Matthew Lang

I’m posting a short post tonight as I’ve been spending the evening setting up a Hatchbox account and migrating the first of a handful of Rails applications to it. The setup was straightforward, and after 45 minutes of tinkering, I got my Writeabout app running on it. I’ll try to move a couple more applications over tomorrow.

After reading Nicholas Bate’s latest powerful productivity post, I thought I would share a few of the people and apps that have influenced me.

• Patrick Rhone - Patrick’s dash/plus system has been part of my own processes since I read about it.
• Nicholas Bate - I’ve been reading Nicholas Bate’s blog for over 15 years. I’ve been using his master list idea for some time.
• Ryder Caroll - Creator of bullet journaling, the only productive process that I have stuck with recently. It also works for me because of it plays nice with Patrick’s dash/plus system and Nicholas Bate’s master list. The fact that it’s also analog is a huge benefit to me. I spend enough times on screens. The last thing I need is another app just to stay organised.
• 37 Signals - Over the years I’ve long been a fan of the way the 37 Signals company work. All of their books are recommended, but the real changers for me were Rework and Remote are great books that really do make you question the traditional methods of working. Short, sharp and straight to the point.
• Trello - Although I use pen and paper most days, there is times when you need a digital tool to manage a project. I’ve flip-flopped between Things, Todoist and Trello over the years. While freelancing I used Trello for managing client projects, but when I returned to full-time employment I started using Todoist and Things to manage projects. I’m back to using Trello now. It’s the visual aspect of the app that really helps me.

I could have probably added another dozen or so people and apps that have influenced how I work over the years, but these five are the ones the I keep going back to.

Who influences your productivity?

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been re-writing a small product that I spent sometime building before lockdown.

The product has been gathering dust since the start of lockdown. It does have a handful of customers and generally good feedback from those customers, but I wasn’t happy with my first pass at it. There were so many things that I would do differently if I could start it over again. So I decided to have another go at it.

I’ve made pretty good progress so far and will be able to launch it again in a few months.

This weekend I’m hoping to move all my Bear notes into Ulysses. My Bear renewal for the Pro subscription is at the end of September and while I find the app useful, I’m finding that I don’t use it as much as I used to. I’m also starting to consolidate some other files that I have into Ulysses. It’s becoming my go-to app for writing and note taking.

Most of the notes I have already moved across, but there’s a few that I need to do some more work on to tidy up the formatting that was lost in the migration. Hopefully by the end of the weekend, most of this migration will be complete.

I’m going to try and kick-start the blogging process once again. I’ve lost count of the number of times I have tried to do this over the last few years. This time though, I’m trying something different.

Instead of trying to aim for longer pieces on a daily basis, I’m going to initially just keep it short. Around the 100 words mark.

So, expect some short ramblings over the next few weeks. Some thoughts, views, ideas and anything that I think is worth putting on the blog. I’m hoping this will lead to a steady stream of posts over the next weeks and hopefully a more active blog.

For the last ten years that we’ve been visiting my in-laws in Canada, they’ve lived in the township of Oakville just outside of Toronto. When they first moved there, we were impressed by the small suburban areas, quaint feel in the centre of town, and the beautiful properties along the lakeshore. Everything just seems to fit together nicely.

Not having been here now for the last four years, we’ve seen a dramatic change in the town. Instead of the flat skyline we were used to, it’s now starting to fill with taller condo buildings.

An increasing number of properties along the lakeshore have eschewed traditional homes in favour of a more modernist look. Gone are the homes that tried to keep in with the style of other homes in the area. There are now several homes that can only be described as boxes comprising of glass and wood. Finally, the centre of town has lost its charm. I’ve noticed some of the smaller independent stores have gone. Instead, there are more retail outlets from more extensive franchises there.

In a way, I suppose, it’s been the victim of its own success. As more and more people are looking to move to the Greater Toronto Area, they look towards places outside of the city that isn’t too far away. Mississauga, located just outside the city, could be considered a city in its own right. The skyline is a sea of high-rise buildings that now dwarf what would have been the tallest buildings there twenty years ago. Oakville is the next town along the shores of Lake Ontario. With condo buildings now featuring prominently here, I think it’s safe to say it will follow the same route as Mississauga.

Just up the road from Oakville is the small town of Waterdown. I was stunned to see how much this small town has expanded over the last few years. What was once a quaint town centre is now dwarfed along the road by multi-story buildings for commerce and residential use.

One could argue that this is simply a sign of the times. I could partly agree with anyone who presented this argument. Everything changes over time, but it’s a shame to see the old, small towns along Lake Ontario gradually morphing into a single sprawling urban area.

A final trip to Rockchapel today for nine holes before our flight back to the UK tomorrow. Papa making up the fourball for today.