Have you just come back from holidays? Ramping up for the year, or still working out how to get started? Want to kick off the new year just right?
Here's five tips on finding your developer groove as you settle into the new year.
Clear out emails and Slack notifications
Remember when I told you to put on your OOO auto-replies, and Slack away emojis?
Now it's time to go through all your messages. I find it useful to triage them. Clear out the spam. Use flags, check marks, or pins to mark action items.
You can use a checklist for things that don't require a response but might be an action somewhere else. I love to use GitHub issues to track all my lists and TODOs.
Review your open issues and PRs
Before you jump into the year and start working on a new project, or new feature for an existing product, it's good to review all your open issues and PRs. Are there things you are assigned/mentioned which you might have overlooked? Are there outstanding items which should be tidied up before moving on?
Clearing out open issues and PRs is a good way to declutter yourself, and it can remind you of ideas or things you were working on before you took the holiday break.
Create, or update your project board
Project boards are so useful for tracking TODOs, lists, and project status. The new GitHub issues has an even better way of viewing your project. Before jumping into a new project or updating an existing one, review your current project boards. Are there outstanding or overdue items? Get these tidied up before moving on.
If you're like me, and like to manage your work with lists and TODOs, you might like to create a new project board for 2022. Maybe you'd like separate project boards for work, personal, and open source. Or even a combination of all three. Experiment with different layouts and find something that helps you be your best productive self.
It's also a great time to stop and review the GitHub Public Road Map
This will give you an idea on what's coming this year so you can plan your work. It's also a great place to get ideas on how to structure your project board.
Update your GitHub Profile README
Reviewing your projects and clearing out issues is good before starting your next project or feature. But what about your personal brand? The start of the year is a great time to review your GitHub Profile README. Is it up to date? Maybe you'd like to add new stats, or more information about your job.
Maybe you might like to do the yearly update to your profile picture. Here's some ideas on things you might like to include, or update in the your profile:
I added my new [GitHub Skyline](https://skyline.github.com] ASCII art to my profile:
My 2021 GitHub Skyline
✦ ✦ ▁ ☽ ✦
✦ █ ▁▄██ ✧ ✧
✧ ✦█ ▁ ▇ ████ ✦ ✧
✧ ✧ ✦ ▃ █✦ █✧█▂ ▇████ ▇▅ ▃ ✧✧ ▅
▃▁ ✧▂▅▂▅▂▃▅▁█ ✦▇ █▇▅█▃██▄███████▅██▅▂▄██▄▄▁ ▁▁✦█▂
▁██▅██████████▁▇█▆▇██████████████████████████▇██████▅
Don't forget you can create an Organisation Profile README. Now might be a good time to give this a review too.
Tune into a Twitter Space
Twitter Spaces are growing and there are so many fantastic spaces available. While you're busy going through emails, scheduling meetings, updating your READMEs, or coding away, throw on a Twitter Space in the background. There's lots of great spaces on DevRel, careers, Web3, NFTs, metaverse, communities, and more.
If you have an audience on Twitter, maybe even think about running your own Twitter Space!
2022, the new year
How are you kicking off your new year? What are your goals for the year? Did you look back on 2021 and reflect on your achievements? Don't forget to take time to celebrate the small wins, because they'll give you the energy and drive to continue to achieve your dreams.
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