Better technology & life
29 Oct 2010
What's going on? Comments Off
Nikita & Fred
I was invited to visit the Bridge2College programme in Trinity College today. It is a great initiative to try to change the old school system in Ireland.
Basically, they have set up a true learning environment, as compared to the normal memorize-until-the-leaving-cert-approach that most students are exposed to.
They offer students a really exciting year to work with interesting techie projects in teams. Great for learning about teamwork and about project work.
25 Oct 2010
Other important stuff Comments Off
This is from a job ad in Apple:
We are looking for a senior software engineer to help us create a revolutionary new feature in the very foundations of Mac OS X. We have something truly revolutionary and really exciting in progress and it is going to require your most creative and focused efforts ever.
We are looking for a senior software engineer to help us create a revolutionary new feature in the very foundations of Mac OS X. We have something truly revolutionary and really exciting in progress and it is going to require your most creative and focused efforts ever.
It is a nice job description, very engaging and visionary. Makes you want to apply, even though the ad does not say anything about what products or projects you will actually work on.
Have to keep this in mind for when we advertise our next job.
Just so you know, this job was advertised before the summer, it is long gone.
15 Oct 2010
Productivity gtd Comments Off
Toodledo
Toodledo is a great online application with a stupid name.
I use Toodledo for my GTD ToDo-lists, and it works great. There is a nice app for the iPhone, but they also have a great mobile site that you can use from any phone (www.toodledo.com/slim).
It supports all the things you need for GTD: contexts, goals, etc.
Also, you can set up Toodledo for emails. Send an email to your secure Toodledo email address, and the email is automatically converted into a task.
I often use the Toodledo email to create tasks in my ToDo list directly from my mailbox. When I need to remember to do some action on an email I just send the email to Toodledo. The task is set up within seconds, and the email is stored with the task. When I go to the task in Toodledo all the information is right there, in the task.
If you are struggling with your to-do list, give Toodledo a go.
14 Oct 2010
Productivity Comments Off
When you work on a project it is always handy to have a tool to track the work. These days you often have people from different of companies working on the same project at the same time.
Here are some ideas that may help you manage your projects better.
One of the most common tools for project management is Microsoft Project. It has all the functionality you could ever want, and much more.
However, in reality MS Project is often only used by the project manager. The other team members don’t have MS Project installed, or they don’t know how to find the project file on the network.
So in practice the team members only see the project plan at meetings, and they quickly forget about priorities, tasks, and time lines.
Basecamp
Basecamp is a tool at the other end of the spectrum. It lacks a lot of functionality, but it is really easy to use for everyone on the team. It is an online tool, which means everyone can see the current plan at any stage, and you don’t have to install anything.
The most important feature of Basecamp is the ease-of-use. You just sign up your team members online, and your new project can be set up in a few minutes. Here are the main pluses:
One big problem with Basecamp is that it cannot handle task dependencies. However, for a small project these can often be handled by just telling people on the team about the dependencies by email.
If you want to try Basecamp in your own company, here are some great ideas to help you get started.
If you find a better project management tool, please let me know.
4 Oct 2010
Other important stuff Comments Off
Not sure if you get the same problem as me, but sometimes I have problems opening attachments in emails. When I click on “view” next to the attachment I get a message there was a problem to open the document, and there is a link to view the document in “Plain HTML” instead. Clicking on the “Plain HTML” shows the document, but it is ugly, and all pictures are missing.
This problem happens when Google gets confused between your DoneDeal account and your GMail account.
When you get this problem, go back to your email and click on the “Documents” link at the top of your email screen. Google then asks if you want to use the documents with your DoneDeal account or your GMail account. Select the DoneDeal account, and then you can open the attachments without any problems.
You probably have to select the DoneDeal account for documents once or twice per day for this to continue to work.
Another option is to open the attachment by clicking on “Download” instead of “View”. This solution only works if you have a program installed on the computer that can open this type of file.
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