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All things related to Productivity

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How do we make better decisions in our teams?

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Sunday, 20 October 2024 · Estimated 7 minute read

TL;DR Decision making is a team effort that works best when it’s clear, collaborative, and intentional. By asking the right questions and seeking diverse perspectives, teams can unlock better solutio…

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Belonging in remote teams - Overcoming obstacles and building connections

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Saturday, 19 October 2024 · Estimated 7 minute read

TL;DR Belonging in remote teams can be tough due to obstacles like physical distance, lack of casual interactions, time zone differences, and then the unnecessary hurdles like imposter syndrome. To o…

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The power of belonging can turn chaos into collaboration

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Friday, 18 October 2024 · Estimated 4 minute read

TL;DR Belonging in a team turns chaos into collaboration by fostering trust, purpose, and open communication. When people feel connected, they work better together, trust each other, and have a clear…

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How to reframe your inner imposter

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Friday, 11 October 2024 · Estimated 6 minute read

TL;DR Imposter syndrome can feel like an ever-present shadow, especially for software engineers and team leads, but it doesn’t have to hold you back. In this article, I share how I’ve learned to refr…

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DALL-EDALL-E
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What makes it difficult to crack working remotely

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Thursday, 10 October 2024 · Estimated 8 minute read

My previous article hit you with a bunch of ways to make remote work a success as a superstar developer and manager. But let’s be real—remote work isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Things can go sidew…

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VS Code extensions that I use every day

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Tuesday, 1 November 2022 · Estimated 1 minute read

I use numerous VS Code extensions to increase productivity and make life easier as a developer and blogger. Here are some of them: Theme Atom One Dark Theme is based on Atom's One Dark theme. It is t…

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An Iterative Approach to My Blog

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Friday, 27 July 2018 · Estimated 1 minute read

I was leaving the corporate world behind and needed to rebrand. I had a hard deadline. I had a new job, a new domain and new hosting, I needed a new blog. I could have rebranded my old blog but I did…

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An Iterative Approach to My Blog
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My Nomadic Lifestyle

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Saturday, 7 July 2018 · Estimated 1 minute read

My goal for the next two months is to maximize my learning time and try to keep my anxiety as low as possible by stripping out unnecessary concerns. I made some changes that ripped me outside of my c…

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My Nomadic Lifestyle
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Rewire your brain (Part 8) - Conclusion

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Wednesday, 28 June 2017 · Estimated 2 minute read

Page 172 of the book Rewire: Changing Your Brain to Break Bad Habits, Overcome Addictions, Conquer Self-Destructive Behavior written by psychotherapist Richard O’Connor says that whatever we pay atte…

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Rewire your brain (Part 8) - Conclusion
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Rewire your brain (Part 7) - Our habits

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Tuesday, 27 June 2017 · Estimated 3 minute read

Germany Kent says that it's a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack. In the part 6, Neuroplastici…

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Rewire your brain (Part 7) - Our habits
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Rewire your brain (Part 6) - Neuroplasticity

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Monday, 26 June 2017 · Estimated 4 minute read

Lara Boyd challenges us by asking how do we learn? And why does some of us learn things more easily than others? In the part 5, The Satir Change Process Model, we looked at how the model can help tra…

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Rewire your brain (Part 6) - Neuroplasticity
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Rewire your brain (Part 5) - The Satir Change Process Model

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Sunday, 25 June 2017 · Estimated 4 minute read

Virginia Satir says that we can learn something new anytime we believe we can. Therefore we can learn to cope with what we are dealing with by readjusting the way we think. In the part 4, Survival Ru…

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Rewire your brain (Part 5) - The Satir Change Process Model
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Rewire your brain (Part 4) - Childhood survival rules

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Saturday, 24 June 2017 · Estimated 4 minute read

Virginia Satir says that you have learned what you have learned very well. It has helped you survive. In Part 3, Distress Tolerance, we learned how to "Distract. Relax. Cope." We identify negative co…

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Rewire your brain (Part 4) - Childhood survival rules
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Rewire your brain (Part 3) - Distress tolerance

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Monday, 29 May 2017 · Estimated 10 minute read

Oliver Goldsmith says that the mind is ever ingenious in making its own distress. In Part 2 we looked at how we can activate five neuro pathways in order to create new neural networks in the brain. T…

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Rewire your brain (Part 3) - Distress tolerance
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Rewire your brain (Part 2) - Activate neuro pathways

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Thursday, 25 May 2017 · Estimated 3 minute read

