misc

This blog post by Sean Goedecke was a great read on high-level system design patterns. Most of them were familiar to me, but I got several good ideas from it. Using a database as queue: Sometimes you want to roll your own queue system. For instance, if you want to enqueue a job to run in a month, you probably shouldn’t put an item on the Redis queue. Redis persistence is typically not guaranteed over that period of time (and even if it is, you likely want to be able to query for those far-future enqueued jobs in a way that would be tricky with the Redis job queue)....

Much productivity advice on the internet is too complicated and not actually that helpful. Complicated systems are less likely to be used due to the friction of using them and are more brittle in the face of changing needs. You are better off use basic, flexible systems; you are more likely to use simple systems and simple systems can adapt to change more easily. There are only a few tools you need to completely run your personal life....

I get the impression that a lot of people are overwhelmed by their personal email inbox nowadays and get so much email that they’ve more or less given up on it. I don’t have that problem and that’s by design, not by accident. This post explains the rules I use to keep my personal email useful and very manageable. Unsubscribe aggressively Any time you give your email address out nowadays, you will get put on a mailing list....

I’ve been doing a weekly planning session for the last five or so years. It is one of the most helpful things I do to organize my life, keep myself physically healthy, and moving forward. This process has become even more valuable to me since having a child, as I am now responsible for a lot more and time is more scarce. In this post, I’ll describe what I do, why it’s useful, and how I do it....