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I've always been a fan of the "Don't just do something! Sit there." approach to work. Not only do I sometimes find really clever ways around a problem, or weird

I've always been a fan of the "Don't just do something! Sit there." approach to work. Not only do I sometimes find really clever ways around a problem, or weird issues that wouldn't immediately be apparent, I also save a whole bunch of potential RSI :) Added benefit: When it is time to start coding, you can amaze your coworkers by brain dumping a decently coded solution at typing speed.

rdtsc 16y ago
That's one of the most understated advice. Quite often managers like to see lots of code, or developers have screwed up incentives and get payed by the lines of code. If a manager walks by, their heart gladdens when they see you banging on the keboard like mad -- to them that equals to "work being done". They fail to realize that sometimes that equals to "more un-necessary garbage added to the existing pile of code" that will eventually make the product unstable, brittle and hard to maintain. Sitting there with a notepad and a pencil thinking about the problem is when I find I actually solve the difficult problems not when I type furiously at a keyboard.
- dkersten 16y ago
  Too right. One day myself and another guy were debugging a piece of code by staring at it, figuring the logic out in our heads and pitching theories back and forward. The boss walked past, saw we were sitting there "doing nothing" and told us to do some work... ugh!
  - sophacles 16y ago
    I have no idea how this works, but it does: when sharing a screen with someone and doing work: if one of you is pointing at something code-looking, the boss reverts to thinking you are working. This works even if you are discussing non-work things... its not content they care about but form :/
cadr 16y ago
At a talk, someone (might have been Eric Evans) said something along the lines of when he was modeling a domain with a group, he wouldn't let them leave until they had three different ways of doing it. Even if the first was perfect and the last two ended up being stupid, forcing them to brainstorm other ways of doing it often came up with hidden gems.

rdtsc 16y ago

That's one of the most understated advice. Quite often managers like to see lots of code, or developers have screwed up incentives and get payed by the lines of code. If a manager walks by, their heart gladdens when they see you banging on the keboard like mad -- to them that equals to "work being done". They fail to realize that sometimes that equals to "more un-necessary garbage added to the existing pile of code" that will eventually make the product unstable, brittle and hard to maintain. Sitting there with a notepad and a pencil thinking about the problem is when I find I actually solve the difficult problems not when I type furiously at a keyboard.

dkersten 16y ago
Too right. One day myself and another guy were debugging a piece of code by staring at it, figuring the logic out in our heads and pitching theories back and forward. The boss walked past, saw we were sitting there "doing nothing" and told us to do some work... ugh!
- sophacles 16y ago
  I have no idea how this works, but it does: when sharing a screen with someone and doing work: if one of you is pointing at something code-looking, the boss reverts to thinking you are working. This works even if you are discussing non-work things... its not content they care about but form :/

cadr 16y ago

At a talk, someone (might have been Eric Evans) said something along the lines of when he was modeling a domain with a group, he wouldn't let them leave until they had three different ways of doing it. Even if the first was perfect and the last two ended up being stupid, forcing them to brainstorm other ways of doing it often came up with hidden gems.