Library
Articles
Shorter Library articles on rates, focus, meetings, and working days. Guides remain the longer methods.
Articles
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Interruptions
Working from home when you get interrupted
The interruption is rarely the expensive part. Here is a 60-second park protocol and a return protocol that keep the rest of the day intact.
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Buffer
How much buffer a freelancer needs in estimates and calendar
Buffer is not padding for laziness. Rules of thumb for unknowns, client feedback loops, and why your calendar needs empty space too.
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Planning
How to plan a developer day with review and feature work
Mixing reviews and features without a plan yields shallow both. Day types, block order, and honest capacity for merge-ready output.
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Focus length
When a 25-Minute Pomodoro Is Too Short
Five signs the timer is fighting your work, a setup-cost test with numbers, and how to lengthen blocks without losing what made them useful.
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Switching cost
The real cost of context switching, with concrete examples
Switching tasks taxes memory, tools, and social bandwidth. Worked examples from code, support, and writing, plus caps that actually stick.
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Routines
A Simple Shutdown Routine for Ending a Remote Workday
An eight-step shutdown in about ten minutes: capture done, open, and blocked work, send blocker asks, then set tomorrow's first action.
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Pairing
When remote pairing is worth the calendar cost
Choose live pairing only when a shared screen earns the overlap, and use written review when it is cheaper, so pairing does not eat the week.
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Recovery
How to Recover a Workday After Losing Focus for Two Hours
A midday reset: stop the spiral, shrink the Primary to something showable, run a rebuilt afternoon, and close the day properly anyway.
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Multi-client weeks
Design a multi-client week without context thrash
Design the week for two or three clients with day themes, a hard cap on switches, and notes that keep deep work from turning into context thrash.