I’ve had several readers write me in response to my post Monday about the Periodic Table of Data Visualization. The emails can be easily summarized: “Shame on you. Edward Tufte’s book trumps all.” I’ve spent some time with Tufte’s book The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (though I don’t own a copy) and it is pretty fantastic. That funny looking chart on the cover is actually an ingenious train schedule.
Apple has started a new special area in the iBookstore to feature independent authors called Breakout Books. The New York Times explains it all. I’m thrilled to report Paperless made the cut.
I know it isn’t always easy dealing with big corporations but I must say the excellent team at the iBookstore has had my back since day one.
Not a week goes by that I don’t receive an email from some reader or listener asking about the problem of overwhelming task lists. Specifically, they explain that every day they spend far too much time dealing with an obese task list, for which they complete two or three items and fret over the rest. Then they spend hours fiddling most of their tasks into the next day only to start the vicious cycle again tomorrow. The whole process is demoralizing. Every morning feels like a quiet testament to your own personal failure. I know about this because I have experienced it. Not only does this wreck your faith in yourself, it makes you look like a flake to everyone else. You become the guy who says “yes” but never actually delivers.
Just because you can plan and track 10,000 tasks with your computer, doesn’t mean you should. I know that sounds obvious, but at a certain level, it is not. We use powerful tools, like OmniFocus, that make the structuring and organization of our task lists a breeze. It is so easy to add another forty tasks each day. Why not?
The cure is a bucket of intellectual ice water. The first step is just awareness. Be conscious of the growing monster. If you routinely open OmniFocus to find yourself facing 200 tasks every morning, you’re going to spend a lot more time organizing than actually doing. Don’t fall into that trap. Instead, use the forecast mode and start dates to push tasks out until when you can reasonably accomplish them. Be aware that despite your best intentions, tomorrow will not be a 100 hour day. Some projects may need to go out several days, weeks, or months. (If you think a task needs to get delayed years, it actually needs to get deleted.) Start each day with a small manageable list and get to work.
Future planning, however, only goes so far. Some of your projects must die. You will find that even with smart future planning, the list is still too long. At that point, you’re going to have to accept reality and start killing projects. This really isn’t the loss you think it is. If you are overwhelmed with tasks, several of the projects on your list are already dead. Deep down, you already know you won’t do them. You overcommitted yourself and it is time for the ice water. Be honest with yourself (and the world) and delete them outright rather than let them die a slow painful death, wrecking your faith in yourself (and other people’s confidence in you) in the process. This step is empowering. It puts you in control of what you do and afterwards it feels great. Put on your big boy pants and start killing projects today.
Taking back control takes some time. Use as much time as it requires. It is worth it. Until OmniFocus 2 ships, I find it easiest to pull this off on the iPad, where you can use the forecast mode, start dates, and the delete project button to wrest control from the universe. If you are using a start date type planning method, you’re still going to be hit with surprises over the next few weeks as previously delayed start dates show up. You’ll have to be equally vicious with those where appropriate.
The payoff for this bloodletting is immediate. You will find every day that you have a much more manageable list of tasks and the quality of your work will improve. Moreover, that underlying sense of angst that comes with an impossible task list will go away and you’ll feel a lot better about yourself.
You aren’t out of the woods yet however. Taking on too much is not a habit easily broken. Even after you complete this purge, your task list will build up again. Constant vigilance! It is up to you to be on guard that you don’t sink into the morass again. I’d like to say that I have mastered this skill. I have not. As I look at my own task list today, it’s obvious I need to take out the machete once again.
If you put data in front of other people, spend some time checking this out. I guarantee you will find something useful. Did you know there is such a thing as a Turkey Box Plot? I liked the Circle Diagram but haven’t figured out where I could use it … yet. Thanks MPU listener Andrew for sending me this.
Update: It’s Tukey, not Turkey. That makes more sense but isn’t nearly as entertaining.
Craig Hockenberry, a fellow Orange County resident, is one of the premier Mac and iOS programmers. Twitterific, the first Twitter client, was Craig’s brainchild. (He even played a role in coining the term “tweet”.) Anyway, Craig tells us how he works in a company with its employees all over the nation (and world), his creative process, and his recommendations to get started in programming.
I’m writing this from my desk back at MacSparky headquarters having returned from another Macworld/iWorld conference and exposition. It seems to me the post-Apple transformation is complete.
