7 ms·

I'm familiar with this. There's no magic solution, sadly, but I'll share one thing that has helped me and may apply at least to some of your situations. I real

I'm familiar with this. There's no magic solution, sadly, but I'll share one thing that has helped me and may apply at least to some of your situations. I realised a while ago that my main issue was with nebulous tasks -- that is, the more concrete, defined, and _meetable_ a task was, the less trouble I had with it. So I started to break down large tasks, which never got started much less finished, into smaller ones, in the same way you might break a scrum-poker 20-pointer into a bunch of 3s. You want to go from this: - I should really write [some great app idea] To this: - I'll make a list of technologies that I want to use - I'll read the docs, like a book, for the ones that are new - I'll write a single api endpoint - I'll flesh out the api for the rest of a feature - I'll MVP a UI for that one feature, without any concern for design - etc. In my case, a combination of the size of and amount of ambiguity in a task is inversely proportional to the ability I have to both get it underway and get it finished.

wjnc 9y ago
I'll second this and on top of that would advise you to try to get some more insights into your personal drivers / personality (I fell for Meyers-Briggs or MBTI, but have to be honested that personality science feels somewhat hand-wavy.). It might be that being a freelancer is not the best fit for you and perhaps being on a team or in a team-lead role would fit your personality better. For me external demands and a corporate environment where there is quite a lot of appetite for thinking outside the box gave me a lot more energy than my studies and first job(s).
bennyelv 9y ago
This is exactly what worked for me - thankfully I learnt it while doing my university dissertation and before I started my career. You can't start the task "start a business", but you can start the task "determine the market size for x".
ashtube 9y ago
100% this. Break down the tasks into smaller and smaller chunks, use an app like Todoist to track it. So create a project for each major task, and have all the todo's inside that project. You'll feel achievement as you complete each small task, and within no time you'll find you have completed the project, AKA, one big task.
- nottorp 9y ago
  I still use paper :)
- tigerwash 9y ago
  +1 for Todoist. It's awesome to structure tasks into more and more subtasks.
- taneq 9y ago
  Any recommendations for something like this that's local-only or self-hosted? I've been on the lookout for such a thing for a while but they all seem to be SaaS web app type things.
  - zingmars 9y ago
    I just keep a text file around that I sync using NextCloud. From what I've seen self-hosted TODO list solutions are generally pretty bad. I tried OpenTasks[1] on Android using NextCloud's DAV backend, but the app doesn't support proper sub-tasks (subtasks are handled as Markdown text in task's notes). And there doesn't seem to be any good Desktop app that that I found that works well (or is cross-platform) either. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.dmfs.tasks&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.dmfs.tasks...
  - pyrophane 9y ago
    I use index cards and a pen! I like to have something that is physically in front of me all the time. It works great.
    - hypertexthero 9y ago
      Paper and pen or pencil or crayon or chalk on paper. Preferably with some color. Our senses of touch, smell and sound are important and inspiring.
  - johnx123-up 9y ago
    Probably http://restya.com/board http://restya.com/board ? In some aspects like offline sync and list view, it is better than Trello
greendesk 9y ago
This approach has helped me significantly. Another aspect that is also useful has been my experience of Pomodoro technique. At a job where we were practicing Pomodoro technique, I realized I don’t struggle with concentration anymore. The minimalistic explanation of the technique is to work on a task inside 45 minute intervals; then walk away from the computer for several minutes.
- f_allwein 9y ago
  +1 for Pomodoro technique. Traditionally, it's 25m, but you can choose any length that works for you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique
- wizzzzzy 9y ago
  +1 for pomodoro technique. I find one of the additional benefits it has is that it gives you a means of quantifying your day. Often I can't remember exactly what I've been working on but knowing that I've completed x amounts of intervals leaves me way more satisfied at the end of the day and makes me feel much more confident that I've been productive. I find it can also reveal how long some things take to complete. Rather than thinking 'uhh I couldn't even complete that task today' it can often lead to 'wow, I worked on that task for x intervals and it still wasn't complete - I definitely underestimated that one!'
tlrobinson 9y ago
I've been wondering, is there a todo / task tracking app that can somehow aggregate tasks across multiple applications? Currently my tasks are spread across emails and email drafts, Github issues, iOS reminders, Slack, my head, etc. It's a lot of work to keep track of them all. Maybe I should just carry around a paper notebook and make that the authoritative source of tasks.
- marenkay 9y ago
  Paper notebooks are great since writing down tasks turns them into something real because of the haptic feedback from touching paper. Note apps, task apps, etc. all can not handle to that considering the brain simply considers things with haptic feedback more memorable and actionable.
- josephjrobison 9y ago
  Hubstaff takes screenshots while you work and you can jot down notes when you feel like it. I also find myself reviewing my Chrome history sometimes if I have no idea all the things I had been working on all day.
- pronoiac 9y ago
