I've recently set up a stronger (4096R) OpenPGP key, and will be
transitioning away from my old (1024D) one. The old key will continue to
be valid for some time, but i prefer all future correspondence to come
to the new one. I would also like this new key to be re-integrated into
the web of trust. Please find here a statement signed both
keys, certifying the
transition.
The old key was:
pub 1024D/B6A55F4F 2004-04-01
Key fingerprint = 67FE 2899 7E9D 9D03 F1E7 C8BB BDC2 F5A1 B6A5 5F4F
And the new key is:
pub 4096R/25B10423 2010-05-25
Key fingerprint = 22A7 9430 50DB 1E67 EC2B 641A 507A F890 25B1 0423
To fetch my new key from a public key server, you can simply do:
gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-key 25B10423
If you already know my old key, you can now verify that the new key is
signed by the old one:
gpg --check-sigs 25B10423
If you don't already know my old key, or you just want to be double
extra paranoid, you can check the fingerprint against the one above:
gpg --fingerprint 25B10423
If you are satisfied that you've got the right key, and the UIDs match
what you expect, I'd appreciate it if you would sign my key:
Lastly, if you could upload these signatures, I would appreciate it. You
can either send me an e-mail with the new signatures or you can just
upload the signatures to a public keyserver directly:
gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --send-key 25B10423
Thanks !
Following my colleague and friend
Mathias's advice, I've been using
GTD (Getting Things Done) to keep myself organized for some time now. A
recurrent question is "what software are you using ?". I tried several
programs, but nothing could quite fit my system and decentralized use.
Lots of folks are now pushing GTG (Getting Things Gnome). While I see a
lot of potential in GTG, it's still a task manager (everything is a
task) rather than a flexible list manager. GTD uses lists of things that
are specifically not tasks (the inbox, the maybe lists, the project
list...).
Mathias recommended using Remember the
Milk (RTM), a highly flexible web
service with lots of APIs (and more). I originally set up something
along the lines of this reference
post,
but it failed for me in several areas:
- Parsing Inbox was painful (no shortcut key to move tasks to other
lists)
- No "tickler file" approach allowing you to forget about an item for
some time
- My projects are using work items in Ubuntu blueprints, keeping them
in sync was also painful
So I changed it, here is my new setup:
- New items are created in the "Inbox", without tags.
- A @ToProcess smartlist, using "list:Inbox and (isTagged:false or
(tag:hide and dueBefore:tomorrow))", contains the stuff I need to
parse during next Process phase
- Process phase: for each item in @ToProcess:
- If it's actionable and takes less than 2 minutes, do it, mark it
as completed (\<c> shortcut)
- If it's actionable but needs more time, use \<s> shortcut to
tag it with appropriate context ("me" if only me is required)
- If you don't want to process it now, but want to file it in your
tickler file for it to reappear in two weeks: use \<d> "two
weeks" to set a Due Date, then use \<s> and tag it "hide"
- Delegate tasks by using \<s> and tag it "wait" + some context
of who you're delegating to
- As soon as it's tagged, the item disappears from the @ToProcess
list, which is good !
- If it needs to go to one of the Maybe lists, move it there
- My @NextActions smartlist uses "isTagged:true and not (tag:wait or
tag:hide)"
- My @WaitingFor smartlist just uses "tag:wait"
I don't maintain anymore "one list per project", which was painful to
me. I just use a "Projects" list that is a regular GTD Projects list I
use during weekly reviews. I use multiple "Maybe" lists (one for ideas
needing incubating, one for technologies to look at, one for blog
article ideas, etc.).
A few remarks:
- I use Google Calendar for actions occurring at a specific time
- I use the priority shortcuts to give a sense of urgency that helps
me quickly pick the right next action from the @NextActions list
- I use context tags for everyone: for example, I mark "jib" all tasks
that require jib to be completed. When I talk to that person, I use
the RTM tag cloud to quickly bring up a "tag:jib" search to get a
list of all subjects I need him for, but also a reminder of tasks I
delegated to him.
- I try to have my inbox at hand all the time, to be able to quickly
drop there a quick idea that crosses my mind. I use RTM google
calendar plugin, RTM netvibes module and also coded a "rtm" tool
using their python API, for direct use when I'm hacking in a
terminal. All create items in the default list (Inbox) and without
tagging, so it just works.
- I also use an ActivityReport smartlist (completedWithin:"1 week of
today")
Hope it helps :)
Jono posted
recently
the slidedeck
for his famous 12 stages of burnout presentation. I highly recommend
this presentation, especially to technical teams working from home.
I think we are especially vulnerable to burnout, with limited social
interactions and sporadic discussions with our peers and managers. It's
quite easy to fall into the trap of the first two stages, trying to
prove yourself and work harder. And from there we are vulnerable to
falling into the spiral of the next ten stages.
This highlights one important role of managers of technical teams: to
protect ourselves from this outcome. You shouldn't have to prove
yourself if your manager makes you confident you're in the right place
and you earned your position. You shouldn't have to work harder if your
work output is closely monitored and realistic goals have been set for
you.
Technical managers have lots of duties. They must build their team,
define objectives, ensure that goals are reached, protect their team
from vertical and horizontal organizational hazards... But keeping their
team in shape is one of their most important duties, and detecting and
avoiding burnout in their team is an important part of it.
Your family and your peers can watch your back and help you recover from
it. But a good manager should save you from it.
Most of us know what makes open source software better than their
proprietary counterparts. However I would like to stress one purely
technical advantage of Linux distributions when compared to their
proprietary alternatives.
It's the concept of distribution. Making software for your platform
available from a central repository, with installation, upgrades,
security updates and removals all done by the same set integrated tools
and processes.
Having been forced to use Windows professionally in the last years, I
have been reminded of how great that is. Long-time distro users tend to
forget. The whole process of hunting down software, selecting something
that is less likely to contain spyware, downloading, installing... it's
so complex and boring. And then, you have to follow each product
security advisories to try to stay up-to-date security-wise. And then,
all those separate auto-update services run in the background. And then,
when you try to remove the product with its specific uninstaller, you
realize there is not so much incentive for software publishers to allow
you to completely get rid of them.
So distributions, by making selected software simply available and
upgradeable, are invaluable. The corollary is that you need to have
enough software available through your distribution that people don't
have to manually install stuff, otherwise you're back at step one. I
remember switching from the old RedHat to another distro because I
wanted exim and they forced you to run... sendmail.
That brings us to my second point: why Ubuntu Universe matters so much.
A distribution is a lot less interesting if you can't find what you're
looking for it its repositories. Thanks to its strong Debian roots,
Ubuntu inherits from the largest package base. But we also need to
ensure that those packages are working properly, are easy to deploy and
integrate well with the rest of the distro.
Having recently been accepted as a
MOTU, I'm proud to contribute
wherever I can to this goal. The package wealth is the core strength of
a distribution, and this is why taking care of the Universe matters so
much.
