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Here are some of the things that I'm using or trying out to combatthe lizard brain, distractions and multi-tasking. Control your time Batch processing your email can be effective. Once at the beginningof the day and again at the end. This is more efficient thanshifting to outlook with each new notification and processing eachsingle email. If you think that is too long to be out of contact, do the emaildance for 10 minutes every two hours. Or whatever works for you,just try to keep the notifications off. If there truly is anemergency, you will know, someone will come find you. Turn off your work IM. Same rules as above. Maybe you're availableand on IM only in the afternoon. Or set your status to do notdisturb and teach people politely what that means. Try things andsee how they work for you. Do one thing at a time. Make a list of the 3 or 5 most importantthings for that day. Do them as early in the day as you can. You'llaccomplish the 'big things' early and everything else after that isicing on the cake. All of this can be tricky at first if your culture wants you torespond immediately, but I think it pays off in the end. You havemore uninterrupted time to do something good. Talk to your managerif you need to before implementing a radical change. Have the good kind of meetings The morning standup with your team is probably the best type ofmeeting. It's early, not in the middle of the day. Everyone sayswhat they are working on, if anything is blocking them and whatthey'll do next. Preferably everyone stands. It is called a standup after all. This is a bold choice, but decline any meeting that you think is awaste of time. Reply that you can't make it and ask for a recap.Meeting Agendas and Recaps are such a great tool for meetings, weseem to forget about them. The Agenda: When booking the meeting provide a list of what topicsto discuss, who is responsible for talking for each topic and aguesstimate on how long they'll have to talk. Send the agenda out acouple of days beforehand and make it known that the attendees areexpected to be prepared. Simon Cooke suggests formulating the agenda as questions to get peoplethinking and vested. During the meeting, stick to the schedule. Get in, do good stuff,get out. The Recap: briefly state what was discussed. Here's a sample meeting agenda: Todays Date, Galactic Domination Meeting Agenda Overview, Palpatine, 15 minutes Death Star #2 construction status, Tarkin, 5 minutes Various disturbances in the force, Vader, 10 minutes And the recap: Overview, Palpatine, 15 minutes Squash rebellion by destroying secret base. Eliminate Galactic Senate via political maneuvering. Death Star #2 construction status, Tarkin, 5 minutes We fixed the exhaust port / proton torpedo bug Various disturbances in the force, Vader, 10 minutes Obi-Wan is dead, but no one is sure why he just disappeared. Follow up on plan to turn Son of Skywalker to the dark side. Wait Can you wait a while to talk to the artist? Look at him, he has hisheadphones on (game developer code for 'Do Not Disturb') and isobviously 'in the zone' sculpting in the 3D modeling applicationwith a ton of reference images on the other monitor. Don'tinterrupt him asking for his hours spent this week on his tasks.Let him do his job. That User Interface Engineer who's sliding her chair back and forthfrom her development kit and her two-screen computer rig? She'sfixing a bug in the UI on her computer, testing it on the kit, andshe's obviously busy. Do not walk over and ask her how it's goingright now. Let her do her job. Your opportunity to ask your question will come… but you mayneed to wait your turn to ask it. Get people on board Use team signals to tell others 'do not disturb.' I've seen flagsput up by artists to denote when they are in the zone and to pleasecome back later. I've also seen tech teams have one team memberwear a hat signaling that he/she is the person on call for helpthat day. Find a way of signaling people and teach them to recognize andrespect it. Work it out with your team so you can be efficienttogether. Protect your industry's most valuable asset The most valuable asset any company has are its people. People makethe art, tech and design of a game. They support the game or theother people making the games. There are certain parts of the daywhen creativity runs wild and other parts of the day that are moresuitable for less creative tasks. Do what you can to help reduceroadblocks and ask your Manager for support. I certainly don't have all the answers. But I'm trying tocommunicate with one person at a time, handle one problem at atime, and work on one idea at a time. All as a part of my effort tobring the principles of minimalism, simplicity and single taskinginto my personal and professional life. I'd love to hear yourthoughts on these topics. [This piece was reprinted from #AltDevBlogADay , a shared blog initiative started by @mike_acton devoted to giving game developers of all disciplines a place tomotivate each other to write regularly about their personal gamedevelopment passions.] Related news: In-depth: Embracing dynamism C/C++ low level curriculum: Looking at optimized assembly Maximum creativity: Open and Closed Mode. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Lipo Laser Treatment , IPL Beauty Equipment Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit IPL Beauty Equipment today!
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