All posts tagged: productive

‘Tokenmaxxing’ is making developers less productive than they think

‘Tokenmaxxing’ is making developers less productive than they think

Published by skeptic

There’s an old saw in management: What you measure matters. And, typically, you get more of whatever you’re measuring. Software engineers have debated productivity metrics for decades, starting with lines of code. But as the new generation of AI coding agents delivers more code than ever, what their managers ought to be measuring is less clear. Enormous token budgets — essentially, the amount of AI processing power a developer is authorized to consume — have become a badge of honor among Silicon Valley developers, but that’s a very weird way to think about productivity. Measuring an input to the process makes little sense when you presumably care more about the output. It might make sense if you’re trying to encourage more AI adoption (or selling tokens), but not if you’re trying to become more efficient. Consider the evidence from a new class of companies operating in the “developer productivity insight” space. They’re finding that developers using tools like Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex generate a lot more accepted code than they did before. But they …

Iran denies any talks with US after Trump claims ‘productive’ discussions | US-Israel war on Iran News

Iran denies any talks with US after Trump claims ‘productive’ discussions | US-Israel war on Iran News

Published by Sam Flores

Senior Iranian officials have denied that Iran held talks with the United States, just hours after US President Donald Trump claimed “very good and productive conversations” had taken place towards ending the war. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a social media post on Monday that “no negotiations have been held with the US”. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list “Fakenews [sic] is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped,” Ghalibaf wrote on X. That echoed earlier remarks from Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, who also denied that any discussions with the US had taken place. In comments shared by Iran’s official IRNA news agency, Baghaei said that “messages have been received from some friendly countries regarding the US’s request for negotiations to end the war”. The denials come as the US-Israeli war on Iran has entered its fourth week, with the Israeli military saying on Monday that it had launched a fresh wave of attacks on …

I turned my old gamepad into a macro pad and I’m more productive than ever

I turned my old gamepad into a macro pad and I’m more productive than ever

Published by skeptic

I was looking for ways to enhance my workflow by reducing some strenuous and repetitive actions when I came across the idea of a macro pad. These small, programmable input devices can be used to reduce multistep workflows to a single button press. I can launch apps in my writing stack, execute shortcuts, insert text, and even automate some tedious, repetitive tasks. But then I started thinking about whether I really needed a dedicated macro pad for this. In the end, all I needed was an input device with buttons that could connect to my computer. That’s when I remembered an old third-party controller (I don’t remember the brand) that I bought for my Nintendo Switch when my Joy-Cons started experiencing stick drift. I am using a Windows computer, so I also recalled that there is an easy-to-use scripting tool called AutoHotkey (AHK) that can detect the controller input and trigger actions. Using a controller as a macro pad was a productivity game-changer Breathing new life into my old controller So why did I resort …

Why the Most Productive Thing You Can Do Is Pause

Why the Most Productive Thing You Can Do Is Pause

Published by Jenni Sidey

Three weeks ago, I did my usual 4-square breath and one-word check-in at the beginning of my graduate social work class. Most of the students shared words like: exhausted, tired, and burned out. In response, we talked about the upcoming school break, and one student said, “I feel guilty when I do nothing for 5 minutes.” I was shocked! Especially after someone else agreed with her. I then asked the class who else felt that way, and all but one student raised their hand. That experience inspired me to write about the power of a pause. Students shared that they were raised to work all the time, or that there was always more to do, and they had jobs, families, and assignments to manage. I diverted from the topic of the day to discuss why we need time — even just a few minutes a day — for our brains to do nothing. The Always On Culture “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. …

People Who Become Happier And More Peaceful With Age Usually Practice These 6 Daily Habits

People Who Become Happier And More Peaceful With Age Usually Practice These 6 Daily Habits

Published by Jenni Sidey

In his 2014 commencement address to graduates at the University of Texas, Admiral William H. McRaven shared exactly how daily habits can ultimately lead to a happier, more peaceful life as you age. In fact, Admiral McRaven said that we can all change the world by simply making our beds each morning. While this seems like an odd correlation, research studies back up the idea that small habit formations are more likely to stick and, in turn, lead to the formation of additional healthy habits over time. That’s why many people who get better at life as they age recommend forming these small, yet meaningful habits. They’ll ultimately help you live a better life and bring you closer to achieving your dreams. People who become happier and more peaceful as you age usually practice these six daily habits: 1. They create a morning routine PeopleImages.com – Yuri A via Shutterstock The first 90 minutes of your day are the most critical. Studies have indicated that in these first moments of your day, you set the …

