The latest articles on DEV Community by Marcin Kołodziej (@markolo). https://dev.to/markolo https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F166448%2Fc095ff46-e46d-41ab-be49-fb3a075e8c90.jpg https://dev.to/markolo en Marcin Kołodziej Wed, 11 Mar 2020 18:30:23 +0000 https://dev.to/markolo/complete-productivity-system-for-a-maker-5faj https://dev.to/markolo/complete-productivity-system-for-a-maker-5faj <p>Do you want to maximize your productivity? If so, you'll need to create your productivity system. Luckily there are tons of options available. As I've used many of them, I'll share my thoughts with you on which ones are (in my opinion) the most important ones.</p> <h2> Todo list </h2> <p>You most likely expected that :) Todolists are super useful for remembering what you have to do during the day. They can also help you build routines, for example by setting tasks that repeat in a certain amount of time.</p> <p>Here are some good options:</p> <ul> <li>Todoist</li> <li>Microsoft ToDo</li> <li>Notion</li> <li>Habitica</li> </ul> <h2> Project board </h2> <p>The Project board is useful where the simple todo list just won't cut it. It allows you to easily organize tasks, set due dates and assign team members for them.</p> <p>One popular way of using them is creating multiple columns (for example backlog, todo, in progress, done). Then you create your tasks and move them across the columns according to the progress in them.</p> <p>Some notable project boards:</p> <ul> <li>Trello</li> <li>Notion</li> </ul> <h2> Pomodoro / time tracker (active) </h2> <p>Pomodoro is a really useful technique for improving your focus and productivity. You set your timer to 25 minutes, then you focus as much as you can and work during that period. When the time is up, you go for a 5-minute break, after which you continue to work for 25 minutes and the cycle continues.</p> <p>I found these bursts of focus to be extremely beneficial, no more staring at the screen for 2 hours trying to figure out something. You're forced to take a break after a pretty short period, giving your brain room to relax and maybe come up with some idea/solution.</p> <p>Cool time trackers:</p> <ul> <li>Toggl</li> <li>Clockify</li> </ul> <h2> Time tracker (passive) </h2> <p>I put these trackers as a separate category because I feel their use case is slightly different. These trackers run in the background and clock the time you're spending on various apps and websites automatically. Then at the end of the day, you can see if you were that productive as you think you were. Results will probably shock you in the beginning!</p> <p>Time trackers worth looking into:</p> <ul> <li>RescueTime</li> <li>ActivityWatch</li> </ul> <h2> Calendar </h2> <p>I feel like the traditional calendar has been replaced by other tools I've mentioned earlier (for example todo list where you can set dates of the tasks), but it still has its place. </p> <p>I use it for setting the general day to day schedule. I get reminders on my phone telling me when to start doing something.</p> <p>Best calendars:</p> <ul> <li>Google Calendar</li> <li>Apple Calendar</li> </ul> <h2> App / website blockers* </h2> <p>I'm also using a blocker to prevent myself from using distracting apps and websites during the time in which I planned to do something productive. If you're the kind of person who can't control the urges to take a peek at Instagram when you're supposed to be reaching out to potential customers - using a blocker will benefit you.</p> <p>The blocker I'm using is called Freedom. It's available for both desktop and mobile, so you can block apps and websites across all your devices.</p> <h2> Summary </h2> <p>As you can see, there are a plethora of apps that you can use to create your productivity system. I hope my post gave you a general idea of how to create your own. With today's tooling, it's easy to fall into a trap of too many productivity apps, but as you can see, with 2 or 3 apps you'll be able to create a system that will support you!</p> <h2> P.S. </h2> <p>If you want to see more posts check out <a href="https://www.markolo.blog/">my blog!</a></p> productivity help Marcin Kołodziej Sun, 15 Dec 2019 12:37:08 +0000 https://dev.to/markolo/how-to-start-a-side-project-in-2020-4ohc https://dev.to/markolo/how-to-start-a-side-project-in-2020-4ohc <p>Being a developer gives you a tremendous opportunity - you can build awesome software pretty much on your own. Whether you want to hone your skills, make some money on the side or build your very own startup - working on side projects is a great idea! In this post, I'll give you some tips on how to start.</p> <h2> Solve your own problem </h2> <p>This is the easiest way to begin. Think of things that annoy the hell out of you and write an app to solve them. Even if there are existing apps that do it, write your version exactly for your needs!</p> <p>Based on my experience, writing apps as a solution to your own problems gives the most motivation to keep working on them (and trust me, there will be a lot of hard times where you'll want to give up).</p> <p>If you can't think up of your own problems, ask someone from your family and friends, I'm sure you'll find plenty of ideas that way!</p> <p>You can later take a step further and try to reach a wider audience as well as monetize it if you think you're creating a lot of value for someone!</p> <h2> Solve a big problem </h2> <p>Another path that you can take is to solve a big problem that many people have. This, on the other hand, is the way to go if you're thinking about creating your big venture. Find out where you have the biggest advantage, do the research about the problems users are facing and get to work on the MVP. There is only one thing that I should mention...</p> <h3> Being a developer won't be enough </h3> <p>Just being a developer won't suffice if you're thinking about launching a larger commercial project when there's a lot of competition to fight with. Pretty much you have 3 routes that you can take:</p> <h3> Full stack developer-designer-copywriter-businessman... </h3> <p>You'd be surprised, but this is a completely viable option. There are a lot of founders out there launching products entirely on their own. They aren't afraid of wearing many different hats, from doing market research, through designing UX all the way to launching their IDEs and puttin' that code.</p> <p>Make sure to check out <a href="https://indiehackers.com/">Indie Hackers.</a> It's a wonderful community of people looking to launch their projects. You can learn a ton from their know-hows and experiences!</p> <p>Of course, becoming at least decently informed in all of these areas will take you a lot of time, but the payoff is huge - you can take sole ownership of your project and launch it exactly according to your vision!</p> <h3> Teaming up with people with complementary skill sets </h3> <p>If you prefer to specialize in your area, then you'll need to find people that can handle all the other things required in the project. You shouldn't look for the army of people though - an optimal size of the founding team is usually no more than 3.</p> <p>Try to find people with knowledge in many different areas, for example, designers who can also take care of the copy. Maximize the amount of knowledge in as many areas as possible in an as small amount of people as possible.</p> <h3> Hiring freelancers to do the hard stuff for you </h3> <p>If you have money laying around and don't want to bother finding co-founders or learning new stuff, you can try finding freelancers and delegating the rest of the tasks in the project.</p> <p>Some popular sites in which you can search for them are:</p> <ul> <li>Toptal</li> <li>Upwork</li> <li>Freelancer</li> <li>Fiverr</li> </ul> <h2> Just for fun </h2> <p>There is of course nothing wrong with working on the side project just for the sake of fun! Want to try out that new framework? Great, go ahead! Only make sure you won't end up with a situation mentioned below:</p> <p><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/practicaldev/image/fetch/s--IkZ3wXbn--/c_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto%2Cw_880/https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/bmuu71s4qni39jgo7gsv.jpeg" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/practicaldev/image/fetch/s--IkZ3wXbn--/c_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto%2Cw_880/https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/bmuu71s4qni39jgo7gsv.jpeg" alt=""></a></p> <h2> Summary </h2> <p>As you can see there are plenty of ways and reasons to start a side project. Pick one that suits you most and get to work!</p> <h2> PS </h2> <p>If you like what you've read and would like to be notified about my new posts as well as receive exclusive content, you can sign up for the email list on <a href="https://www.markolo.blog">my blog!</a> </p> startup learning motivation