  That feels kinda familiar. My experience might or might not be helpful. I read about Getting Things Done, and I worked to track everything in one place, but I find that task tracking in two places work best for me: 1. Something like Evernote or Simplenote, for capturing notes on any device that's handy: phone, tablet, computer, etc. Being able to search really easily is crucial, to avoid duplicate topics. 2. Something like Trello for easier prioritizing and categorization. Moving around the index card analogies is much easier than moving text. Using email as an issue tracker is an anti-pattern. It means your work to prioritize can get casually jumbled, and for me, that flow can get interrupted more easily. Ditto for Slack. I like paper notebooks - I used one at work so I wouldn't drop any of the tasks I was juggling - but they're less portable than my phone. Before that, I had a Hipster PDA (index cards and a paper clip - http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/03/introducing-the-hipster-pda http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/03/introducing-the-hipster-... ) but I had lots of notes, and searching was awkward, meaning "just write it (again) before I forget it, sort it out later," meant there was curation involved, and that using 1. above was lower-friction and just overall better.
tigerwash 9y ago
Problem Slicing is the key; Kent Beck wrote an article about "Master Programming" and I'd like to take his advice whenever I encounter a problem in programming, but also in real life (e.g. coordinating tasks in work or private life): https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/4n3s7c/kent_beck_mastering_programming/d40p983/ https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/4n3s7c/kent_be... > Slicing. Take a big project, cut it into thin slices, and rearrange the slices to suit your context. I can always slice projects finer and I can always find new permutations of the slices that meet different needs.
- chb 9y ago
  What do you know about the author, Kent Beck?
  - craigching 9y ago
    Kent Beck is the father of TDD[1] and a well-known agile advocate [1] — https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/387190.Test_Driven_Development https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/387190.Test_Driven_Devel...
  - the_af 9y ago
    Kent Beck is well-known and the creator of Extreme Programming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Beck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Beck
arconis987 9y ago
This approach is immensely helpful to me as well. Started practicing problem slicing after watching a lecture from Don Knuth. He started by writing down a problem and underlining it. He then solved small bits of it and worked through many examples that seemed almost trivial. Eventually, some amazing results began to emerge after the many trivial examples were worked through. Impressed on me the power of breaking a large problem down into small, simple parts and working through them one at a time. I think problem slicing is one of the only ways to actually solve some kinds of big problems.
- jseutter 9y ago
  Do you have a link or title to the video? I'm interested in watching it, but searching isn't turning up likely matches.
  - aaronm14 9y ago
    I'm also curious to see this. I think a lot of the really strong programmers I know do this instinctually where as I have to be more deliberate breaking things down. Perhaps some of it is that they are able more more naturally hold it in their minds than writing it out on a piece of paper like I do. Maybe they "learned how to learn" in that way better than I did when they were younger.
  - moltar 9y ago
    Second this, please link, really want to see it! Also couldn't find it.
  - chris11 9y ago
    I didn't find the video, I'd be interested in seeing it too. But I did find this: https://www.cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/papers/cs1055.pdf https://www.cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/papers/cs1055.pdf It's a set of notes of a problem solving seminar that Knuth taught to grad students at Stanford in 1985. It looks interesting.
  - arconis987 9y ago
    It was from a video where Don Knuth recreated one of his first lectures. https://youtu.be/jmcSzzN1gkc https://youtu.be/jmcSzzN1gkc At one point around 20 or 30 minutes in, he says something like, “We’re going to start easy and slow and then work harder later on.” He exhaustively writes out a large number of different combinations of possible runtimes of an algorithm. It seems quite tedious, but eventually some cool results emerge related to Sterling Numbers :) At first, I thought it was somewhat annoying that the lecture was methodically going through so many examples. Since then, I’ve realized that methodically going through small sub-problems patiently is often the way you eventually get to a giant leap.
garmaine 9y ago
> There's no magic solution In cases where it is medically necessary, there is: Adderall. http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/12/28/adderall-risks-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/12/28/adderall-risks-much-mor...
piracykills 9y ago
Yes - I basically use indented lists of tasks like this for everything. Indented because often times you realize you didn't quite break that down enough and need more steps underneath it for them to be approachable. Lots of tools are great for this too, I've used Tomboy, OneNote and org-mode, all of which do this very well.
dabernathy89 9y ago
Unfortunately, often I feel like the more mundane & straightforward tasks are the ones that I find the hardest to get started on. But i think this is still a great idea for tackling large, daunting tasks.
FeepingCreature 9y ago
A specific version of this is just writing a single connected "skeleton" of app, stubbing out absolutely everything that isn't needed with 'if (input == this) return that; assert(false);' and just getting something from input to output. Then it's a lot easier to go and add more meat.