Windows 11 made me more productive by disabling these 5 things

Windows 11 made me more productive by disabling these 5 things

Published by skeptic

Most productivity advice focuses on what to add. New apps, new workflows, new shortcuts and so on. All of that advice works well, but my biggest productivity gains have actually come from turning things off. You may not have realized it, but Windows 11 is full of distractions. Notifications, suggestions, pop-ups, and ads all compete for focus when all you want to do is work in peace. Instead of putting up with these, I decided to spend a few minutes and turn them off for good, and now that I have, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Hide desktops icons and declutter the taskbar Create a calmer workspace Screenshot by Pankil Shah — No attribution required I don’t know about you, but a desktop full of icons has never appealed to me, and that’s even after trying to organize them better with a tool like Fences. Almost everything I want is already accessible via the Search menu, and my most-used apps are pinned in the Start menu anyway. Also, when your desktop is full …

US envoy Witkoff says Ukraine talks with Russia ‘productive’ | Russia-Ukraine war News

US envoy Witkoff says Ukraine talks with Russia ‘productive’ | Russia-Ukraine war News

Published by Sam Flores

The talks come just a day before a second round of US-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi. Published On 31 Jan 202631 Jan 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share United States special envoy Steve Witkoff has said he held “productive and constructive meetings” with Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Florida, as President Donald Trump’s administration presses to end Russia’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine. “We are encouraged by this meeting that Russia is working toward securing peace in Ukraine,” wrote Witkoff in a post on X following Saturday’s talks. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and White House adviser Josh Gruenbaum also attended the talks. Neither side released details of what was discussed. Dmitriev also met Witkoff and Kushner in January on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He also held talks on the Ukraine war with US negotiators in a visit to Miami in December. Saturday’s meeting comes before Ukrainian and …

Martial Raysse Is Still as Productive and Restlessly Experimental as Ever

Martial Raysse Is Still as Productive and Restlessly Experimental as Ever

Published by Jenni Sidey

When you get to the chance to meet a giant of the art world, it’s an opportunity you don’t pass up. Martial Raysse, 89, is one of those giants. The reclusive artist seldom grants interviews, but he welcomed me into his home, just outside Bordeaux, shortly before the opening of his exhibition at Galerie Templon in Paris earlier this month. The exhibition marks the artist’s debut with the gallery, which is showing 30 of Raysse’s recent paintings and sculptures—narrowed down from more than 50 works when we spoke. Founder Daniel Templon, Raysse recalled, “sent me a handwritten letter at a time when I was looking for a place to show my latest large canvases. It really was that simple.” That matter-of-factness set the tone for our hours-long conversation about art, literature, and life. Related Articles In France, Raysse, one of the most influential—and most unclassifiable—figures in postwar French painting, needs little introduction. But the restlessly experimental artist’s latest work might come as a surprise to even those who have followed his work closely over the …

Why You Keep Procrastinating, According To Neuroscience

Why You Keep Procrastinating, According To Neuroscience

Published by Jenni Sidey

The thing about those times when we keep procrastinating is that we know better. That’s the whole essence of procrastination, after all: You keep not doing the thing even though you know you need to do the thing! So what’s the deal? Well, recent neuroscientific research has found that there may be a specific mechanism in our brains that is to blame for this annoying tendency. Knowing what it is and how it works just might be the key to getting the thing you don’t want to do done. You keep saying ‘I’ll do it later’ even though you know you shouldn’t because your brain is wired that way. It’s easy to feel like procrastination is a character flaw, especially in our culture that brands it as laziness or incompetence. But according to a study of macaque monkeys at Kyoto University in Japan, it’s quite literally just your brain doing its job. So you’re off the hook! You never have to do anything ever again! LightField Studios | Shutterstock Kidding, of course. But scientists found …