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Somehow when I take a break to do something mindless, showering being especially high on the list, I often am able to step back from the problem and get some pe
by eloff 7y ago
Somehow when I take a break to do something mindless, showering being especially high on the list, I often am able to step back from the problem and get some perspective. Yesterday I realized I was making the solution to complex by separating concerns and could combine them and greatly simplify the task. Five minutes in the shower yielded more forward progress than three long days of coding. It doesn't always help, but it does often enough that the daily shower is a productive time. More often it's just a mental code review and I catch and fix a bug, that works best if I go strait from coding to the shower with all the pieces of code fresh in my mind.
- Ididntdothis 7y agoWhen I work from home I often take a break to do laundry or do the dishes. It often helps me to get clarity on issues I have been working on.
- shantly 7y agoBeing able to replace "staring at the wall and thinking" with "putting the dishes away and thinking" or "chopping veggies and thinking" or similar is one of the biggest benefits of working from home, IMO.
- snarf21 7y agoThe commute to work helps me as well. I think this is something that can get lost for people who work from home. Too many people are so focused on heads down LOC/hour and forget that the software is art. I've worked with good engineers that can't touch type. Designing effective maintainable solutions is hard and should be the thing that people focus on.
- Franciscouzo 7y agoThe commute is one of the only thing I don't miss from working home, if I want to clear my mind I have plenty of better options, I can walk through the neighborhood, take a shower or do some house chores.
- snarf21 7y agoSure, it is an individual thing. The thing I like about my 20 minute drive is that I can't be distracted. I can't look at my phone or the tv. This is also best for me in the morning when I'm still waking up and my brain is in a lower gear.
- torstenvl 7y agoIf you live and work in a rural area, sure. On I-95 in northern Virginia, commuting is not a mindless or relaxing task.
- eloff 7y agoI can't touch type. Although with somewhat reduced accuracy I pick type with two hands without looking at the keyboard. Still speed of text entry is rarely the bottleneck for me, and I benefit ergonomically from having my wrists free in the air. I also work at home, so I guess my shower is like your commute.
- dbcurtis 7y agoIn fact that is well known to be a great way to find creative solutions to very difficult problems. Step 1: Work intensely for a long time (days or more) looking for a solution. Step 2) Relax and do something to let the mind wander. If you look at all the “it just came to me” stories, they are talking about step 2 while glossing over the sweat and tears that went into step one.
- kpU8efre7r 7y agoYou didn't shower in 3 days?! Kidding aside this is exactly my experience as well. It's weird because without trying, the solution just bubbles up unprompted and seemingly from nowhere. Like you never shower hoping for insight but it's a common occurrence.
- sorokod 7y agoIt is possible that the five minute "shower insight" would not have happened without the three long days of coding. The way I see it, finding a shortcut in a mental landscape requires that landscape to be setup in some sufficient detail.
- eloff 7y agoI absolutely agree, without the three days coding, I wouldn't have had the possible space sufficiently in mind to see the simpler solution. This is also the advantage of iterative development. Build a prototype, if you see a better solution, rewrite it. Rinse and repeat if time permits.
- blondin 7y agodoing dishes too! and for a modern take on the topic, watching mindless youtube videos! lol