wjnc 9y ago

I'll second this and on top of that would advise you to try to get some more insights into your personal drivers / personality (I fell for Meyers-Briggs or MBTI, but have to be honested that personality science feels somewhat hand-wavy.). It might be that being a freelancer is not the best fit for you and perhaps being on a team or in a team-lead role would fit your personality better. For me external demands and a corporate environment where there is quite a lot of appetite for thinking outside the box gave me a lot more energy than my studies and first job(s).

bennyelv 9y ago

This is exactly what worked for me - thankfully I learnt it while doing my university dissertation and before I started my career. You can't start the task "start a business", but you can start the task "determine the market size for x".

ashtube 9y ago

100% this. Break down the tasks into smaller and smaller chunks, use an app like Todoist to track it. So create a project for each major task, and have all the todo's inside that project. You'll feel achievement as you complete each small task, and within no time you'll find you have completed the project, AKA, one big task.

nottorp 9y ago
I still use paper :)
tigerwash 9y ago
+1 for Todoist. It's awesome to structure tasks into more and more subtasks.
taneq 9y ago
Any recommendations for something like this that's local-only or self-hosted? I've been on the lookout for such a thing for a while but they all seem to be SaaS web app type things.
- zingmars 9y ago
  I just keep a text file around that I sync using NextCloud. From what I've seen self-hosted TODO list solutions are generally pretty bad. I tried OpenTasks[1] on Android using NextCloud's DAV backend, but the app doesn't support proper sub-tasks (subtasks are handled as Markdown text in task's notes). And there doesn't seem to be any good Desktop app that that I found that works well (or is cross-platform) either. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.dmfs.tasks&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.dmfs.tasks...
- pyrophane 9y ago
  I use index cards and a pen! I like to have something that is physically in front of me all the time. It works great.
  - hypertexthero 9y ago
    Paper and pen or pencil or crayon or chalk on paper. Preferably with some color. Our senses of touch, smell and sound are important and inspiring.
- johnx123-up 9y ago
  Probably http://restya.com/board http://restya.com/board ? In some aspects like offline sync and list view, it is better than Trello

greendesk 9y ago

This approach has helped me significantly. Another aspect that is also useful has been my experience of Pomodoro technique. At a job where we were practicing Pomodoro technique, I realized I don’t struggle with concentration anymore. The minimalistic explanation of the technique is to work on a task inside 45 minute intervals; then walk away from the computer for several minutes.

f_allwein 9y ago
+1 for Pomodoro technique. Traditionally, it's 25m, but you can choose any length that works for you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique
wizzzzzy 9y ago
+1 for pomodoro technique. I find one of the additional benefits it has is that it gives you a means of quantifying your day. Often I can't remember exactly what I've been working on but knowing that I've completed x amounts of intervals leaves me way more satisfied at the end of the day and makes me feel much more confident that I've been productive. I find it can also reveal how long some things take to complete. Rather than thinking 'uhh I couldn't even complete that task today' it can often lead to 'wow, I worked on that task for x intervals and it still wasn't complete - I definitely underestimated that one!'

tlrobinson 9y ago

I've been wondering, is there a todo / task tracking app that can somehow aggregate tasks across multiple applications? Currently my tasks are spread across emails and email drafts, Github issues, iOS reminders, Slack, my head, etc. It's a lot of work to keep track of them all. Maybe I should just carry around a paper notebook and make that the authoritative source of tasks.

