Minting Time: In IT, and Life at Large

I think I saved considerable time in a lot of activities, which helped me deliver far more than my peers. Here's a list of a few things that we did in the last 4 years:

• We used TablePlus to access databases. It helped us access database tables easily - we could filter or search across without writing queries, we could update/delete records without writing queries. Using this one tool has saved at least a few minutes every hour.
• Using JetBrains WebStorm/PhpStorm/Android Studio gave a lot of built-in features, same UI across the apps and the same key bindings across those IDEs. Being able to access someone's code remotely, and forward their port to help debug, is a great power when working remotely. The problems/issues that the IDEs showed, grammatical mistakes and suggestions have helped me improve every single day.
• While starting a new project, I've made it a habit to write an alias to access the project directory directly in my terminal. It saves a few seconds every time I access it.
• Using iTerm2 with OhMyZsh gave too many shortcuts. Git is like gf, ggpush, ggl,....
• While working on a feature branch and committing often, I've been using an alias "git add . && git commit -m 'WIP' && git push" as long as I can remember. Committing after every few lines of change has been a great habit.
• Macbook has been a great partner for the past 3.5+ yrs. I might be shutting down my mac once a month or less.
• For 3+ yrs, I've been using 42 inch 4K monitor, splitting it into 4 screens. Rectangle (for mac) has been a great tool to manage app windows. Not switching windows often, and organizing the windows in a way that I don't have to switch, has saved time immensely.
• Amphetamine has been a good tool to keep my screen awake based on triggers like when my extended display is connected.
• A great chair, the hand-rest of which perfectly aligns with the table's top has saved time by not moving hands far too often because of discomfort.
• Instead of doing repetitive steps through Postman or by running queries, writing cypress tests to build an app state for development has saved immense time when doing large projects involving multi-step flows. While this is a bad practice, since it saves time - it just saves time.
• I've been using GitHub Copilot, then moved to Supermaven, then Cursor. V0.dev has helped to ideate UIs, and at times use those as-is in prototypes/MVPs. Such tools have increased productivity multifold.
• Following some YouTubers, reading news, reading documentation, watching some product conferences and Reddit have helped learning. Learning is an integral part of life. Things change fast here.
• A general organized behaviour in keeping all files organized from day 0 has prevented any time waste on searching.
• Documenting anything that isn't directly mentioned in the tech's docs helps in setting up projects within the team without spending much time.
• Spending time training peers is an activity that probably has maximum ROI. Instead of rushing people to deliver, spending training time is worth the effort.
• Small automations are very helpful. For instance, writing a script that would create a local database for development and seed it, a script to generate release notes based on diff between 2 github/gitlab tags, some script in terminal's profile to auto switch nodeJS version using nvm when changing directories, ..... - every such script takes a few mins to build, but saves hours when thinking from a month's perspective.
• For systems where I had to login every 10 seconds with 2FA for security reasons, Okta's iWatch app has helped saving time. Being able to copy codes from iPhone and paste on Mac, is also a good time saver.
• Pair-programming often, has helped learn how others could do several things better than me, and then ask questions on the shortcuts they used to be that fast, has helped in learning new fast ways to do the same thing.

Since time is the only thing I can convert to currency, I've always tried to do things as fast as I could to save time and generate more bucks. In life,

• I've minimized travel. For about 3+ yrs, worked from an office which took an 11-minute walk to reach. That's 22 mins of daily walking, no traffic, no irritation/stress associated with travel. Remote work is bliss.
• While I get hot water ready for a bath, I brush my teeth and prepare clothes simultaneously.
• A simple thing like having multiple chargers - placed on office desk as well as at home's work desk saves considerable repetitive time in carrying/plugging in/plugging out those. Daily.
• Having same set of friends for years, having same co-workers for a long time, are things less mentioned and appreciated. But these are the things that help to learn, improve, and save a lot of courtesy time that you might be spending with new people. While it's great to meet and learn from new peers, its equally great to learn and grow together with a small set of people who are constant in life. You could just ask your query, and drop the call once its answered, and expect to do the same in return. It's curt, but courtesy might not be needed if you have the same people around for years together.

In mechanical engineering, I understood saving a few tasks/operations saved considerable time in the long run. In manufacturing, people work towards reducing cycle time. This concept has always been a part of my life, long before it got involved in my mechanical engineering books and then in my professional life.

I wish you all the best in saving time, improving productivity and improving your life! And look forward to your inputs on your time saving tricks!

written by a human, for humans, without AI intervention