Claude Ritter

Podcasts that keep me sane – Part 1, maybe

Posted by claude - 13/07/10 at 01:07:49 pm

I’ve just read Mark’s post about podcasts he loves and I figured why not do the same. My selection doesn’t really consist of things that I miss from home (as his does), but it’s rather stuff that I can consume to keep me entertained and sane at the same time. It’s really a relief for me to just tune in to one of these shows (be it video or audio) and just forget about the whole madness going on here without having to turn on the TV and watch the crap that’s on there (aka more madness). I do have to add that my viewing/listening habits will not be everyones taste since I am heavily leaning towards electronic music and sort of educational/news content when it comes to video.

All right, without further ado, here’s my selection.

Mixergy. Andrew Warner interviews entrepreneurs from around the world and digs into their stories to find out how they made it (or are going to make it). He pumps out almost one new 1 hour interview a day, which for me, is a bit too much but fair enough. It’s not like you have an obligation to watch everything. Anyway, I highly suggest to subscribe to it on iTunes.

This Week In Startups. I’ll just borrow their own description since it hits the nail on the head: “Entrepreneur Jason Calacanis and a rotating group of guest experts bring you this weekly take on the best, worst, most outrageous and interesting stories from the world of Web companies. Calacanis, a podcasting pioneer, gives you an insider’s look at what’s happening in the tech industry with his trademark blunt style and good humor. Looking to start your own company? Need strategies for improving your business or motivating your team? Just want to catch up on what’s happening in Silicon Valley and beyond? Your journey begins here.”

This Week In Venture Capital is my second show on Thisweekin.com. Basically it’s a weekly wrap up of what has been going on in the (mostly) valley VC scene. However, even if you are not in California or some other hot spot like NYC, this show has lots of good information about venture capital, how the industry works, how to raise money and more. Weekly, about an hour, worth watching.

Not much to say about Leo Laporte and his This Week in Tech (careful, iTunes link). Basically a tech talk show with not too much substance, but entertaining nevertheless.

Now on to something different in the sense that it is not a podcast per se. Khan Academy is a non-profit website that provides quality education videos, mostly hosted on YouTube. All the content is produced by Salman Khan, who runs the site. Topics range from Statistics, to History, to Finance and much much more. I have seen Salman on Mixergy and checked out his site. Since then, I have been nothing but impressed by his effort and his commitment. I am currently enjoying some of his videos on “Differential Equations”, feel free to join me

Ok, so now I’m down 5 of the things I watch (there’s way more) and we haven’t even started with music podcasts. This is taking more time than I thought so I call it a day. There will definitely be a part 2 so stay tuned.

Oh, and just quick side note. I honestly believe that internet TV, in whatever form, be it podcasts, on demand shows, independent productions or what not, will seriously kick mainstream TV’s ass. In 5 years from now, smart people will watch stuff they can learn something from on the internet (and maybe a bit Dexter etc. , while stupid people will still watch silly talk shows on whatever breakfast TV network. Ok, that’s it, sorry for the side rant.

A trip to Singapore in June

Posted by claude - 01/06/09 at 01:06:50 pm

I’m taking a trip to Singapore between June 8th and June 11th.

ad:tech Singapore

Why paper prototyping sucks

Posted by claude - 09/07/08 at 04:07:37 pm

There’s no undo button and it doesn’t save you from bad ideas…

Started off good, got stuck in the middle.

Getting things done with To-Do Lists

Posted by claude - 12/02/08 at 05:02:59 pm

Over the past months I was reading several articles about being more productive with to-do lists. While I understood the purpose of having to-do or task lists in projects I did not get the reason why there would be the need to work with personal to-do lists. Plus, as I was anyway working with Outlook calendar to schedule all the meetings it seemed somehow useless to maintain another list in parallel. However, as my tasks kept piling up it started to make sense to organize them or at least write them down.

Outlook appointments are not tasks on a to-do list

There is nothing wrong with using Outlook or some similar program to schedule appointments, vacations or the golf round in the evening. But, appointments in Outlook are not tasks on a to-do list. In fact tasks are either a result of some appointment, need to be completed before or both.

What’s a to-do list and what are tasks?

There are plenty of very good articles, blog posts and books about to-do lists and tasks so I will focus on the way I work with them.

My key points for to-do lists

• Keep it current. On Monday, I create a to-do list for every day of the week. Then I focus on Monday’s list and fill it with stuff that’s on my mind (it’s allowed to add tasks during the day). The goal is to complete all tasks before the end of the day. If one task could not be completed, move it to the next day.
• Fun and easy to use. To-do lists can be done in many different ways. You could use Notepad, Outlook, Excel, a piece of paper, the mobile phone etc. My favorite to-do list and the tool I use is Ta-da list. It’s a simple web app and it’s actually fun to use. There are not deadlines, reminder fields and tasks are either done or not.
• Do it. This sounds a bit silly but now and then I am tempted not to do a list for one day because I feel there is no time for it. The result is stress and the feeling that you’ve forgotten something.

Key points of a task or a to-do

• It’s a physical action. Formulating my tasks in the form of a physical action makes sure that I thought about how I am actually going to complete a task. It also helps to prevent me from writing down pseudo-tasks which lie somewhere in the future and are never going to be completed anyway (“Plan networking lunch…”).
• Keep them small. Tasks should not contain sub-tasks. I try to be as granular as possible to make sure tasks can be completed as a single entity.
• Keep the syntax. Most of my tasks follow the same syntax. Some examples: “Call Angela to schedule Feedback Meeting”, “Request project reporting from Ben”. Do not add tasks like “Birthday party”.

Adding tasks to a list also helps my to find out whether I am the right person to do that tasks or whether I should delegate it.

As I mentioned above, there are many good resources for you to read about to-do lists and there are even more ways how to work with them. The above is my way of doing it and I can’t guarantee that it’s working for you. There is no wrong way, just try it.

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