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For me, “Step 6” on this page is the first step. I get started working on something! All this organizing and planning would be a great way for me to put off act

For me, “Step 6” on this page is the first step. I get started working on something! All this organizing and planning would be a great way for me to put off actually working on the projects. I’m constantly working on projects. Multiple nights a week. I suppose I should mention that I have no kids and I work 20 hours a week for my job, meaning I have a lot of “extra” hours in the week for my own personal work. Also I’m not saying the authors view is wrong - everyone is different. And certainly my work situation is rare. I am not a planning person (my job as a prototyping engineer meshes well with this). So if all this Kanban stuff is too much for you, consider just working on stuff! :) Anyway whatever the approach I’m glad this author is communicating what works for them about projects. A lot of people I talk to struggle with this.

noman-land 7y ago
Prototyping engineer sounds like my ideal work situation. How did you end up doing a gig like this?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- TaylorAlexander 7y ago
  Well it definitely started with me working on many projects since I was a kid. I soaked up a lot of knowledge across different related disciplines and my own portfolio of projects proved that. I also intentionally look for jobs that are away from the center of my previous experience, so I have a varied resume. Then I got an email from a recruiter for a contract position for mechatronics prototype engineer at google X. I brought two backpacks full of projects and for the position. Six months in to that role the manager running our research team left and they moved me to a test engineer. It was never the same and after a total of two years when my contract ended I found a new place to go. I knew what I wanted to I purposefully asked hiring managers if the role would allow me to prototype across different disciplines. Anyone that said “we have electrical engineers for PCB design and mechanical engineers for 3D printing, we just need you to do X” I would try to avoid. In the end the job I found was very special but I got here by working towards it on my daily life for a long time.
- michaelrpeskin 7y ago
  That’s what I do. For me it’s in the math and algorithm side. The key is being able to craft up proofs of concept and scripts fast. Show their value. Document well so the dev team can implement and the be able to quickly learn the next topic. I love it.
BLKNSLVR 7y ago
I frequently find that going straight to step 6 results in the order of the steps being 6, 7, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8.
bbody 7y ago
Author here, thanks for your in-depth comment. I will have to agree that Step 6 is sometimes the first step for me too, the passion of a new idea can be overwhelming. However I do try to get it onto the board as quickly as possible, this way I can compare it to everything else there. I've found this sometimes helps me finish other tasks, e.g. recently I added Project Y which I'm really excited about but Project X is in progress with maybe a days worth of work. If I finish Project X, it is off my plate and I can go gangbusters on Project Y. With regards to planning, I wouldn't say I'm a planning person either. I have just found this minimal amount of process has really helped me focus on getting stuff done without taking away any passion/creativity. As you said everyone is different so YMMV, for me if a reader could take one thing from my journey is discipline yourself to a limited amount of concurrent projects, it has done wonders for me and I definitely see friends not moving anywhere because they have too many projects competing on their limited free time.
- TaylorAlexander 7y ago
  Definitely good insight! I never used to finish projects. Then I had a super big project fail (a kickstarter) and I suffered really badly from it. I hit a personal rock bottom and the whole situation led me to reevaluate my thinking on my own work. Then I didn’t have projects for years. But finally I started working heavily on projects after a break up, and since then I’ve been getting so much shit done. I way more mindful of what I start and what doesn’t get finished, and I’ve just honed a flow that works well for me. One thing I’ve realized is that I am good at setting small goals and usually getting them done in one sitting (sometimes failing and staying up too late). I try to tell people this. Get a raspberry pi and in the first sitting, just get far enough to ssh in. Then you’re done for the night! Next time you have a system waiting and you can get an LED to blink or serve a simple web page. Then later build one more bit, etc. I find it really rewarding to succeed in small bits!

noman-land 7y ago

Prototyping engineer sounds like my ideal work situation. How did you end up doing a gig like this?

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
TaylorAlexander 7y ago
Well it definitely started with me working on many projects since I was a kid. I soaked up a lot of knowledge across different related disciplines and my own portfolio of projects proved that. I also intentionally look for jobs that are away from the center of my previous experience, so I have a varied resume. Then I got an email from a recruiter for a contract position for mechatronics prototype engineer at google X. I brought two backpacks full of projects and for the position. Six months in to that role the manager running our research team left and they moved me to a test engineer. It was never the same and after a total of two years when my contract ended I found a new place to go. I knew what I wanted to I purposefully asked hiring managers if the role would allow me to prototype across different disciplines. Anyone that said “we have electrical engineers for PCB design and mechanical engineers for 3D printing, we just need you to do X” I would try to avoid. In the end the job I found was very special but I got here by working towards it on my daily life for a long time.
michaelrpeskin 7y ago
That’s what I do. For me it’s in the math and algorithm side. The key is being able to craft up proofs of concept and scripts fast. Show their value. Document well so the dev team can implement and the be able to quickly learn the next topic. I love it.

BLKNSLVR 7y ago

I frequently find that going straight to step 6 results in the order of the steps being 6, 7, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8.

bbody 7y ago

Author here, thanks for your in-depth comment. I will have to agree that Step 6 is sometimes the first step for me too, the passion of a new idea can be overwhelming. However I do try to get it onto the board as quickly as possible, this way I can compare it to everything else there. I've found this sometimes helps me finish other tasks, e.g. recently I added Project Y which I'm really excited about but Project X is in progress with maybe a days worth of work. If I finish Project X, it is off my plate and I can go gangbusters on Project Y. With regards to planning, I wouldn't say I'm a planning person either. I have just found this minimal amount of process has really helped me focus on getting stuff done without taking away any passion/creativity. As you said everyone is different so YMMV, for me if a reader could take one thing from my journey is discipline yourself to a limited amount of concurrent projects, it has done wonders for me and I definitely see friends not moving anywhere because they have too many projects competing on their limited free time.

TaylorAlexander 7y ago
Definitely good insight! I never used to finish projects. Then I had a super big project fail (a kickstarter) and I suffered really badly from it. I hit a personal rock bottom and the whole situation led me to reevaluate my thinking on my own work. Then I didn’t have projects for years. But finally I started working heavily on projects after a break up, and since then I’ve been getting so much shit done. I way more mindful of what I start and what doesn’t get finished, and I’ve just honed a flow that works well for me. One thing I’ve realized is that I am good at setting small goals and usually getting them done in one sitting (sometimes failing and staying up too late). I try to tell people this. Get a raspberry pi and in the first sitting, just get far enough to ssh in. Then you’re done for the night! Next time you have a system waiting and you can get an LED to blink or serve a simple web page. Then later build one more bit, etc. I find it really rewarding to succeed in small bits!