Inside the Workspace of Ruslan Fazlyev: E-Commerce Pioneer and Startup Visionary

Our first featured guest of the year is renowned programmer and internet entrepreneur Ruslan Fazlyev. Since winning the Business Project Startup Competition in 2010, Ruslan has frequently shared insights with various IT media outlets. Here, he reveals the secrets behind his productive workspace.

What is your professional focus?

I am a seasoned startup founder with over 12 years of experience developing e-commerce platforms. My most notable creations are X-Cart and Ecwid.

X-Cart was the world’s first PHP-based online store platform. What began as a project by three students grew into a company with over 150 employees at a time when the term 'startup' was barely known in Russia.

Ecwid is a cloud-based e-commerce widget with more than 200,000 registered sellers. It enables users to quickly and freely add an online store to any website, blog, or social media page without needing a programmer.

What does your workspace look like?

Since I spend about five months a year traveling, my workspace revolves around my beloved 13-inch MacBook Air. It’s lightweight, nimble, and fast—so much so that even a 13-inch MacBook Pro Retina feels heavy in comparison.

The physical lightness of the device creates a sense of ease in my work. I often find myself locked away in a hotel room with my laptop, which explains why I sometimes return from sunny California without a tan.

Back in 2008, I once forgot my laptop at airport security in Paphos and had to arrange its shipment to London through contacts. Aware of the security risks associated with mobile devices, I always encrypt my laptop’s file system.

At 16, I experienced my first and hopefully last total data loss. Carrying a hard drive to friends was common before USB drives existed, but after accidentally damaging the drive’s anti-static bag, I lost all my childhood games and libraries. Unable to afford data recovery services, I now take backups very seriously, using encrypted Time Machine disks.

When I turned 31, I suffered from repetitive strain injury (RSI), a common affliction among programmers. Tasks as simple as opening a toothpaste tube or holding a kettle became painful. After six months of recovery, I adopted strict ergonomic practices: Microsoft Natural keyboards with an outward tilt, and three types of mice on my desks—a semi-vertical ergonomic mouse from Microsoft, an Apple Magic Mouse, and an external Apple trackpad—to minimize repetitive strain.

Living just 30 meters from my office, I switch between workstations by simply carrying my laptop. I use two identical Apple LED Cinema Displays, allowing me to disconnect and reconnect without opening the MacBook lid, preserving window layouts seamlessly.

Above my desk hangs a calligraphic poster that reads, 'May all your dreams and wishes come true.' It usually does, so I jokingly call it an ancient Chinese curse.

As a child, I was convinced Lenin was a superhero and dreamed of having a desk with green leather like his. Though I became disillusioned with Lenin, I had a similar desk custom-made in England, which now sits in my office in Russia.

That desk is from the early days; my hardware has since evolved. The key takeaway: avoid thick, non-ergonomic desk surfaces that restrict legroom.

What hardware do you use?

Most of my hardware has been mentioned. Starting as a sysadmin, I run a Mini-ATX FreeBSD server at home to keep my skills sharp, though manual upgrades consume time, and I’m considering retiring it. My Wi-Fi is managed by an Apple AirPort Extreme, which I find superior to other routers, especially for ease of setup.

My server is placed on the highest shelf in a storage closet, making physical access inconvenient. I’ve humorously dubbed the process of rebooting it with a mop handle 'mop therapy.'

To avoid downtime from upstream providers, I have direct fiber-optic internet to my office, which also serves as a backup connection.

I've been an early adopter of mobile devices, from Palm III and Sony CLIÉ to various Windows Mobile gadgets. Constant reconfiguration was time-consuming, so now I use an iPhone, which offers a professionally optimized interface, letting me focus on what I excel at—running my company and life.

What software do you rely on?

I respect intellectual property and avoid pirated software, so I use only licensed programs.

Photoshop can be costly, so I purchased a second-hand license on eBay. Some software I acquired during my Windows days, so I run Parallels Desktop on my Mac to access Windows applications. My 256GB SSD requires frequent cleanup due to limited space.

Every month, Smashing Magazine releases stylish desktop wallpapers. I download them by searching 'smashing magazine desktop wallpaper <month> <year>' to keep my desktop fresh and stay connected to the passage of time and progress.

For the last three years, I’ve fully embraced the Apple ecosystem: macOS, iPhone, and iPad. My last Microsoft OS was Windows 7 Release Candidate, which I liked for its stability. However, after its expiration and installing the licensed version, I found it less reliable and was frustrated by Cyrillic versions of Western software.

I switched to macOS after encouragement from Evgeny Kaznacheev, Ecwid’s evangelist, who warned me I’d initially hate it but eventually couldn’t live without it. The transition was tough, but now I can’t imagine going back to PC.

I spend much of my workday in Gmail’s web client, which I find most convenient. My calendar is the native macOS app synced with Google Calendar and iOS devices, with my assistant managing scheduling. I plan my day’s unscheduled time every evening.

I manage tasks using David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology. Initially, I used simple file system folders named as desired project outcomes, containing action lists as text files. Projects were organized by context folders like 'Office,' 'Home,' 'Moscow,' and 'On the Go.' Moving projects between contexts was as easy as dragging folders.

Before Dropbox, I synced the 'On the Go' folder with Windows Mobile devices. This system was highly productive, though I later switched to OmniFocus on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, which supports GTD with synchronization.

Despite OmniFocus’s quality, I sometimes miss the flexibility and manual control of my old system, where no deadlines were forced and state changes were manual, giving a greater sense of control.

I minimize instant messaging to iMessage (linked to a proprietary Jabber server) and Skype. I’m a big Skype fan for conference calls and even calling my own lost phone when I’m too lazy to get up. I sometimes call Russian colleagues on their mobiles via Skype to stay focused at my desk.

To avoid distractions, I limit Twitter client launches and use separate Gmail tabs for composing and reading emails, preventing me from getting sidetracked by incoming messages.

I check incoming mail no more than five times a week to maintain productivity, though messaging apps remain open for urgent contacts. Irresponsible use of messaging by others sometimes tempts me to cut communication streams.

Each evening, I conduct a brief retrospective and plan: what great things I accomplished, what went wrong, lessons learned, habits to keep, tomorrow’s goals, and enjoyable or physical activities planned.

While I don’t always maintain this discipline perfectly, adhering to it brings satisfaction, productivity, and happiness. Otherwise, I become exhausted, unproductive, and self-critical.

Recently, the surge of distractions has made the Pomodoro Technique and the Pomodorable app essential tools for maintaining focus and simplicity in time management.

Do you use paper in your work?

I enjoy drawing mind maps on paper with a fountain pen. I also keep a paper sheet visualizing my strategic life goals for the next six months to a year. Beyond that, I rely fully on digital tools.

What is your dream workstation setup?

For me, a reliable high-speed internet connection is the missing piece of the dream setup. Unfortunately, last-mile providers often deliver unstable service, and mobile internet bandwidth struggles to keep up with the growing number of connected devices.

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