miniblog.

I definitely feel more productive with a larger monitor compared with just a laptop, and I know there have been studies on this. I wonder if it's primarily the window switching overhead? E.g. would a tiling WM with lots of virtual desktops perform better?

I've found Inbox Zero to be useful approach with many communication systems: maintain a separate TODO list, minimise email, process them oldest first. There's a failure mode though: You get productive, allow the input rate to increase, then one day you massively fall behind. 😧

High level programming languages and internet-oriented package managers have definitely made programmers more productive. Smaller teams can do more. I don't think we expected the result though: major products can end up spending on libraries written by a single maintainer!