When I first attended Macworld, it took up multiple halls and was a frantic, glorious, nerd-zoo. It took several days to walk all of the show floors and finding the gems between the iPod case manufacturers (Yes, I said iPod.) was like a geeky treasure hunt. (That is how I originally found 1Password when they had a very tiny stand hidden behind Apple’s omni-presence.)
Then Apple left.
For the first few years after that, the show organizers had their work cut out for them convincing other large companies to stick with the show in light of Apple’s departure and getting people to attend against a perception that the show was finished. I think they did a remarkable job in those first few years in just keeping the show going.
Over a period of time, however, Macworld didn’t just survive. Macworld/iWorld found its groove.
Rather than focussing on Apple and its latest whizzy announcement, Macworld/iWorld has turned on itself focussing on attendees and users instead. There were numerous exhibits throughout Moscone showing off artwork created using Apple technologies.There was a constant stream of people playing music and creating. People stopped me in the hallway to ask about creating children’s books. Users were playing drums and dancing. Macworld became a celebration of creative iFans.
The show is definitely more intimate. The exhibitors fill one hall now instead of two but there is even an upside to that . The exhibitor signal to noise ration has improved. Where you used to have to wade through 7 plastic case manufacturers to find one interesting product, that is no longer (excuse the pun) the case. Moreover, a lot of the case manufacturers that were present had interesting cases. (One included a bottle opener and had an app to keep track of exactly how many Heinekens you’d opened. I was so tempted to buy one of those and mail it off to Jim Dalrymple.) Another benefit of the intimacy of the show floor is that it is even easier for users to get through to decision makers and the programmers that make the products they love. When it comes to expositions, certainly bigger is better. However, as an attendee, I really enjoyed myself on the show floor.
The Macworld/iWorld organizers also lowered the price of the iFan pass making it easier to get into the conferences. It is now much more reasonable to take classes from some really smart people and a few goofy ones. I couldn’t believe I filled the room for my iBooks Author session. Moreover, the room had this kumbaya feel that made talking about iBooks Author an absolute joy.
And then there was the social piece. Making friends with complete strangers that share a love of all things Apple and catching up with old friends is an absolute joy. To all my friends (new and old) that I met with at Macworld, thank you for giving me an amazing experience.
I am thrilled with this new Macworld and hope it continues many years into the future. Speaking as someone who has a day job, I find my yearly pilgrimage to Moscone Center absolutely necessary for my sanity. My thanks and gratitude go to Paul Kent, Kathy Moran, and everyone else at IDG for making it happen.
Below are several more pictures from Day 3 at Macworld.
Yesterday was a lot of fun at Macworld. Katie and I did a live episode on the show floor and I later gave my iBooks Author session, which was well attended by several budding authors. In the evening I attended the Cirque du Mac show and the Macworld AllStars were in great, as always. Too much fun.
Today I’ll be at the Transporter booth at 10am, then I’ll be talking about self publishing with Serenity Caldwell, Scott Simpson, and Adam Engst at 2pm on the second floor on the Macworld Magazine stage, and at the Smile booth at 3pm to close the show out. If you are at Macworld today, stop by and say hello.
Yesterday I got to explore some of the exhibit hall. I found several interesting vendors including one who is making a bow attachment for the iPhone. That ‘s right. A bow. As in nerdy Hunger Games.
I also did a session on workflows with Katie Floyd, Brett Terpstra, and Jeff Taekman that was well attended.
Then I went over to the Cartoon Art Museum where we did the OmniFocus Setup and the Debut. I had so much fun there, meeting some of my favorite bloggers and several very nice people who read MacSparky.com or listen the Mac Power Users. It never ceases to amaze me smart our audience is. It is humbling.
OmniFocus 2 is really great. The new version makes a lot of OmniFocus’s power features much more accessible on the Mac withouth removing the applications upper end power tools. I know first hand how hard they’ve been working on this and it shows. The Omni Group is going to post video of the event and a lot more information soon so I’m going to wait for them before linking it but if you are an OmniFocus user you are in for a treat.
Today, Katie and I are doing a live podcast on the show floor and I’m talking about iBooks Author at 5. If you’re at Macworld, make sure to stop by and say hello. Here are some pictures from yesterday.
Yesterday I travelled to San Francisco and got settled in for Macworld. I was really fantastic connecting up with all the friends I only see once a year. Moscone Center looks great and I’m looking forward to speaking and exploring today. Here are a few pictures I took yesterday as preparation were under way.
