Should I Develop Software for me or for You?

I've reached the point in developing Time-Creator that I've put out a version of the spreadsheet but I'm spending too much time on the project. Matter a fact I can't even easily tell you how much time I've spent  and that's one of the goals of the software.

I've decided to refocus my priorities to build Time-Creator for me, not that I don't like you, it's just that I like me more. And by helping me it should help you in the long run.

When it comes down to it, just getting people to try the software will be very difficult, no less getting them to pay me. The odds that I'll make $ from this project is very very low.

Now if I could develop for me and automatically give you something then that would be fine. But I'm finding that I'm spending so much time to productize Time-Creator that I'm not moving the project forward the way I'd like. It seems like 80% of my time is spent creating a product to download/sell and 20% is actually moving the project forward. Some of the things I have to spend time on is:

• Writing this blog
• Dealing with cases where Excel doesn't behave nicely
• Website
• Demos
• Marketing
• Testing. For me there can be bugs but for you there can't
• Usability
• Appearance
• Upgrading 
• Protecting the intellectual property
• Bugs I don't care about
• Different versions of the software
• Competition
• Error handling

So I'm taking a little vacation from doing it for you. Don't take it personally, in the end we'll both be happier.

So my writing to this blog will slow down and already has.

Some of the things I'll be focusing on instead are making Time-Creator the coolest project.  It's hard to change sometimes, I guess it's due to the habits we have. But without change there is no progress.

Please write, I answer all emails

Unable to connect to the Internet

I just tried connecting to the internet and got the following message:

Unable to connect to the Internet

Google Chrome can't display the webpage because your computer isn't connected to the Internet.

You can try to diagnose the problem by taking the following steps:

Go to Start > Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center > Troubleshoot Problems (at the bottom) > Internet Connections.
Error 106 (net::ERR_INTERNET_DISCONNECTED): The Internet connection has been lost.

I had already

1. Rebooted my cable modem
2. Rebooted my laptop

But I still was getting the error and doing the following two steps fixed the problem in the past.

Then it occurs to me that I didn't plug the network cable into the laptop. Problem solved.

The error message should have said the top 3 things to do. Numbers 1 and 2 are listed above and number 3 is
    3. Make sure computer is plugged into the network.

New at a Job, Set a Great First Impression

If you're new to a job, don't underestimate first impressions. Prepare to be your best so you set that as a first impression. Some things you could do is:

• Get to work when everyone arrives leave when everyone leaves
• Ask questions as you're new and stupid questions will be allowed for a while
• Know who you're a threat to and who will help you
• Dress and groom your best, no bad breath allowed
• Fit in. As the saying goes "When in Rome do as the Romans do"
• Limit the number of times you interrupt people to maybe once or twice a day, batch your questions
• Spend as much time as possible getting up to speed, even when not at work
• Don't ask for vacation, remote connections, etc. until you've been around at least 3 months
• If the hiring process was weak (they didn't vet you much) they may fire quickly
• Listen and follow instructions others give you
• Don't make excuses
• Don't complain about stuff at your new company
• Try to be part of the group. Do what the group does
• Don't threaten, complain, challenge unless that's what you were hired for
• Show your boss as early as possible that he or she made a great selection
• Take notes when shown new stuff, type up and email to person to see if you got them right
• Keep a glossary of terminology you don't understand and figure out asap what they mean

If you have other tips, please post below. Hope I made a good first impression. 

Tracking your Time was Hard

I hated tracking my time. If you write status reports, or bill your time you know what I mean. Your too busy to be bothered with it. It's never accurate and you just forget to do it.

Now it's the end of the week or month and you have to write that status report or put in your billable hours and it's uh-oh. What the f@#k did I work on . I was here late but I was so busy I don't remember.

How about your employment review. Will you even remember what you did over the past year.

A tool like Time-Creator can help you in a number of ways.

First it integrates your to-do list and time tracking. You create your to-do list in Excel and then can easily track your time from any cell by just pressing Ctrl+T keystroke (the T is for tracking).

Second, it's easy to get your tasks to your to-do list because of the button bar shown below

The (X) button above will take you right to your to-do list. Time-Creator will also support a shortcut key combination to bring up your to-do list directly.

The Button bar has a small footprint and is known as an "Always on top" window. This means that other windows can't block it from your view. In the window you can see what you're working on and for how long.

You can see exactly what you're working on and for how long. As you use Time-Creator all time gets tracked to the "Log" Sheet.

Not only that you can easily track interruptions by double clicking the task, where it says "TC -Webpage" in the picture above. The button bar will show "..." (three dots) in the button bar.

Now you can replace these ... with the task that interrupted you. Just select any cell on the Time-Creator spreadsheet and press Ctrl+R (R for replace)  and that task will be tracked.

If after the interruption you want to get back to what you were working on you can press the "Re" button (4th one) on the Button Bar to Restart your previous task.

Time-Creator can also deal with the case where you missed tracking a task. Just press the "Mi" button (10th one above) and the Missed dialog will display with the current selected item on the sheet.

You can also press the "T" button (7th one) which brings you to the Log sheet and allows you to manually modify your time.

All of these function are also available from the Excel Ribbon.

There's more.  You can set up alarms say to Call client at 10 am. and when the alarm pops up, just "Accept" the alarm and your time is being tracked.

Time-Creator also can also track your time via a button on the Button Bar or auto-track based on what sheet you're on or Window you're on.

In future version you'll be able to import your time into the time system you use or even generate bills to clients.

I'll be posting a video to see how you can easily track your time with Time-Creator. You can download the spreadsheet from http://Time-Creator.com/download.html, and best of all right now it's free.

Five hour energy shot and sleep to increase #Productivity

5 Hour energy shots work for me and get this, they work exactly 5 hours. Weird huh.  Now if you feel tired and can't get yourself to exercise or work on your business, book, blog or whatever. Give it a try.

Getting enough sleep is also a way to increase your productivity. If you haven't been getting enough, try sleeping more for one week and see how you feel.

Just don't take the 5 hour energy shots near bedtime.

How to get rid of your stuff (aka crap) you can't part with?

I was thinking about why does crap build up, too many books, shoes, tasks, friends, projects?

It's because you add new things but don't delete, remove, throw out stuff. If you can't stop getting new things then get rid of the old.

Try to get into the habit of throwing out two things every time you bring one thing into your home.

It's the same with tasks. If your to-do list is too big then don't add a new item until you complete/delete two items. If you don't want to delete items then don't add an "A" priority task without making two of them "B" priorities.

Headphones Help Productivity

It's pretty noisy in my office so I decided to wear headphones while I work. The noise is from:

• People talking on the phone through their ear piece
• People on speaker phone
• People meeting next to me
• One guy loves to drum on his desk and the floor
• Co-workers talking in a foreign language

So I went with the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones. Now this has definitely increased my productivity. First I don't get distracted by others conversations. Second, people don't interrupt me as much as the did before. For some reason when you wear headphones people won't interrupt you as much as they normally do.

The only down side to this is that it may be frowned upon by your boss.  I find that if I listen to music I'm familiar with it allows me to think without being distracted.

What do you think?