Dr. Hilary Stokes says that we have trillions of brain cells, resulting in thousands (if not millions) of strings of lights (chemical reactions) correlating with our habits in all areas of our life. …

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Rewire your brain (Part 2) - Activate neuro pathways
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Rewire your brain (Part 1) - Introduction

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Monday, 22 May 2017 · Estimated 2 minute read

John Medina said, "what you do and learn in life physically changes what your brain looks like - it literally rewires it." You are learning something new everyday. Whether it be a new skill, new way …

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Rewire your brain (Part 1) - Introduction
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Deliberate downtime

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Saturday, 17 September 2016 · Estimated 5 minute read

"Do you really squeeze more productivity out of yourself by powering through your weariness?", Caroline Webb To make good decisions you need your mind to be fresh. If you keep grinding through tasks,…

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Deliberate downtime
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Sustainable living

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Friday, 2 September 2016 · Estimated 4 minute read

The aim is simple. I wish to boost my overall sense of wellbeing by living a more fulfilling life day-to-day. I decided it was time to consciously unpack why I feel overwhelmed: The city feels rushed…

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Sustainable living
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Code katas

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Saturday, 13 August 2016 · Estimated 3 minute read

A fun way to practice and familiarize yourself with development tools, workflows, patterns and practices. Wikipedia states that a code kata is an exercise in programming which helps a programmer hone…

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Code katas
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The rainbow in our storm sprint

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Tuesday, 12 July 2016 · Estimated 3 minute read

Communication is essential to minimize stress and get the support a team needs to be successful. We are seven days into our two week sprint and our burndown is flat-lining. Until today, this sprint f…

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The rainbow in our storm sprint
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Making red-tape allies

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Monday, 4 July 2016 · Estimated 3 minute read

Having allies that are exposed to just as much red-tape as you can give you the confidence and guidance you need. Sometimes you have to tackle many obstacles to get something done at a corporate. Man…

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Making red-tape allies
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Streamline operations communication

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Thursday, 30 June 2016 · Estimated 3 minute read

Get the support you need to make the product and operating the product a success. Teams cannot focus on sprint work when there are multiple communication channels filtering into the team at any given…

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Streamline operations communication
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Discovering fiddles

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Sunday, 19 June 2016 · Estimated 4 minute read

If you are new to fiddles, it's an online code playground that let's you quickly experiment, visualize results and share code without having to start up an IDE, editor or server of some sort. They ar…

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Discovering fiddles
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The horror behind design

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Tuesday, 14 June 2016 · Estimated 4 minute read

Improve your craft, write the cleanest code you know how at that point in time, learn from your mistakes (and that of others) and always aim to improve. I think looking at the plumbing behind many de…

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The horror behind design
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Reignite the passion

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Thursday, 26 May 2016 · Estimated 4 minute read

Do you remember how excited you were when you wrote your first program? It's easy to forget when you've been in the real-world for a long time. Sometimes we just need to reignite that passion that we…

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Reignite the passion
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Dealing with change in teams

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Tuesday, 17 May 2016 · Estimated 3 minute read

It's sad when people leave because bonds are formed but we can't stay in the same environment and position forever. I had a bad experience. I once joined a team that had pressure from all angles. Fix…

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Dealing with change in teams
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How this blog improved my productivity

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Friday, 13 May 2016 · Estimated 2 minute read

Having a pet project has some powerful benefits. Do you have one? What benefits have you observed? I started this blog as a course. I decided to meticulously create the site from scratch keeping in m…

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How this blog improved my productivity
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Adjusting the corporate mindset

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Wednesday, 11 May 2016 · Estimated 3 minute read

Just because it's always been done that way, doesn't mean it can't be changed. Personally there is nothing I can do about the way corporate work. There are a lot of people involved and possibly a ple…

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Time is precious

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Wednesday, 11 May 2016 · Estimated 5 minute read

When last did you just stop to smell a flower? Or take a peaceful walk without having to rush for something? Today I sat in standstill traffic. It took me an hour to get home. It's usually between 15…

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Time is precious
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Days that rush away

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Monday, 9 May 2016 · Estimated 3 minute read

Are you busy but don't feel productive? I feel this way sometimes. It is exhausting. How can we find ways to feel fulfilled and accomplished at the end of the day? Rushed days leave me feeling exhaus…

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Bonding with Testers

Clarice Bouwer
Clarice Bouwer
Wednesday, 4 May 2016 · Estimated 3 minute read

Do you form relationships with testers? Teaming up with testers from the beginning of a feature can positively impact the quality of the feature being developed. At work we often get trapped in our r…