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Ideally, I would sit down and be so familiar to the problems I'm solving, the tools I'm solving them with, and the tools so suited to solving those tasks that I

Ideally, I would sit down and be so familiar to the problems I'm solving, the tools I'm solving them with, and the tools so suited to solving those tasks that I can just type in my solution without having to stop to consult something on the internet. Ideally, I'd be able to have tasks that are highly specified in advance and with priorities that are stable enough that I do not have to have multiple social interruptions per day in order to be on the correct task. Basically, I wish I could achieve productive software development from an isolated cabin without an internet connection to provide distractions, with lots of subtle natural ambiance and my own thoughts instead of interruptive social interactions, and synchronize my work product with society on the same cadence with which I would travel to town to get groceries. Obviously, this is not the situation.

inimino 7y ago
> Ideally, I would sit down and be so familiar to the problems I'm solving, the tools I'm solving them with, and the tools so suited to solving those tasks that I can just type in my solution without having to stop to consult something on the internet. This is how you can get into Csikszentmihalyi's "flow", if you add a little cognitive work and struggle to it, so it's not just typing in the solution. > Ideally, I'd be able to have tasks that are highly specified in advance and with priorities that are stable enough that I do not have to have multiple social interruptions per day in order to be on the correct task. Some tasks are like that, some business opportunities are amenable to that approach, some teams work that way, and many more aren't and don't. But yes, not spinning your wheels is a prerequisite to getting maximally engaged in your work and getting good results. Sometimes that requires a lot of interruptions of the actual work, because the work is rarely well specified in advance. If it was, it probably would not be interesting because it would already have been done. > Obviously, this is not the situation. It could be the situation, and there is work that needs to be done in that way. In fact, this work tends to have high value, including business value, precisely because our dominant working style prevents almost all of us from achieving it. We can get closer by mastering our tools and by choosing tools that afford mastery in their use.

inimino 7y ago

> Ideally, I would sit down and be so familiar to the problems I'm solving, the tools I'm solving them with, and the tools so suited to solving those tasks that I can just type in my solution without having to stop to consult something on the internet. This is how you can get into Csikszentmihalyi's "flow", if you add a little cognitive work and struggle to it, so it's not just typing in the solution. > Ideally, I'd be able to have tasks that are highly specified in advance and with priorities that are stable enough that I do not have to have multiple social interruptions per day in order to be on the correct task. Some tasks are like that, some business opportunities are amenable to that approach, some teams work that way, and many more aren't and don't. But yes, not spinning your wheels is a prerequisite to getting maximally engaged in your work and getting good results. Sometimes that requires a lot of interruptions of the actual work, because the work is rarely well specified in advance. If it was, it probably would not be interesting because it would already have been done. > Obviously, this is not the situation. It could be the situation, and there is work that needs to be done in that way. In fact, this work tends to have high value, including business value, precisely because our dominant working style prevents almost all of us from achieving it. We can get closer by mastering our tools and by choosing tools that afford mastery in their use.