This concludes two weeks of starting the new routine. Today, however, was a strangely unproductive-feeling day, though when I looked at what I actually got done it was quite a bit. The difference was that it was “undirected puttering”, not tied to a specific grand achievement. Also, it’s possible that I need a different kind of workflow for projects that involve more physical movement (chores, making packaging) in a place away from my computer.

Today I woke up at about 800AM, and took my time getting ready for breakfast. I got it done around 0930AM, and then headed off to the studio by 1000AM. A journalist came by to talk to Sid about his standing desk setup. I’ve spent the past two and a half hours sorta handling email and writing this blog post. I’m not being particularly productive here, so I may go to Starbucks in a bit. I have to stop by the T-Mobile store too, to get my phone switch-over handled.

Today’s Task: website reskin for a client. There’s no specific deadline for this, other than it has to get done, so I am going to allocate 15 minutes to looking at it. That should be enough to get a sense of what NEEDS to be done. After that, I’ll evaluate further.

I also need to set up SSL certificates for davidseah.com, in anticipation of moving my ecommerce operations for Europe here with my friend Al, who is handling the EU side of the Emergent Task Planners. This is going to be a pain in the butt, I think, because SSL is weird.

I also have a couple of other projects to kickstart: the fountain pen notebook and the journal-bound Mini ETP are in the prototype / pricing stage. I also need to update a few of the more esoteric Printable CEO forms. If I can get all this moving this week, I will feel like I’m making additional progress. Then, I would like to switch back to some personal programming projects, and perhaps do some editorial review of my website content to see what can be turned into a poster or ebook.

Also, a few inquiries about a blogging introduction presentation I’d made a few years ago to a small company, my dead Nuvi GPS, and a wedding speech I need to write.

Looking at all this, it seems overwhelming. But remembering that I can just assign a 15-minute chunk to each task to be active is very reassuring, particularly since I know that the 15 minute chunk is incredibly powerful. It’s like a tangible block of problem-solving power!

1200 to 1245: Where did the time go? Email? Checking Facebook? Writing back to prospective Boston client?

1245: I’m going to do the 15-minute chunk of web review work, which I think I’m not really in the mood to do, but we’ll see. It’s Friday and I am tired and hungry, but I will do this 15-minutes to get oriented.

1315: Still sloughing through the part where I spend 15-minutes looking. Got caught in a morass of status emails while I was looking up my login credentials.

1330: Finished the analysis. 15 minutes, and I’m calling this done for now. The brain will process this as I’m running errands. Now, gotta go eat something.

1445: Just got back from lunch and errands. I went to the T-Mobile store, and got my Sprint number ported. That took a surprisingly large amount of time. Got lunch at a nearby bakery, and just got home. I’m feeling a bit tired, and I don’t really feel like working. Partly it is the lunch coma settling in; I should go to the standing desk downstairs and set-up there.

On the drive back, I was thinking that there were a number of blog-related posts I should be preparing over today and the weekend. It’ll be interesting to try to maintain the schedule over the weekend and remain productive.

Reminder to self: I have Groundhog Day Resolution Review on 8/8! The year is over half over! How did this happen???

1500: I estimate this is the time where I lost consciousness and fell asleep for 2.5 hours. I dreamed of field trips to Florida, portal guns, and magic.

1730: Checked email, and looked at my Amazon Fulfillment setup. Another customer has returned a product for an unspecified reason, after using it for a while. They return the product in damaged form and collect the money. Seems dishonest. Filled out a survey related to Amazon FBA.

1800: Taking a walk to check mail.

1815 Researched a question from a reader about custom manufacturing a sticker product. Got lost looking up professional die-cutting equipment :1930

1930 Cooked dinner 2015

A Sudden Thought

One, I like the idea of being a store. I almost have enough things to set up shop.

Two, while I’ve gotten an improvement in my computer-based client and creative work workflow, I haven’t addressed the workflow for projects that require more physical interaction. Setting up a photo shoot, for example, or reviewing package supplies and books. These are activities that take place at a location, with unknown outcomes and different prerequisites.

The advantage of computer-based workflow is that all my tracking stuff, including this stream-of-consciousness journal, are available on one screen. The projects and tasks that occur in other locations do not have this centralized, comforting presence. I just looked quickly at arduino microcontrollers, because I’d like to prototype a device for this.

I still don’t have a universal task tracking system, though. I feel the urge to work on this. But this is all stuff that can’t happen right away…what can I do right now?

The project list is currently maintained in Wunderlist, so technically I just need to focus on the work. The 15-minutes of work chunk approach should still work, but what is distracting is the physical environment. What is demotivating is the need to run around and track things down. These are not problems for digital workflow, which is largely solved because of my file system organization and cloud-based project management.

Let’s consider a photo shoot. First, I need to commit to doing it. That means picking something out of Wunderlist, and declaring that I will focus on it.

Then, I need to go to the location where I need to do it, with the gear I need, and any other subjects. This is a logistics problem, fairly minor, but it requires a different mindset. I might break the physical projects into “prep”, “deployment” and “execution”. Prepping is gathering everything you need: making lists, getting resources and storing them, and making sure everything is ready to go; it’s the work of a production assistant, in other words. Deployment is the act of physically getting to the location with all that gear, and being able to work right away. Execution is the actual doing of the work. Finally, there’s “packaging”, which is taking what you’ve done and preparing it for production on the digital workflow side (making blog posts, processing images, writing) or perhaps launching another project.

While conceptually it’s not that different from working all digital (either in graphics or programming), the bulk of the work happens in the real world, and there are different needs. Portable digital devices can help, but they are not adapted to maintaining a centralized plan. This is a big gap in the world that needs fixing. This is more the world of production and executive assistants.

Will think about this more. It’s now around 900PM, and I probably should get to sleep. It’s been one of those days that feels like it was unproductive, but this is what I actually did:

• Cooked breakfast
• Did quick microbatch of laundry
• Talked to Journalist for “Nashua Patch” at Sid’s studio
• Hung out with Sid at studio for a couple of hours
• Replied to a few project inquiries and emails
• Outlined work for website reskin
• Reviewed my Amazon Fulfillment needs, took survey to get $10 gift card
• Got my cell phone number ported from Sprint to T-Mobile Pre-paid
• Did some review of why the day has been feeling unproductive
• Looked into die-cutting machines
• Looked into Arduino, MakeIt Labs
• Picked up final piece of “Gun Safety Poster” materials
• Tried a new restaurant for lunch
• Imagined an assembly line for creating a certain kind of sticker
• Salted the roast beef, marinated the pork
• Registered for Podcamp New Hampshire
• Updated status boards with multiple partners

And yet, I still feel unproductive. Why? Probably because all the above falls under “puttering”, which I think I’ll define as “undirected productive work and/or inquiry that does not directly contribute new capability, resources, or assets for exchange or sale.” I kind of want a master plan or guide that I can tie everything into. However, I can also recognize that puttering is important: it’s sort of like doing something sorta useful while giving myself the space to rest and think before the next concentrated push.

This means, though, that I need to reassess my system processes map. How does puttering fit into it?

It’s now 21:07. I should be thinking of going to sleep now.

It’s now 22:50. Spent about an hour playing Star Trek Online. Very quiet night. I think I don’t want to go to sleep because I don’t feel that anything has HAPPENED yet today, and I am unsatisfied with this. My mind craves some kind of stimulation, something intriguing. But my body is too lazy to get up and do some of those other projects.

Wondering if there was anything I could have done today to fix this. Probably getting off my ass and doing some work downstairs would have been the ticket. Perhaps I should limit my “random surfing” and “puttering” on the computer to the downstairs, where I have to stand up.