LifePIM Blog

Practical Documentation for Teams of Information workers

“Everyone loves documentation” – said no one, ever.

This article shows you how to make the bare minimum documentation work effectively for information workers.
Using a simple system, you will know what needs to be documented to get stuff done.

Steps to build a world with Unreal Engine 4

This article has the steps needed to build a beautiful looking world using Unreal engine, using prebuilt assets (character model, trees, etc)

High Level Steps

Setup Unreal Engine and download the assets you need
Make the landscape
Paint the ground
Add trees and flowers
Setup lighting by dropping in a nice sky
Add some animals
Drop in sounds

What would it take to play your Avatar on any game?

Imagine if you could take the stats from your level 110 Dwarf Priest in World of Warcraft and play the same character in DOTA. Or transfer the mining skill to Stardew Valley so you don't start at the bottom? Millions of gamers every year spend a lot of time playing, level ling up and modifying their game characters - and then when a new game comes out, all that is lost and they start again.

Where is my data?

It's 2:00am - do you know where your data is?

The answer will surprise you, it is scattered all over the world in multiple companies across hundreds of computers.

Having stuff on multiple sites is fine until you need to see it all, or want to search across all of them. The image below shows just where your information is currently stored.

What do I do if I lose a digital photo or document?

It was just there, and now it's gone - What the hell is going on?

It is so frustrating when we cant find something - we think the worst, did my phone 'eat' it, are there hackers on my computer? The answer is likely not, and below are some steps you can take to find the item that vanished.

Checklist for building a business website

Are you planning to start (or just started) a business and want a website? - this article steps through the things you will need to do or have done for you.

A business website can start off simply as a Facebook / eBay page, or you can get a WordPress site built reasonably cheaply. Advanced requirements with a lot of features may need a custom built site.

What software will you trust when you get senile?

It's a sad time when you see a loved one descend into senility - what we think of as simple day to day tasks get harder for them to complete, and eventually impossible.

If you have been in this situation, you probably thought - there must be some software to help with this.

But the problem is that the current generation of older people havent really taken to technology.

What about us though? What will we do as we get older and unable to do basic things - could software help us? Would you trust an app that says "Don't walk out the door - it is 3:00am, you should stay inside"

What is the point of a Personal knowledge base?

The main reasons to keep a Personal knowledge base include:
a) Writing down and working on your ideas and plans
b) Keeping track of the bits and pieces of information (the metadata of your life)
c) Having a private resource to search that is *actually* tailored for you [because you built it]
d) "Commonplace book" - jot down quotes or jokes, or links that have an impact on you
e) keep track of your long term lists - books you want to read, movies you want to see
f) It is yours, it is private so you can write whatever you like without social pressures

How to Download your personal data from the cloud

Your personal data is often spread out across various cloud servers and this page contains notes on how to get your data back off the cloud servers to your local PC.

Before you begin - make sure you are doing this on your own home computer (ie don't do it at work or in a public place) as there is sensitive information which you don't want others seeing.

Take time to relax

It's OK to procrastinate, waste time, binge watch Netflix or play video games - in fact, you owe it to yourself to do fun things on a regular basis.

What is a regular basis?
Ok, before you call in sick and break out the snacks I should clarify that it is OK to do this on a regular basis ALONG with your other stuff.

Planning is great but don't overdue it - I have a lot of tasks to do, so I

How to build Software that lasts for decades

There is a saying that goes "Price, Quality, Speed of delivery: Pick any two." that sums up most of our purchases. You can get something cheap and quick like a McDonald's burger, or have a nice restaurant meal but you'll wait longer and pay more. Makes sense doesn't it?

This does not happen in the software world, and believe it or not, the developers are not the problem - we *want* to make software that is bullet proof, but the cost is too high and the customers won't pay 5x the estimate to have that level of quality, nor will the managers, who are pushing to "release next week!"

That may sound harsh, but it is business - people need things fast, and they can't wait a year to get a perfectly polished product, so they will get something that does the job with a few bugs and workarounds so they can get on with their business.

But what if you want software to last a long time - I mean a *really* long time, so that it is still running when you are in a retirement home - what sort of things do you need to think about in the design phase of this?

Different ways to use folders to store your data

The type of personal information you keep is very broad - there can be study notes, ideas for a new business, plans for travel, shopping lists and all the general tips you find on the web. You wouldn't (or shouldn't) save all your documents in one giant folder and the same applies to your personal notes - there needs to be a way to find them easily.

Folders are a standard way of keeping information grouped together and there are several ways to use folders in LifePIM - you can try the methods below

Teams - you need ONE person to maintain your data

Do you find it easy to get information for your team processes or companies products?

Many teams routinely go through a 'reorganise our information' process in an effort to combat this, and it often coincides with a change of manager or new worker struggling to work out how to do things.

Setting up LifePIM and importing your Notes

This article gives you a quick guide on how to setup LifePIM and import your notes.
If you don't already have an account, register yours at https://www.lifepim.com/register

You will be logged straight away, and you will see some sample notes.

Lets talk about data!

Hi, I'm Duncan and welcome to my blog! I'll be talking here (https://www.lifepim.com.blog) about information - mainly the sort of information *you* generate and how to get access to it, use it, secure it and keep it for as long as you need.