My Workflow

Stemming from a workflow discussion on twitter featuring @bryanl, @eee_c, @pjb3, @stevenhaddox, and @webandy, I decided to share my workflow. Originally, we were talking about Mac Apps (specifically the paid ones), but that turned into "how do you work". Here are my goals for a good workflow:

Goals

1. Easily navigate applications and contexts
2. Minimize distraction
3. Maximize focus
4. Get work done

Easily navigate applications and contexts

I need to be able to quickly get to certain applications in order to maximize productivity. I want to be able to swap to a browser, terminal, editor, or other application in under a second. The mouse won't cut it, I need keyboard shortcuts.

My solution here is Alt-Tab. One of the oldest and most basic ways of switching apps. Alt-Tab is very fast for me because 95% of the time I have 3 windows open on any given workspace (OS X read: spaces). This means that Alt-Tab goes back to the previous window, and Alt-Tab-Tab goes to the alternative window.

Minimize distraction

I layout my workspaces in a 2x2 layout. Here is what I put on each window:

• [1,1] Chrome holding "distracting" sites like gmail, twitter, campfire, pivotal, etc
• [1,2] one Vim, one Terminal, one Chrome with only development related websites open
• [2,1] passive applications. Usually Xvfb and Rhythmbox. I don't go here often
• [2,2] alternative dev context. Same as [1,2] but for a different project. This is only up occasionally. Sometimes I use it for transferring files to remote servers.

I spend 99% of my work day in [1,1] and [1,2].

I disable all notifications. Nothing pops up. Nothing makes noise. Nothing "pulses" in the taskbar. Nothing. My phone is on vibrate and no apps on it make notifications except calls and texts. No one ever needs your attention immediately in gmail or campfire or twitter or pivotal or basecamp. When I am at a solid stopping point in my real work (30m to 2h in between) I go check all my distraction tabs. If the server is really on fire, someone will call my phone.

Maximize focus

This is a combination of the previous two, plus I always maximize my windows so I'm only looking at one thing at a time. No distractions so nothing gets in my face while I'm working. Many people like putting up a terminal next to their editor, but they usually end up alt-tabbing anyways. I prefer larger windows so I can have more vim splits (usually 3x3 on each tab) and more terminal output.

Applications

This last section is in response to our twitter debate about paid mac apps. I'm on linux, so I have no access to any of those apps. Let's start with the apps I spend the most time in:

• Edit code: Vim
• Run tests, servers, and other commands: gnome-terminal
• Web browser: Google Chrome
• File browsing and remote FS management: nautilus w/ gvfs
• Administer databases: mysql or psql console

That is where I spend the majority of my day. There are very few alternatives to the above applications that aren't very similar. Everyone has a browser and a terminal. Editors is an entirely different can of worms, so I won't get into that here. Some people use GUIs for DBs, but I prefer the console. I learned SQL before I did web development, so it's more natural for me. And if it's too hard, I write a test :-).

There are many excellent command line applications at your fingertips that I use through my terminal. Apps like git, grep, find, screen, top, ps, kill, and thousands of others. Learning the command line root of the application is usually more productive than a gui that was built on top of the command line application. The only exception I've found is when I need something shown to me graphically, like a pdf. I like to avoid the mouse, so the terminal is my friend.

Here are a bunch of Mac Apps that a couple of people brought up during our twitter discussion:

• mailplane
• echofon
• divvy
• propane
• alfredapp

I think it's a nice small selection of apps that illustrate the differences in my workflow from many other developers. Mailplane, echofon, and propane are for Gmail, Twitter, and Campfire. I try to ignore those applications as much as possible. Ideally, I want to spend less time in those apps in order to get more done.

Divvy and Alfredapp are all about launching and organizing applications. I have three applications in three windows. Vim manages its own splits and tabs. In my terminal, screen or tabs works. In the browser, I use tabs. Everything is maximized to improve focus.

What it really boils down to, though, is that I don't do a lot of stuff during the work day. I write code. I avoid anything that is not essential to writing code. I want less applications and I like having my life "in the cloud" so I don't have to install a lot of stuff on a new computer. My knee jerk reaction to new applications is not "oooh shiny", it's "I don't need that". Another really nice thing about this workflow is that it's scalable. I've worked from 1024x768 to 2560x1600, and it always makes optimal use of screen real estate. When I swap to my netbook, I don't feel cramped, I just open more tabs.

Join the discussion

Please post comments about the applications you use that I haven't addressed. I'll try to reply to everyone about how I handle different scenarios. Most of the time, my response will be "I try to avoid that because I'm trying to write code here!"