The Indie Mind

While I’m not a Cocoa/Objective-C developer, I do have respect for Kevin Hoctor, the developer, founder, and mastermind behind MoneyWell - a handy personal finance application for the MacOS. Its a good app, doesn’t serve all my needs, but works for now.

He wrote a post on his site recently about Indie Multitasking which got me thinking. Two items in particular: multitasking and global location.

Multitasking

Multitasking, which despite the buzz over the years, is not really possible. Anyone who knows how to be productive also knows that multitasking only works if you chunk the large pieces that you are working on into sequential slots in time. Sure, you can multitask the little things but when it comes to hunkering down and working on complex problems only to be interrupted, switch to another complex problem, and then finally switch back to the original complex problem then you’re not impressing anyone. You are spending more time getting your head around each problem when you could have focused on the original problem, solved it faster, and making better use of your time. Another way to think about this is focusing within a specific context but if you want to learn more about that then read David Allen’s book on Getting Things Done and then buy OmniFocus for the MacOS and your iPhone/iPad.

Being productive takes discipline and many, unfortunately, seem to not realize this (that or lack the motivation to stay focused and disciplined). My daily routine is probably an extreme version of what most people’s work habits are but I take interruptions very seriously. I know how destructive they are and make every effort to reduce them when possible. I’m sure my fellow co-workers, family, and friends would like to reach me more throughout the day but if you don’t hit the right window in time, then I will catch you when the next time slot rolls around.

Global Location

In addition, he also talks about being a global located company where it simply doesn’t make sense to rent office space and pay for employees to work in one location. I completely agree and is something that gnaws at me more and more as time goes on. This is the Digital Age, people, not the Industrial Age. The era where you need to commute to the big city, stamp that punch card, and work under supervision of your boss is over. It is also wasteful, eats up time, kills the environment with unnecessary CO2 emissions, and can kill your motivation. No, this is the era of the New Rich where everyone is digitally connected to everyone else on the globe with real-time information and instant access. Where you can live anywhere, be anywhere, work how you want to (and at odd hours). If I was your boss, I wouldn’t care. I only care about your productivity, reliability, and your ability to get things done. How you do it and where you do it is up to you.

Anyway, read Kevin’s post for more to think about.

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