How professionals work. Maxim Petrov, CPO ZeptoLab
“How Professionals Work” continues to acquaint readers of Megamind with the working rhythm of specialists from the Russian IT market.
Today’s column heading is Maxim Petrov, the main product for ZeptoLab, perhaps the most famous Russian mobile game developer. We give him the floor.
Current location:
Moscow
Current place of work:
ZeptoLab - Chief Product Officer (product director)
One word that best describes how you work:
Passionate
How many hours do you work per day?
I think about work anyway, practically all 24.
And so - it depends on a particular day. Usually, during the day, the workflow beats me in three stages.
In the morning - the most important mail and study of the main tasks for the day, in the afternoon (usually in the interval from 11 to 20) - business and meetings in the office, in the evening and at night - a quiet time to work on things that require maximum concentration, and to communicate with partners from other time zones.
Current mobile device:
iPhone 5s, iPad Mini, Nexus 7 - you have to wear a few
Current computer:
MacBook Air 13 ''
Without which applications, programs, utilities you can not live?
Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive - I have not stored data on a local computer / device for a long time. It is very convenient when access to files is everywhere, regardless of whether the laptop is with you.
Slack is definitely the best messenger that, with its appearance, has greatly improved this world.
Pocket, Mindjet MindManager and Wunderlist make life even easier.
Well, without our games (primarily King of Thieves) I also can’t live.
What kind of life hack helps you save time?
Removing the Facebook application from all mobile devices and setting the mute mode in non-working instant messengers helps to be less distracted (or rather be distracted only at the right time) and save a lot of time.
“Five minutes of silence” also helps - when for a couple of minutes you put off all tasks and try to relax your brain. After that, usually productivity increases markedly.
Which to-do manager do you use?
Wunderlist for personal goals + Things for workers.
Well, nobody canceled the good old paper notebook.
What do you listen to when you work?
I usually try to listen to my colleagues.
But seriously, it’s usually difficult for me to concentrate on the music, so if I listen, then most often something is light and without words (lounge, minimal house etc). 8tracks are great for opening a new one.
What are you reading now?
Nasim Taleb “Anti-Fragility” is an excellent book that allows you to take a different look at ordinary things.
Even now I’m reading the second volume from the series “Moscow, which is not” about the history of old Moscow houses and streets. Some of them are well known, but many, alas, have not survived. It was always interesting to immerse yourself in the history of your favorite city.
Which book of the last read was the most memorable?
In recent years, this is probably Dan Ariely's “Predictably Irrational” - an excellent book about the basics of behavioral economics and the factors that influence our decision-making in different situations. This knowledge greatly helps in the development and subsequent promotion of products. I highly recommend it to everyone who for some reason has not read it yet.
Do you use electronic readers or prefer paper books?
In Moscow I read exclusively paper books, it is much more pleasant.
On trips, for obvious reasons - the iPad.
How much time do you sleep?
An average of 6-7 hours.
Once slept at 9, and it seemed completely unrealistic to live differently. It turns out that you can fully accustom yourself and feel great at the same time.
Are you an owl or an early bird?
Owl. In the evening and at night, my productivity is much higher than in the morning. Then I do all the basic things.
How do you have breakfast?
If at home, double coffee and light snacks. In general, coffee inevitably accompanies me daily and throughout the day.
Usually in the first half of the day I try to make meetings outside the office, so I manage to combine the pleasant (breakfast) with the useful (communication).
How do you spend time on the way to / from work?
At the wheel - I either listen to podcasts with industry news and interviews, or I give my brain rest and listen to new music that has accumulated lately.
Sometimes - just going in silence, thinking through various tasks.
What advice have you ever been given you can pass on to others?
This is not really advice, but rather a motivating formula. She was once told to me by one of the guys from my team, and since then she has not gone out of my head:
1.01 ^ 365 = 37.8
0.99 ^ 365 = 0.03
That is, improving some of my skills by at least 1% every day, after 70 days, you will double this skill (1.01 ^ 70 = 2). Likewise, degrading by 1% per day, in just over two months you will be twice as worse (0.99 ^ 70 = 0.5).
With this in mind, you force yourself to learn something new and do something cool every day.
