[null, {"document_url": "https://fosterelli.co/discovering-explosive-productivity", "unformatted_src": "/image/discovering-explosive-productivity/productivity.jpg", "src": "https://fosterelli.co/image/discovering-explosive-productivity/productivity.jpg", "formatted_filename": "productivity"}, null, {"document_url": "https://fosterelli.co/discovering-explosive-productivity", "unformatted_src": "/image/discovering-explosive-productivity/trello.jpg", "src": "https://fosterelli.co/image/discovering-explosive-productivity/trello.jpg", "formatted_filename": "trello"}, null]
Discovering explosive productivity

August 10, 2012 — Chris Foster

This friday is now my third week at the Kamloops Innovation Centre, and these last five days I have taken the time to reflect on how much more productive I have been since I've had the opportunity to set up here. Actually, not only productive, but how much more efficient. 
It turns out that when you stick a bunch of startup leaders and super-coders into one building, they all become very efficient at being, well, efficient. Cool tools take no time to spread around the whole office. Everyone always wants to share the latest method they found at working faster, better, and with more style. I have seen some seriously awesome tools in the last few weeks. Some of these I was already aware of, but I had no idea that they could be so powerful.

Tools like Trello, WorkFlowy, and Vimium have been brand new to me. These are all things that I wasn't aware of, and didn't sound totally useful upon first hearing about them, but now that I've seen them in action I have come realize how damn awesome they are. Trello just looks fun to use.

Other things I was perfectly aware of have been shown to me in a new light. I've now been reintroduced to the effectiveness of Github, and as a student I've even been shown how to get a free micro account. Of course I've used it before, as every programmer should, but watching the workflow branch lines unfold on a whiteboard has reminded me of exactly how and why I should be using it. Applications I never would have thought of, like Excel, have also been shown to me to be capable of magical, magical things.

Some other things I learned havn't even been about tools. Scott Foubister reminded me that I shouldn't be hitting Ctrl+Alt+C+F1 five or six times a day, I should be rebinding it and not putting up with that sort of inconvience. I've also had an awesome discussion on using caffeine as a tool, instead of an addiction.

But I've also seen that everyone remembers to balance. Sleep is important, and so is play. In fact, sometimes the best thing to do is sit back and play a little Minecraft, and here nobody has an issue doing that.

Now it's natural for people sharing the same interests to want to share interesting things, but I would have never expected the sort of impact it has made on my workflow. I have also become increadibly excited to head into this industry, as I see all of the awesome tools and workflow ideas that are possible for people working in teams. As a single coder, a lot of these methods aren't directly useful at the moment, but they definitely have me excited to use them in the future.
