The second season of my Work Smart video series at FastCompany.com premiered yesterday, with a question from Suhasini Kotcherlakota about how to take better meeting notes, and some answers from me and Brad Isaac, who wrote a great piece on mind-mapping meetings at Lifehacker a few years back.
Despite the fact that I still can't watch and listen to myself on film without cringing, I am so pleased with the results. Adam Barenblat at FastCompany did an amazing job on the art and design, which is based on a fun new webapp: Popplet.
Google Code University · One of the most frequently asked questions I get is, "How can I learn how to code?" Today fluorescentinca showed me Google Code University, a collection of tutorials on Googly languages (like Python, Java and Go) for relative beginners. Some good stuff there. (I also wrote a more general Lifehacker piece last year that can help you decide what language to start in.)
· 1 day ago
My greatest hope for the hotly-rumored, might-launch-any-day-now social networking app "Google Me" is that it will not merely clone Facebook in a weak attempt at parity, but that it will innovate and solve problems that plague existing social networks.
Last month, a senior user experience researcher at Google, Paul Adams, gave a presentation entitled "The Real Life Social Network." The 224 slides, embedded below, describe some of the problems and common user behavior on existing social web sites, and suggest how to better design that experience. While the presentation is targeted towards businesses who want to use social media to get their message out, it also serves as a roadmap for what Google will attempt to do with Google Me.
Thrilled to announce I'm prepping to shoot a new Q&A video series for Fast Company. Work Smart 2 will be a question and answer consultation with viewers and readers like you. If you've got a burning question to ask me about tech and productivity, this is your chance.
Here's how it works:
1. Email me at worksmart@fastcompany.com or leave a comment here on this post with your question. Topics might include things like email overload, mobile apps, cloud computing, productivity, or anything related to working and living saner, smarter and more efficiently with tech tools.
2. If we choose your submission, you and I will schedule a video Skype consultation where we record your question and my advice. I'll even call in some of my best tech-savvy expert friends for help.
3. We'll edit together the clip and run it on FastCompany.com and right here on Smarterware.
Interested in getting a little video Skype Q&A going? Here are the details. Can't wait to talk to you.
Hilary Mason: How to Replace Yourself with a Very Small Shell Script ·
Just stumbled upon a YouTube clip of one of the best Ignite presentations I've seen, by Hilary Mason, a computer scientist at Bit.ly. Mason wrote a series of scripts that auto-respond to email with particular content, and auto-nag folks she's emailed but hasn't gotten a response from yet. Hit the play button to hear more. She says once the code's fit for sharing she'll put it up on GitHub. Cannot wait. · May 25th, 2010, 6 comments
In the past three months Anil and I have been to events in six different cities talking about Expert Labs and how the White House used ThinkTank to compile feedback on the Grand Challenges initiative. At Fast Company's Innovation Uncensored event in New York City last month, Anil absolutely killed it in a 12 minute presentation that hits the nail right on the head. Press play to check it out.
The best part about my Work Smart video series at Fast Company is that I get to cover my favorite, classic digital productivity problems with the latest and greatest solutions I know in a whole new medium.
In the past five installments I addressed some old and new issues any tech savvy digital worker encounters: keeping track of passwords, wasting time leaving and listening to voicemail, being a productive freelancer (or just work-at-homer), syncing files across all your computers, and, for fun, a few things you didn't know your cameraphone can do. Hit play on any of the 2-3 minute segments inside.
My Interview on The Pipeline · Almost every interview I do these days for podcasts or magazines involves the inevitable question: "What are your best productivity tricks?" That's why it was so refreshing to do an interview with Dan Benjamin on his excellent show, The Pipeline, and never have to answer that question. Instead Dan wanted to chat about my progression from a day coder and no-name night blogger back in 2001 to a "pro blogger," about what made Lifehacker a success (hint: it's not talent, it's a big platform and LOTS of posts over the course of years), about self-publishing books, and about what I think an aspiring blogger these days has to do to make blogging a full-time job. Good times. Check it out: The Pipeline 10: Gina Trapani · April 6th, 2010, 1 comment
Update: The signing offer's over and done with--thanks for buying the book!
What, you haven't bought your copy of The Complete Guide to Google Wave yet? And you've been meaning to? My friend, today is your lucky day.
Because I like you, and because I'd like to sell more books, I'm signing every single copy of The Complete Guide to Google Wave that gets ordered today, March 31st, between now and midnight Pacific time.
Just head on over to the book's web site, order up a copy of the paperback book, and before we pack and ship it your way I'll sign it with my favorite pen. I won't sign a sticker that someone else will slap into your book, I will sign YOUR ACTUAL BOOK. With care. First thing tomorrow morning, before the dude in the uniform comes to pick it up and happily delivers it to your doorstep. The paperback book is full-color, fits great in your hand and in your laptop bag, and costs $25. Half of that purchase price helps employ a developmentally disabled adult in my community.
Wave is made of the best futuristic stuff on the web, and it's worth sinking your teeth into. Grab a copy of the book, learn how to get your wave on, help out a great charity, and get a firsthand look at my chicken scratch handwriting. It's a win-win-win.
Did I mention that this virtual signing is for books purchased today only? The clock's a'ticking. Buy one now. (And thanks.)
My two latest videos over at Fast Company deal with how to get things done even when your lizard brain is completely against you. First, a bit on how to procrastinate productively; second, how to get your most important work done first thing, before you start procrastinating.
