list from 43 … [Read more...] about Links and Tools Roundup
Office in a Bag
Over the past four years, I haven't had an office at my job. The organization I was working for was running out of space, so I volunteered to go without an office and let the space be used for other things. I would work from wherever I could find space. Sometimes this was an empty office, the desk of a co-worker, or even sitting on the floor. Since I was rarely in the same spot, I had to keep everything I needed in my computer bag. In addition to roaming within the building, I spent a good amount of time traveling. In time, I refined what I needed in my bag down to the items that I found made me most productive, whether I was working from a quiet spot I found on the floor in a … [Read more...] about Office in a Bag