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I had the same negative reaction to the title that other commenters had, and of course I was thinking about software. But then I opened the article and saw a pi

I had the same negative reaction to the title that other commenters had, and of course I was thinking about software. But then I opened the article and saw a picture of a canvas and my mind shifted to music. I know lots of people who love to write music or want to write music but can never get anything done because of a feeling that it has to be perfect. I have always embraced an aesthetic of rough imperfection in my music and (I suppose) as a result I have record over 30 albums and EPs. Sure, lots of that music is, well, cringe-worthy, but there are some gems in there that wouldn't exist if I let perfectionism get in the way of _production_.

pier25 7y ago
For artistic creation I always come back to this anecdote from the book "Art and Fear": "The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot – albeit a perfect one – to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay."
- bluGill 7y ago
  That anecdote seems to be a story that was just made up. It is believable if the students have never done ceramics before, however if the students have done a lot before I would expect thinking about what to make would become more useful than doing something again for the millionth time.
  - zaphod4prez 7y ago
    I also remember this story and hearing that it was just made-up rather than real. However, I know a lot of professional artists and most of them do not have a process that consists of "sitting and thinking about what to make." It is often a generative process that consists of making small/sketchy things and iteratively fleshing it out. In other words, although that anecdote doesn't seem to be referencing any sort of study, it matches very well with my experience in the art world & in teaching art.
    - bluGill 7y ago
      I agree that spending most of a class thinking about what to produce is not useful. However just creating without thought isn't the best way either. Someplace in the middle is where to be. That is get an idea, and create it in sketch form. Then examine the sketch (often waiting a few days is required to be a good critic of your own work). If the idea is good start fleshing it out a little at a time - examining it critically at each step. In some mediums you can erase, in others you need to create a new sketch of the same. Eventually you get something good. Many artists will have more than one piece in progress at a time so they can have that break to get away from their mental investment and look critically at it. (this last is not universal)
  - pier25 7y ago
    Yeah it's probably a parable, but the point it makes is valid.
  - CharlesW 7y ago
    > That anecdote seems to be a story that was just made up. It's true, although they changed the medium: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19960342 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19960342 > James Clear reached out to the authors of Art & Fear and this is his footnote: https://jamesclear.com/repetitions https://jamesclear.com/repetitions > This story comes from page 29 of Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland. In an email conversation with Orland on October 18, 2016, he explained the origins of the story. “Yes, the 'ceramics story' in Art & Fear is indeed true, allowing for some literary license in the retelling. Its real-world origin was as a gambit employed by photographer Jerry Uelsmann to motivate his Beginning Photography students at the University of Florida. As retold in Art & Fear it faithfully captures the scene as Jerry told it to me—except I replaced photography with ceramics as the medium being explored. Admittedly, it would’ve been easier to retain photography as the art medium being discussed, but David Bayles (co-author) & I are both photographers ourselves, and at the time we were consciously trying to broaden the range of media being referenced in the text. The intriguing thing to me is that it hardly matters what art form was invoked—the moral of the story appears to hold equally true straight across the whole art spectrum (and even outside the arts, for that matter).” Later in that same email, Orland said, "You have our permission to reprint the any or all of the 'ceramics' passage in your forthcoming book." In the end, I settled on publishing an adapted version, which combines their telling of the ceramics story with facts from the original source of Uelsmann’s photography students. David Bayles and Ted Orland, Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking (Santa Cruz, CA: Image Continuum Press, 1993), 29.
- matwood 7y ago
  At some point there is no substitute for doing. This is why directed practice is such a good method for learning something. It is practice with some theory in mind.
tomatotomato37 7y ago
Funnily enough I had the opposite reaction; I thought this was a standard "Move fast & break things" article over a SaaS app or whatever, but the picture gave me a negative impression that this was less of an article about how great is the enemy of good, and more justification for doing the most half-assed job humanly possible and then trying to justify it posthumously as a tactical decision. The worst thing is that I read the article and I logically know he's not advocating for that, but that image provoked such a visceral reaction that I'm unable to shake that impression.

pier25 7y ago

For artistic creation I always come back to this anecdote from the book "Art and Fear": "The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot – albeit a perfect one – to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay."

bluGill 7y ago
That anecdote seems to be a story that was just made up. It is believable if the students have never done ceramics before, however if the students have done a lot before I would expect thinking about what to make would become more useful than doing something again for the millionth time.
- zaphod4prez 7y ago
  I also remember this story and hearing that it was just made-up rather than real. However, I know a lot of professional artists and most of them do not have a process that consists of "sitting and thinking about what to make." It is often a generative process that consists of making small/sketchy things and iteratively fleshing it out. In other words, although that anecdote doesn't seem to be referencing any sort of study, it matches very well with my experience in the art world & in teaching art.
  - bluGill 7y ago
    I agree that spending most of a class thinking about what to produce is not useful. However just creating without thought isn't the best way either. Someplace in the middle is where to be. That is get an idea, and create it in sketch form. Then examine the sketch (often waiting a few days is required to be a good critic of your own work). If the idea is good start fleshing it out a little at a time - examining it critically at each step. In some mediums you can erase, in others you need to create a new sketch of the same. Eventually you get something good. Many artists will have more than one piece in progress at a time so they can have that break to get away from their mental investment and look critically at it. (this last is not universal)
- pier25 7y ago
  Yeah it's probably a parable, but the point it makes is valid.
- CharlesW 7y ago
  > That anecdote seems to be a story that was just made up. It's true, although they changed the medium: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19960342 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19960342 > James Clear reached out to the authors of Art & Fear and this is his footnote: https://jamesclear.com/repetitions https://jamesclear.com/repetitions > This story comes from page 29 of Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland. In an email conversation with Orland on October 18, 2016, he explained the origins of the story. “Yes, the 'ceramics story' in Art & Fear is indeed true, allowing for some literary license in the retelling. Its real-world origin was as a gambit employed by photographer Jerry Uelsmann to motivate his Beginning Photography students at the University of Florida. As retold in Art & Fear it faithfully captures the scene as Jerry told it to me—except I replaced photography with ceramics as the medium being explored. Admittedly, it would’ve been easier to retain photography as the art medium being discussed, but David Bayles (co-author) & I are both photographers ourselves, and at the time we were consciously trying to broaden the range of media being referenced in the text. The intriguing thing to me is that it hardly matters what art form was invoked—the moral of the story appears to hold equally true straight across the whole art spectrum (and even outside the arts, for that matter).” Later in that same email, Orland said, "You have our permission to reprint the any or all of the 'ceramics' passage in your forthcoming book." In the end, I settled on publishing an adapted version, which combines their telling of the ceramics story with facts from the original source of Uelsmann’s photography students. David Bayles and Ted Orland, Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking (Santa Cruz, CA: Image Continuum Press, 1993), 29.
matwood 7y ago
At some point there is no substitute for doing. This is why directed practice is such a good method for learning something. It is practice with some theory in mind.

tomatotomato37 7y ago

Funnily enough I had the opposite reaction; I thought this was a standard "Move fast & break things" article over a SaaS app or whatever, but the picture gave me a negative impression that this was less of an article about how great is the enemy of good, and more justification for doing the most half-assed job humanly possible and then trying to justify it posthumously as a tactical decision. The worst thing is that I read the article and I logically know he's not advocating for that, but that image provoked such a visceral reaction that I'm unable to shake that impression.