Monthly review: November 2014
Posted: - Modified: | monthly, review- Get team members up to speed with prototype designs and reporting tips
- Experiment with Emacs hangouts and learn more about functionality
- File my corporate tax returns
- Dust off my delegation processes
I'm glad I invested time in writing things down, building standardized reports, and coaching team members, since I ended up spending November mostly working from home (whenever I wasn't asleep).
We experimented with casual Emacs Hangouts and those were awesome. I hosted the first one and Cameron Desautels hosted the second one. Great way to pick up tips and hang out with folks. I'm looking forward to doing more of them in December and in 2015.
I filed my corporate tax returns, yay! This year, I learned how to file HST using the quick method (which isn't really all that quick), and I also found a bookkeeper who could help me answer some of my tax questions. Nice to get the paperwork out of the way.
Delegation-wise, I continue to be really bad at assigning tasks to my virtual assistants. On my consulting engagement, though, I'm getting better at asking team members to do stuff (providing notes and help along the way) instead of giving in to the temptation to have fun doing things myself.
I also learned more about building flexible reports using Tableau and PostgreSQL, wireframing before implementing, testing. I picked up Minna no Nihongo and started working my way through it. I learned how to make a really simple LEGO ball contraption. I mentored a young developer. I dealt with fuzzy brain, squirrel brain, and other challenges, and I figured out a few things that work well for me. (Getting things ready for good-brain time, for example.)
Also, having a process journal is great! I updated each entry by summarizing it in the headline, and now I can look at my date outline and get a quick sense of how the month went. =) Pretty well, actually, despite having lower energy than usual.
In December, I plan to:
- Continue helping my consulting client with prototyping and analytics
- Dive into Emacs improvement
- Help out with family projects
- Do a calendar-year annual review
Blog posts:
- Learning and writing
- Emacs
- Emacs, coaching, and unknowns: Figuring out what I want to learn - next: practise working out loud more when it comes to Emacs
- Experimental Emacs Hangout 2014-11-05 - next: Dec 17 8 PM
- Emacs: Evaluating Javascript and CSS in Chrome using Skewer Mode
- Emacs: Limiting Magit status to a directory
- Using Org Mode to keep a process journal - next: integrate with review?
- Tech
- The Google Chrome extensions I use - next: follow up on comments
- First steps towards Javascript testing - next: figure out how to integrate with social business platform
- Beginner web dev tip: Use Inspect Element to learn more about HTML and CSS on a page
- Keeping (financial) score with Ledger - next: figure out how to integrate with Org Agenda and timeline view?
- Experiment
- Rethinking delegation - next: decide whether I'm going to delegate more tasks or postpone to January
- Planning little improvements - next: practise testing, sketching, Emacs
- Dealing with uncertainty one step at a time
- What could I do if I showed up in a bigger way? - next: practise wireframing and sketching, do more Emacs stuff
- Figuring out how my temporary sleep schedule interacts with programming, writing, and drawing - next: practise behaviour-driven development, sketching
- Figuring out my own path to awesomeness - next: create more bridges (write/draw/share)
- Other
- Reviews
Sketches:
- 2014-11-01 More thoughts on delegation
- blogged in Planning little improvements
- 2014-11-01 Baselines and possible improvements - part 2
- blogged in Planning little improvements
- 2014-11-01 Baselines and possible improvements - part 1
- blogged in Rethinking delegation
- 2014-11-02 What could I do if I showed up in a bigger way
- 2014-11-02 Emacs, coaching, and unknowns
- 2014-11-11 Dealing with uncertainty one step at a time
- blogged in Dealing with uncertainty one step at a time
- 2014-11-12 What are the things I want to learn more quickly, and what would that look like
- blogged in Learning a little more quickly (sneak peek)
- 2014-11-25 Getting better at asking questions
- blogged in Learning more effectively by exploring various unknowns (sneak peek)
- 2014-11-29 Where am I in terms of design
- blogged in Where am I in terms of design? (sneak peek)
- 2014-11-29 Where am I in terms of design - blank
- blogged in Where am I in terms of design? (sneak peek)
Time:
% | Avg h per week | Avg h per day | |
---|---|---|---|
Sleep | 41.3 | 69.4 | 9.9 |
Personal care | 14.4 | 24.2 | 3.5 |
Business | 14.3 | 24.0 | 3.4 |
Discretionary – Play | 9.0 | 15.1 | 2.2 |
Discretionary – Productive | 9.4 | 15.8 | 2.3 |
Discretionary – Family | 6.5 | 10.9 | 1.6 |
Unpaid work | 5.0 | 8.4 | 1.2 |
I'm trying a new thing in this review – I'm also using it to mark items for follow-up, like sketches that haven't been blogged yet (0% this month, yay!) or actions to take. We'll see if this helps me build momentum and connect the threads!