Starting tomorrow, I am going to change the way I start my work day.  Normally, I check email, phone messages, check my feed reader, maybe even make a few phone calls.  I think I am wasting my mornings.  The first hour, maybe two hours of my day are sort of quick.  Not everyone is in the office.

More than just that it is still quick, also my mind is still fresh.  Once I read emails, feed reader, etc.  I have stuff on my mind.  I am already distracted some.

So here is my game plan tomorrow morning.  Come in and get right two it.  Check email and feedreader before lunch sometime but later.  I will comment with how it worked.

Google allows it’s people to work 20% of their work time on whatever they feel passionate about.  Recently, I read a post about 37 signals switching to 4 day work weeks.  It got me thinking

If you have the right type of people, it’s good to let them have freedom to play around with stuff, just experiment.  One they learn stuff, making them a better employee, it’s cheaper than college or often going to conferences.  Another thing is that the people are fresher, feel less bogged down.  Just a few random thoughts on that.

Lately I have been thinking about my work environment.  On Friday I was trying to focus on something and although I was largely unbothered, I continual had people walking around me, heard people have conversations, heard phones ringing.  Tons of things to take my focus.

Office settings tend to not work for programmers.  It’s too easy for somebody to come ask them a question or call their extension and ruin the last and next 15 minutes of focus for that.

Working alone seems like a good  idea.  I have tried it a few times.  It’s cool, but at times lonely.  And you can’t throw ideas off each other like you can in a group setting.

Large groups have never worked for me, usally to unorganized and you spend too much time with analysis paralysis.

What works for me is a small ground, 2 to 4 people in a place where people can’t interrupt them.  The small group is easy to organize, quick to get working.  It’s nice to be able to talk with someone to bounce ideas off of them from time to time.  I really like the library reading room, it’s quiet enough, but you can talk softly if you need to, but you should not need to talk too much.

“Anything worth doing, is worth doing right” ”Under promise, over deliever”

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking”

“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men”

It’s just feels good to do things right. Doing it right is just better.