So I’ve had this blog for a long time, but never used for much of anything more than a soapbox to announce some projects and post some random stuff.
Don’t get excited, since this is more of the same. I just want to take the time to explain what it is that I do on Sundays, and why it’s so important. I’m sure that you’re very well familiar with Google’s 20% time, and Atlassian’s 24-hour freestyle iteration. I’m doing something similar, but also more structured. I try to set aside 20% of my time working to do whatever I want, but on top of that, I felt the need to recognize that as a programmer, I do a lot of meta-work. That is, work about work. Things like updating my development environment, and reading up on the latest scripting languages….
So I’ve decided to launch Tooling day.
Sunday, for me, is now Tooling day. It’s the day when I improve the tools I use for my life. It’s the day when I switched from normal Gmail to Multiple-inbox gmail. It’s the day that I switched from multiple-inbox gmail to priority inbox gmail. It’s the day I switched from priority inbox gmail to multi-priority-inbox gmail…. It’s the day I learned about ant and ivy. It’s the day I chose to spend sorting my toolbox and fixing the toilet. It’s the day I practiced zen meditation for the first time (it didn’t stick).
Now, from a personal standpoint, I’m sure you can appreciate why it is that having a day set aside to work on things like cleaning, fixing up around the house and running errands is important. But far too often, we ignore the impact it can have when we apply that same focus to fixing up our professional lives.
So my mission for today is to clean up my gmail filters, switch to multi-priority-inbox gmail, read up on maven, and spackle some holes. Wish me luck!