The second piece of advice that helps me a lot in my life is to do all the unpleasant things quickly, without putting them off the bat. It greatly facilitates life and eliminates unnecessary reflection.
Today’s column heading is Maxim Petrov, the main product for ZeptoLab, perhaps the most famous Russian mobile game developer. We give him the floor.
Current location:
Moscow
Current place of work:
ZeptoLab - Chief Product Officer (product director)
One word that best describes how you work:
Passionate
How many hours do you work per day?
I think about work anyway, practically all 24.
And so - it depends on a particular day. Usually, during the day, the workflow beats me in three stages.
In the morning - the most important mail and study of the main tasks for the day, in the afternoon (usually in the interval from 11 to 20) - business and meetings in the office, in the evening and at night - a quiet time to work on things that require maximum concentration, and to communicate with partners from other time zones.
Current mobile device:
iPhone 5s, iPad Mini, Nexus 7 - you have to wear a few
Current computer:
MacBook Air 13 ''
Without which applications, programs, utilities you can not live?
Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive - I have not stored data on a local computer / device for a long time. It is very convenient when access to files is everywhere, regardless of whether the laptop is with you.
Slack is definitely the best messenger that, with its appearance, has greatly improved this world.
Pocket, Mindjet MindManager and Wunderlist make life even easier.
Well, without our games (primarily King of Thieves) I also can’t live.
What kind of life hack helps you save time?
Removing the Facebook application from all mobile devices and setting the mute mode in non-working instant messengers helps to be less distracted (or rather be distracted only at the right time) and save a lot of time.
“Five minutes of silence” also helps - when for a couple of minutes you put off all tasks and try to relax your brain. After that, usually productivity increases markedly.
Which to-do manager do you use?
Wunderlist for personal goals + Things for workers.
Well, nobody canceled the good old paper notebook.
What do you listen to when you work?
I usually try to listen to my colleagues.
But seriously, it’s usually difficult for me to concentrate on the music, so if I listen, then most often something is light and without words (lounge, minimal house etc). 8tracks are great for opening a new one.
What are you reading now?
Nasim Taleb “Anti-Fragility” is an excellent book that allows you to take a different look at ordinary things.
Even now I’m reading the second volume from the series “Moscow, which is not” about the history of old Moscow houses and streets. Some of them are well known, but many, alas, have not survived. It was always interesting to immerse yourself in the history of your favorite city.
Which book of the last read was the most memorable?
In recent years, this is probably Dan Ariely's “Predictably Irrational” - an excellent book about the basics of behavioral economics and the factors that influence our decision-making in different situations. This knowledge greatly helps in the development and subsequent promotion of products. I highly recommend it to everyone who for some reason has not read it yet.
Do you use electronic readers or prefer paper books?
In Moscow I read exclusively paper books, it is much more pleasant.
On trips, for obvious reasons - the iPad.
How much time do you sleep?
An average of 6-7 hours.
Once slept at 9, and it seemed completely unrealistic to live differently. It turns out that you can fully accustom yourself and feel great at the same time.
Are you an owl or an early bird?
Owl. In the evening and at night, my productivity is much higher than in the morning. Then I do all the basic things.
How do you have breakfast?
If at home, double coffee and light snacks. In general, coffee inevitably accompanies me daily and throughout the day.
Usually in the first half of the day I try to make meetings outside the office, so I manage to combine the pleasant (breakfast) with the useful (communication).
How do you spend time on the way to / from work?
At the wheel - I either listen to podcasts with industry news and interviews, or I give my brain rest and listen to new music that has accumulated lately.
Sometimes - just going in silence, thinking through various tasks.
What advice have you ever been given you can pass on to others?
This is not really advice, but rather a motivating formula. She was once told to me by one of the guys from my team, and since then she has not gone out of my head:
1.01 ^ 365 = 37.8
0.99 ^ 365 = 0.03
That is, improving some of my skills by at least 1% every day, after 70 days, you will double this skill (1.01 ^ 70 = 2). Likewise, degrading by 1% per day, in just over two months you will be twice as worse (0.99 ^ 70 = 0.5).
With this in mind, you force yourself to learn something new and do something cool every day.
The second piece of advice that helps me a lot in my life is to do all the unpleasant things quickly, without putting them off the bat. It greatly facilitates life and eliminates unnecessary reflection.