How I Work: Deniz Veli, Android manager for Etsy’s engineering group

Deniz Veli is the engineering manager for Etsy’s Android group. He runs a team of engineers who build the Google Play version of the Android apps Etsy and Sell on Etsy.

He works to help his team get more done and stay focused on building the app. He told us that he likes to code some himself, to stay in touch with the technology. It’s also his job to keep an eye on the longterm view toward high-quality apps.

Veli has worked on a number of side projects. His most recent project was an app called Dash, which works with App.net to let you see info from multiple social streams in one app.

Here he is, filling us in how he works.

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What’s the first thing you do every day before doing any tech related work?

Feed my cat so he’ll stop walking on my head before going back to bed. Then I usually spend some time in bed wishing I didn’t have a cat.

How often do you check your e-mail, and do you use any program to get to ‘Inbox Zero’?

Fairly frequently though I try not to let it dictate my day. I use a combination of Sparrow, Gmail filters, labels and Todoist to help me work with email. We use Gmail, Google Groups and Google Calendar heavily at Etsy which means everybody here receives a lot of email.

To deal with all this noise, I lean heavily on Gmail filters so that anything that isn’t directly to me, or requires my immediate attention, ends up in a list that I parse later. I turn off all the notifications I can including all of the notifications on my phone except for messages and calendar notifications. No email notifications and no social media notifications.

I read my inbox periodically throughout the day and create Todoist tasks for anything I need to take action on or think about further. I move anything in my inbox that I can respond to later into a label called “Follow Up.” I have a reoccurring Todoist task that reminds me in the afternoon to clear my “Follow Up” list. This model is working pretty well for me, though I am still refining it.

How do you keep track of your revenues and expenses?

Now, at Etsy, I’d ask our data analysts.

When you need to take a break, what are you turning to?

Coffee and a walk around Brooklyn Bridge Park. If I need a long break I’ll go home and call it a day.

What’s your gear? 

At work I have a MacBook Pro 13 inch Retina, but when I’m at my desk it’s usually closed and plugged into a Samsung 24-inch monitor. Also on my desk is the Apple wireless keyboard and “magic mouse” sitting atop this leather mouse pad.

At home I use a MacBook Air 13 inch. Combine that with any-old micro-USB cable I have lying around and my Nexus 5 and I’m ready to work. I have a small apartment so I don’t have a monitor or even a desk. I run regular backups onto a small Seagate portable hard drive. Most recently I’m also sporting a Moto 360 Android wear watch on my wrist, just for kicks.

What’s one time saving tip you have? 

Just one?

General: Learn your tools.

Android: Use the source.

Breakfast: Buy a Vitamix.

What’s one way in which you believe your day-to-day work is better now than it has been? Is there something you do now (or don’t do) that you didn’t do before (or did) that has made a big difference? 

As a manager, a great productivity tip which I took onboard recently was to plan the day you want to have, rather than allowing others to plan it for you.

What this means in practice is sitting down at the beginning of the day and organizing your day to achieve what you want to get out of it. I have a reoccurring Todoist task set for first thing in the morning to remind me to do this. I block out time in my calendar to make sure I have time to achieve my daily goals. I break down long term goals into smaller achievable daily tasks and add them to my todo list. What tool you use doesn’t really matter. I’ve found it to be a really helpful way to think about your work day.