In the previous post (link) I mentioned some of the tasks that I work on every day:
- Coding,
- Writing (papers, research proposals, documentation and notes),
- Email,
- Meetings,
- Presentation,
- Project management and coordination.
In this one, I will write a little bit more about the setup I use to tackle every one of them.
Coding
A big part of my work is coding. I do all sorts of development (from web related projects, to embedded systems and implementations of software defined radios). In terms of technologies, they range from scripting languages like python, R and JavaScript to C, C++ and my new favorite Rust. My core setup consists of the following:
- Linux server
- Vim
- Tmux
- Google colab (only for visualization)
In terms of hardware, in addition to the server (which is a digital ocean hosted server) I also use an iPad and a MacBook Pro. In this post, I will cover only the high level setup I use, and in the following posts I will write about how all of them fit nicely with my everyday workflow.
Well, when it comes to coding, you only need a Linux machine. Yes, a MacBook Pro might be enough. However, the cloud hosted server allows me to work from any machine (even my iPad).
As a side note, I have been watching a lot of content in which people try to do more serious work on the iPad, but whenever it came to coding, the conclusion was — “You can’t do serious work on an iPad”. However, with this setup it all changes. An app like Blink allows you to ssh (or even better mosh into your server) and suddenly you are not working on an iPad any more, but rather on a full blown Linux machine. I will dedicate a whole blog post on how to get this up and running.
The server combined with vim and tmux is enough to get me going and make me productive. However, visualization is always a problem once the code finally works. That is where Jupiter notebooks come in handy.
Don’t worry in case you can’t follow some of the topics. I will write about all of them in more details in one of my next blog posts.
Writing
Writing is the next big area of my focus. As a scientist I take a lot of notes, I write research papers, proposals, document my code and exchange meeting minutes with my colleagues. For these tasks I use the following tools:
- Note taking app (Bear)
- Latex (overleaf)
- MS Word and Google Docs
I used a lot of different note taking apps. After months of trying to make them fit my workflow, I would abandon them for the “new kid on the block”. This all stopped once I discovered Bear. The Bear note taking app allows me to easily open the app and start writing. It does not matter what type of writing it is. I use it for everything. Well not everything, but for the first draft of pretty much everything. My favorite thing about it is the tagging system. It allows me to keep my organization flexible and to easily store notes where they belong. Additionally it is so simple to export notes and since they rely on markdown, there is assurance that I will be able to access my notes even if the team decides to move on and to abandon the app. The only downside of Bear is that you can only use it as an Apple user (😥).
For research papers I mainly rely on Latex and Overleaf (cloud service that allows me to write and submit papers directly to scientific journals and conferences). The first draft and all the notes related to my research are still stored in Bear. Once I am ready to start working on the publication, I take out my notes and populate the paper for the draft-0. This approach helps me with the writer’s block and the FOEP (Fear Of an Empty Page).
All other writing happens in either Microsoft Word or Google Docs. This mainly relates to writing research proposals which is often a collaborative process involving scientist from multiple universities all over the world.
This one is quite obvious. I don’t think that there is any job in 2022 that does not require you to have an email address. I have been experimenting with different email apps (apple mail, gmail, outlook) and recently I settled with MS Outlook. If you ask me why, I would say reliability. Apple mail for example takes time to sync between the devices and sometimes I feel like it does not sync at all (e.g. an email archived on my iPhone stays in the inbox on my iPad).
Other communication
For any other type of communication I use slack and MS Teams, depending on the hat that I am wearing at that moment (developer, professor, entrepreneur or scientist).
Meetings
Meetings have gone completely remote in the last year and a half. So, I assume that MS Teams and Google Meet, together with Zoom, are the two most used apps. A lot of universities around Europe use MS Teams, and that is what makes me use the app a lot, but for my CEO coaching I mainly rely on Google meet.
Project management and coordination
- Microsoft Todo
- Trello
- Calendar
For project management and coordination I obviously rely on a lot of different tools, but the main ones are Trello, Microsoft Todo and my calendar app. I use Trello for managing projects and to keep all team members updated about the progress of the project. Everyone gets to see the big picture, but also to get assigned individual tasks and focus on their own work. I also use it for my personal projects (i.e. projects that I work on alone) to give me clarity and a big picture view of everything that has to be done, everything that has been done and all the small details related to those tasks.
Microsoft Todo is my task manager of choice. I know, it is not a popular choice. I have tried out a lot of them. I am a firm believer in the GTD (Getting Things Done) system and that is why I loved Things 3. I used it for a bit over 2 years. I still think it is a great app. However, at some point I was looking for something with less features. Sounds stupid, I know. But I realized that every now and then I would get overwhelmed with the need to keep my task manager tidy and labeled, and I focus more on that than the tasks at hand. You might be thinking that you can achieve that with Things 3 as well. You don’t have to use all the features. And you are right, you don’t. But I had to. So I switched to Microsoft Todo. I will write about my system in another blog post.
The last app on the list is my calendar app (I use Google calendar integrated with my iCalendar). The calendar app together with my task manager runs my day. I plan my days ahead (weekly and daily — max 5 min reviews) allowing me to schedule all tasks ahead and to plan out my day for maximum productivity.
