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7 Awesome Books to Increase Your Productivity

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work you have to do? Do you struggle to find enough time in the day to get everything done? If so, you are not alone. Many people struggle with time management and find it difficult to be productive. However, there are time management techniques that you can use to increase your productivity and get more done in less time.

The 10x Rule

The first step in managing your time effectively is to set goals. Setting clear and specific goals helps you stay focused and motivated. Write down your goals and break them down into smaller, more manageable tasks. The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone is a great book for setting ambitious goals and taking massive action towards achieving them.

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Eat That Frog!

Once you have set your goals, prioritize your tasks. Identify the tasks that are most important and urgent and work on them first. This will help you avoid getting overwhelmed and ensure that you are making progress on the most critical tasks. Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy is a classic book on time management that provides practical tips on how to prioritize tasks and avoid procrastination.

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The One Thing

Creating a schedule helps you manage your time effectively. Block out time for your tasks and make sure you stick to your schedule. Use tools like calendars and to-do lists to keep yourself organized and on track. The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan is a great book on productivity that emphasizes the importance of focusing on one thing at a time and creating a schedule that aligns with your goals.

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Digital Minimalism

Distractions can be a significant hindrance to productivity. Identify the things that distract you and eliminate them. For example, if social media is a distraction, consider using apps that limit your social media use during work hours. Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport is an excellent book that provides insights on how to reduce digital distractions and optimize your use of technology.

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The Power of Full Engagement

Taking breaks is essential for maintaining productivity. It's essential to take short breaks throughout the day to recharge your energy and refocus your mind. Try taking a five-minute break every hour or two, or taking a longer break every two to three hours. The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz is a great book on how to manage your energy and achieve peak performance through strategic breaks and recovery.

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The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Delegating tasks is an effective time management technique. Identify the tasks that can be delegated and assign them to others. This will free up your time to focus on more critical tasks and increase your productivity. For more resources on delegation and time management, you can check out the Harvard Business Review's guide on Delegation, or read Stephen Covey's book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

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The Art of Saying No

Learning to say no is essential for managing your time effectively. If someone asks you to take on a task that is not important or urgent, politely decline. This will help you avoid taking on too much and ensure that you can focus on your priorities. The Art of Saying No by Damon Zahariades is a great book that provides practical tips on how to set boundaries, say no to requests that don't align with your goals, and prioritize your time effectively.

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In conclusion, time management is essential for increasing your productivity. By setting goals, prioritizing your tasks, creating a schedule, eliminating distractions, taking breaks, delegating tasks, and learning to say no, you can manage your time effectively and get more done in less time. Remember, managing your time is a skill, and like any skill, it takes practice to master. Start implementing these techniques today and watch your productivity soar.

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Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager

Read hilarious stories with serious lessons that Michael Lopp extracts from his varied and sometimes bizarre experiences as a manager at Apple, Pinterest, Palantir, Netscape, Symantec, Slack, and Borland. Many of the stories first appeared in primitive form in Lopp’s perennially popular blog, Rands in Repose. The Third Edition of Managing Humans contains a whole new season of episodes from the ongoing saga of Lopp's adventures in Silicon Valley, together with classic episodes remastered for high fidelity and freshness.

Who This Book Is For

Managers and would-be managers staring at the role of a manager wondering why they would ever leave the safe world of bits and bytes for the messy world of managing humans. The book covers handling conflict, managing wildly differing personality types, infusing innovation into insane product schedules, and figuring out how to build a lasting and useful engineering culture.

Whether you’re an aspiring manager, a current manager, or just wondering what the heck a manager does all day, there is a story in this book that will speak to you―and help you survive and prosper amid the general craziness of dysfunctional bright people caught up in the chase of riches and power. Scattered in repose among these manic misfits are managers, an even stranger breed of people who, through a mystical organizational ritual, have been given power over the futures and the bank accounts of many others.

Lopp’s straight-from-the-hip style is unlike that of any other writer on management and leadership. He pulls no punches and tells stories he probably shouldn’t. But they are magically instructive and yield Lopp’s trenchant insights on leadership that cut to the heart of the matter―whether it’s dealing with your boss, handling a slacker, hiring top guns, or seeing a knotty project through to completion.

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It’s a note from DJ Patil, the first US Chief Data Scientist, summarizing his approach to tackling problems:

Dream in years

Plan in months

Evaluate in weeks

Ship daily

The framework for execution.

Prototype for 1x

Build for 10x

Engineer for 100x

The framework for scale.

What’s required to cut the timeline in 1/2?

What needs to be done to double the impact?

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Success does not come through grades, degrees or distinctions. It comes through experience that expand your belief in what is POSSIBLE.

Matea

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The goal is not to be perfect by the end. The goal is to be better today.

Simon Sinek

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The splendid achievements of the intellect, like the soul, are everlasting.

Sallust

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I cannot do all the good that the world needs, but the world needs all the good that I can do.

Jana Stanfield

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Life is not meant to be easy, my child; but take courage: it can be delightful.

George Bernanrd Shaw

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Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.

E. B. White

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You don't get harmony when everyone sings the same note.

Doug Floyd

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One of the most essential prerequisites to happiness is unbounded tolerance.

A. C. Fifield

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You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.

André Gide

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Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow"

Mary Anne Radmacher

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A good prioritization framework can help you consider each factor about a project idea with clear-eyed discipline and combine those factors in a rigorous, consistent way.

Using a scoring system for prioritization in product management certainly isn’t new. Systems designed to balance costs and benefits abound. But you can have a hard time finding one that allows you to usefully compare different ideas in a consistent way.

RICE is an acronym for the four factors we use to evaluate each project idea: reach, impact, confidence and effort.

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The first beta of SQS was announced with little fanfare in late 2004. Even though we have added many features since that beta, the original description (“a reliable, highly scalable hosted queue for buffering messages between distributed application components”) still applies.