The topics are very much related. Once you've let yourself dread something long enough, you get stuck in a cycle of procrastination that makes you feel like crap. But my big secret is this: some of my best work got done while I was putting off doing something else. When you're procrastinating, you're highly motivated to avoid something for as long as possible. Which means you've got both the will and the time to knock out something OTHER than the dreaded task you're putting off.
On the other hand, if you see that dreaded task looming on the horizon, you can set yourself up to tackle it first thing in the morning, before anything else happens. I jacked the title of a book I love, Eat That Frog, to describe that one. Here are the two clips.
It's Ada Lovelace Day and I haven't had time to write up something profound about women in tech, because, well, I've been too busy coding. Appropriate, no? I've been jamming on ThinkTank, a new webapp that will help the White House crowdsource ideas for our country's scientific and technological goals. It's also one of the youngest, pluckiest, up-and-coming woman-friendly open source projects around. My partner at Expert Labs Anil Dash explains why:
Besides being created by a woman (Ed: that's me!), we've been able to start up an active, vibrant community that is supportive and inclusive of new members. I think that our habit of mentoring our newest contributors is part of why we were one of the youngest apps to be selected for Google Summer of Code students to participate in, and I think it also explains why we have a mailing list and community that's never had a single flame war, personal attack or ego battle. It also helps that we're doing meaningful work that helps government make better decisions every time we fix a bug in our application. Even if you've never considered yourself a coder, there are instructions on how to participate that make joining the project as easy as editing a file in Google docs.
ThinkTank hasn't been around long enough to have accumulated any cruft--either in the source code, or in the community's politics. If you join now you have the opportunity to make a major impact on early decisions that will shape ThinkTank's roadmap. I hope tomorrow's Adas will consider getting in on the ground floor and help us grow these seeds into something amazing in a helpful and supportive environment. Interested? Join the mailing list and dive into the code on GitHub.
TWiG Live from SXSW ·
Had a blast recording the latest episode of This Week in Google in person with Jeff Jarvis and Leo Laporte in Austin at SXSW this past Saturday. We had a live audience in-studio of friends and supporters there too, with guest appearances by Matt Haughey, Adam Pash, and Jake Jarvis rotating in on the fourth mic. It was so cool to see what happens beyond my Skype headset every Saturday and finally get to give Leo a big hug in person. Speaking of Leo at SXSW, if you haven't seen him crowdsurfing at the Diggnation party, you must get yourself to the YouTube clip of that stat. · March 16th, 2010, 2 comments
My latest two videos are up at Fast Company: one's on firewalling your attention with time blocking, and the second is on three ways to use Google Wave in your business.
The time blocking piece is actually a personal confession about my hermit tendencies. Sometimes I just shut everything off, fall off the face of the planet, and have some uninterrupted me-time. I've had co-workers say to me, "Um, where did you go today?" and the answer is usually "To my happy place, a distraction-free zone." As you'll hear in the video, at my last office job, I actually used to schedule a meeting with myself complete with a conference room to get away and focus on something for awhile. Here's the 2 minute, 37 second clip.
37signals' new book Rework is a fast, inspiring read for anyone who's thought about starting a business but froze at the idea of quitting their job, getting investing, and working 24-hour days.
As they do every day at their blog, in Rework the Signals break down their minimalist philosophy into a series of essays written in uncompromising language. Expect a table of contents full of sections entitled things like "Learning from mistakes is overrated," "Planning is guessing," "Outside money is plan Z," "Throw less at the problem," "Skip the rock stars," and "Meetings are toxic." While it's billed as a business book, at its core Rework is a get-up-off-your-ass, stop-talking-and-start-doing book--a productivity book that uses 37signals as its main case study.
People who follow 37signals online know that they are opinionated and contrarian--sometimes to the point of abrasive. At least one person thinks their small business philosophy is downright dangerous. Personally I give 37signals credit for having a strong point of view, a well-executed shtick, and for having shipped some fantastic software products. (At Lifehacker we lived in Campfire.) My advice? Take the book with a grain of salt. After reading it you don't have to cancel every meeting you have at your company. But, if you shorten a few, you've gotten something out of it.
To get a taste of how the book reads, download this PDF excerpt with essays on why workaholism, business plans, and meetings don't work. The book is available today in bookstores and on Amazon.
Panic is a software company that makes useful tools like my personal favorite, Transmit for the Mac. They've also made a beautiful project status display that helps their team keep on top of what they're working on, and what important dates are coming up. Click on the thumbnail to see the full version. The board is actually an internal web page that auto-updates support email queue numbers, how far along each company project is, day over day revenue comparisons, the company calendar, and Twitter messages. Here's the effect it's had on the team:
Les, one of our support guys, said it best after a week: “That board is like magic.” Our support turnaround time is faster than it’s ever been. Just the simple act of “publicizing” those numbers — not in a cruel way, but a “where are we at as a group?” way — has kept the support process on-task and, I think, made it a bit more like a video game. (It helps that when all the boxes are at “zero”, a virtual bottle of champagne appears on-screen, and a physical one is likely removed from the fridge.)
Brilliant! I am dying for one of these for my own personal use. Panic, will you add that to your project list? For the nitty gritty on how this board was built and what kind of display it's on, check out the full post at the Panic blog.
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The second season of my Work Smart video series at FastCompany.com premiered yesterday, with a question from Suhasini Kotcherlakota about how to take better meeting notes, and some answers from me and Brad Isaac, who wrote a great piece on mind-mapping meetings at Lifehacker a few years back. 
Thrilled to announce I'm prepping to shoot 
The best part about my 
Update: The signing offer's over and done with--thanks for buying the book!
It's 
I'm 
