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Comment by lubujackson | Hacker News Reader

After having a baby I struggled to switch from marathon coding sessions to trying to punch out code in hour, half hour or even 10 minute increments. The best advice is what she said - plan and divide tasks ruthlessly. There's always bits of time to work on your task list on your phone or flesh out a bit of meta-code in your to-do list, and now I'm able to do the brunt of the "thinking" work in the shower or wherever, so when I finally sit in front of the computer I am mostly punching out the code that is nearly complete in my head.

It has also made me a more efficient programmer by saving time rewriting because I do most of my mistakes before I start writing anything down.

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I have done the same with my side projects and I have two kids plus a full time job.

I even built a tool that let me add contextual notes or todos to my files, folders, applications, open documents and websites for the next time I picked it up (I am not a developer but a designer) and turned that into a pretty successful notes app.

Now my even bigger project which require me to split things into even smaller buckets is easy to always know where I left it off without having to find the notes again as they are always right there.

Care to share the notes app?

http://www.ghostnoteapp.com/

That looks fantastic. I'm assuming there aren't any plans for a Windows release though?

Seconded. I would pay a lot more than $9.99 for such an app, but I don't use OS X.

Thanks. We are frantically working on getting a new version out right now with many more features like a scripts creator and a notes browser.

Windows is on the way but it's taking some time.

I've sent email at info@ghostnoteapp.com requesting update on Windows version.

Really want try it out as soon as it's ready.

Great. I will let you know once there is something.

Here is how we are trying to work it in http://www.ghostnoteapp.com/assets/uploads/GN-green.png

Is that a real custom theme for Windows or a mock-up of sorts?

Just a suggestion: Ensure a default value for when JQuery isn't available.

Your site is nicely progressive apart from the:

"Attach notes to your"

I spent a good minute wondering what I was meant to attach them to ;)

> There's always bits of time to work on your task list on your phone or flesh out a bit of meta-code in your to-do list, and now I'm able to do the brunt of the "thinking" work in the shower or

I want to move to this model of working but nothing seems to stick. Do you follow any specific routines or use tools to manage yourself?

I have tried a lot of tools but nothing sticks.

I did this, what worked for me was leaving myself a note of where I left off and exactly what to do next at the top of my task list; "validate input x on form y" for example. Just a simple 'trick' that really worked, for me at least.

Going to try this

In code, I think a good trick is to leave a lexical error in your current file.

I use the same model now that I have a child-- you can't optimize or think too hard about it, you just need to do it. Doesn't matter what tools or methods you use. Could use a phone todo, a sheet of paper in your pocket, whatever.

Things I frequently do randomly during the day:

1. iMessage myself a note or todo so I won't forget 2. email myself a note or todo item, especially if there's an image or link etc. 3. write a quick note in the iPhone notes app

To some extent, I think it comes from necessity.

As a father of two, I can confirm this is the case.

If I get the opportunity now to even open my laptop I know I'm on borrowed time. As a result, most of my thinking is done on my commute, and I find that just being aware of that really does make me focus in a way I never could before.

Incidentally, I find now that I'm much less likely to fall into the trap of starting things that will never be finished because I'm forced to put off getting hand to keyboard. It's like I'm pitching ideas to myself, and I'm my own harshest critic.

What if I actively don't want to think about my code in the shower? Work/life balance and all that jazz.

Then don't. There are only so many hours in the day, this is about fitting as much as possible into them. If you want to take a break during your shower, or go to get coffee with friends every day, that's cool, but there are people with many things going on and they enjoy doing it all. To each their own.

I think this is mostly being talked about in the context of starting a company or a side project. I can understand that you would feel that way about a day job and of course it's completely optional, but if you don't feel eager to work on a project that you've taken up your own initiative to start, then that is probably worth re-examining. You won't always feel that way, bit most of the time, at least. I'm currently working on a new product idea and I literally could not stop myself from thinking about it during my free brain cycles if I tried.

do it in your commute or during boring "dead time" instead where relaxation is almost inpossible

This. It's true that when you have a child you get used to plan and 'prepare' code in your head and then write it down in small slots of free time. But the result of doing this is that you are working all day really, your mind is not with your family or house duties, it keeps working on background, anxious and eager to put your hands down on the keyboard. And that's not nice. And it's very difficult to balance, I'm struggling with this on a daily basis.

As a mechanical engineer, this is the key to efficient work. Never CAD anything until you have done mental experiments, paper drawings, and thought through all the possible issues.

I'm a software engineer dabbling in mech design. I always do mental experiments and paper drawings, but I find that until I actual model it in SolidWorks I don't know for certain it will work.

In your mind, do you see a "mental picture" of the model before you CAD it?

You'll get better at visualizing with practice. Making sketches lets you nail down the big picture without the tool and all of its detailed needs getting in the way.

Not the OP, but I swear by cardboard, hot glue, and play doh.

I make lots of rough scale "prototypes" with the above tools to get started, and spot lots of problems this way.

Everyone has different ways of thinking - I imagine the models before CADding them but some people might like to make cardboard, playdoh etc models. If you like going directly to CAD, I would recommend starting with coarse CAD models.

Check out Quip. I love using it for multi device note taking and paper notes in the shower.

This happened to me too after I had my kids. More planning, less coding, and I'm pretty sure my productivity has actually gone up.

I find myself doing the same thing now - scribbling down bits of pseudo code when I'm on the go. Trying to get some of the problem solving done, switching back to whatever obligations I have, and hoping that somewhere in the background my mind js still working on the problem.

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