marenkay 9y ago
Paper notebooks are great since writing down tasks turns them into something real because of the haptic feedback from touching paper. Note apps, task apps, etc. all can not handle to that considering the brain simply considers things with haptic feedback more memorable and actionable.
josephjrobison 9y ago
Hubstaff takes screenshots while you work and you can jot down notes when you feel like it. I also find myself reviewing my Chrome history sometimes if I have no idea all the things I had been working on all day.
pronoiac 9y ago
That feels kinda familiar. My experience might or might not be helpful. I read about Getting Things Done, and I worked to track everything in one place, but I find that task tracking in two places work best for me: 1. Something like Evernote or Simplenote, for capturing notes on any device that's handy: phone, tablet, computer, etc. Being able to search really easily is crucial, to avoid duplicate topics. 2. Something like Trello for easier prioritizing and categorization. Moving around the index card analogies is much easier than moving text. Using email as an issue tracker is an anti-pattern. It means your work to prioritize can get casually jumbled, and for me, that flow can get interrupted more easily. Ditto for Slack. I like paper notebooks - I used one at work so I wouldn't drop any of the tasks I was juggling - but they're less portable than my phone. Before that, I had a Hipster PDA (index cards and a paper clip - http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/03/introducing-the-hipster-pda http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/03/introducing-the-hipster-... ) but I had lots of notes, and searching was awkward, meaning "just write it (again) before I forget it, sort it out later," meant there was curation involved, and that using 1. above was lower-friction and just overall better.

tigerwash 9y ago

Problem Slicing is the key; Kent Beck wrote an article about "Master Programming" and I'd like to take his advice whenever I encounter a problem in programming, but also in real life (e.g. coordinating tasks in work or private life): https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/4n3s7c/kent_beck_mastering_programming/d40p983/ https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/4n3s7c/kent_be... > Slicing. Take a big project, cut it into thin slices, and rearrange the slices to suit your context. I can always slice projects finer and I can always find new permutations of the slices that meet different needs.

chb 9y ago
What do you know about the author, Kent Beck?
- craigching 9y ago
  Kent Beck is the father of TDD[1] and a well-known agile advocate [1] — https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/387190.Test_Driven_Development https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/387190.Test_Driven_Devel...
- the_af 9y ago
  Kent Beck is well-known and the creator of Extreme Programming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Beck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Beck

arconis987 9y ago

This approach is immensely helpful to me as well. Started practicing problem slicing after watching a lecture from Don Knuth. He started by writing down a problem and underlining it. He then solved small bits of it and worked through many examples that seemed almost trivial. Eventually, some amazing results began to emerge after the many trivial examples were worked through. Impressed on me the power of breaking a large problem down into small, simple parts and working through them one at a time. I think problem slicing is one of the only ways to actually solve some kinds of big problems.

jseutter 9y ago
Do you have a link or title to the video? I'm interested in watching it, but searching isn't turning up likely matches.
- aaronm14 9y ago
  I'm also curious to see this. I think a lot of the really strong programmers I know do this instinctually where as I have to be more deliberate breaking things down. Perhaps some of it is that they are able more more naturally hold it in their minds than writing it out on a piece of paper like I do. Maybe they "learned how to learn" in that way better than I did when they were younger.
- moltar 9y ago
  Second this, please link, really want to see it! Also couldn't find it.
- chris11 9y ago
  I didn't find the video, I'd be interested in seeing it too. But I did find this: https://www.cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/papers/cs1055.pdf https://www.cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/papers/cs1055.pdf It's a set of notes of a problem solving seminar that Knuth taught to grad students at Stanford in 1985. It looks interesting.
- arconis987 9y ago
  It was from a video where Don Knuth recreated one of his first lectures. https://youtu.be/jmcSzzN1gkc https://youtu.be/jmcSzzN1gkc At one point around 20 or 30 minutes in, he says something like, “We’re going to start easy and slow and then work harder later on.” He exhaustively writes out a large number of different combinations of possible runtimes of an algorithm. It seems quite tedious, but eventually some cool results emerge related to Sterling Numbers :) At first, I thought it was somewhat annoying that the lecture was methodically going through so many examples. Since then, I’ve realized that methodically going through small sub-problems patiently is often the way you eventually get to a giant leap.

garmaine 9y ago

> There's no magic solution In cases where it is medically necessary, there is: Adderall. http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/12/28/adderall-risks-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/12/28/adderall-risks-much-mor...

piracykills 9y ago

Yes - I basically use indented lists of tasks like this for everything. Indented because often times you realize you didn't quite break that down enough and need more steps underneath it for them to be approachable. Lots of tools are great for this too, I've used Tomboy, OneNote and org-mode, all of which do this very well.

dabernathy89 9y ago

Unfortunately, often I feel like the more mundane & straightforward tasks are the ones that I find the hardest to get started on. But i think this is still a great idea for tackling large, daunting tasks.

FeepingCreature 9y ago

A specific version of this is just writing a single connected "skeleton" of app, stubbing out absolutely everything that isn't needed with 'if (input == this) return that; assert(false);' and just getting something from input to output. Then it's a lot easier to go and add more meat.