Breaktime Reflections #9: Coda, Blacksmithing & Company Culture

Productivity

I’ve probably talked about Coda.io before, but as I’m pretty sure that I’ve been using the Pro version for over a year now, I’d like to share a bit more about how I’m using it to be more productive and stay on track with my tasks:

First of all, what it is: Coda is what you could refer to as a “smart document”. It looks like a document but lets you do all sorts of handy, time-saving things. Plus, it gives you every way to organize your files.

On a daily basis, I may use it for any and all of the following:

• I’ve got a “document” in which I add all of my call notes.I quickly create a sub-page, give it the title and time of the call so that I can easily find it later, and write all of my notes from calls there.
• I use another document in the same workspace to track all of my tasks using a SCRUM-inspired setup and a Kanban view for my current sprint.
• I create a new workspace for files that I want to share and collaborate on with various people.
• I’ve got a document where I create subpages with things I want to research (or have researched and just want to store).
• I have a document with a bunch of subpages that I take notes in when I’m learning new skills or a hobby.
• I have a document dedicated to this Newsletter, in which I create a new page for each edition.

And this is just how I use it on a daily basis. There’s so much that I could use it for that I honestly never even had the chance to go through all of its features.

So for those of you looking for a tool to help with tasks and productivity, I can confidently encourage you to give it a go.?

Creativity

Did you know that blacksmithing, as a practice, is still alive and well in 2024?

If you don’t believe me, just take a look at this incredible bit of work that I randomly came across on Youtube. I found the forging process to be surprisingly fascinating.

I probably watched another 10 similar videos between when I first came across that one last week and now.

It’s remarkable how much work goes into crafting those kinds of weapons. They have virtually no practical use today, but their symbolic relevance (and perhaps that of the craft itself) is so strong that people today still pour months of time and massive effort into crafting a single ridiculous weapon.

The video I shared above has generated 3.5 million views on YouTube, so it looks like I’m not alone in my fascination with it.

And I share all this because this video reminded me that sometimes, doing things the slow way pays off better than doing things the efficient way. It also reminded me that things don’t always have to be practical in order to have value.

Mindset

Company culture matters.

As a contractor, I’ve worked with over 60 clients in the past 10 years. This is the number I give everybody because I stopped counting after 60.

In time, this experience has helped me understand and refine what I want to look for in a new potential client. I care a lot more about quality than quantity. And one of the key things I pay attention to is company culture.

What is the stated mission of the company? What are their values? That’s the starting point. But most companies have a positive mission and values. So it’s important to try to learn if the real culture matches the stated one.

Do people internally really consider their company principles in every decision they make? What’s their leadership style? What kinds of things do they prioritize?

What kinds of training programs do they invest in for future/junior leadership?

The way in which a company exercises it’s culture (the one that is actually applied, not the stated one), will have a big impact on what kind of talent it attracts. In my experience, the more talented someone is, the pickier they will be about who they work with.

What I’m getting at in short is that the quality of company leadership will directly impact the quality of all talent. There are case studies to be found about which leadership styles yield the best results. It’s worth investing in them.