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That article taught me more more about tennis than about software development.

by Fred27 6y ago

duxup 6y ago
I wonder how it applies to most sports. I think the amateur strategy of "don't make as many mistakes" applies to professional team sports too. I can think of a lot of successful professional teams who for the most part simply outlast their opponent by not making mistakes and capitalizing on their opponents mistakes. American football for sure often has games turn on a handful of plays.
- Toks 6y ago
  Any sort of competitive game or sport at a high level devolves into "don't make any mistake" whether it be chess, football or anything in-between.
cableshaft 6y ago
Also seems like it would apply to most competitive games. Like I can easily see the same concept applying to Chess. Looks like this is the Loser's Game essay he mentioned, btw. Also looks like in that essay, it's less about tennis and more about basically doing what the OP did, but applying the metaphor to investing: https://www.trendfollowing.com/whitepaper/the_losers_game.pdf https://www.trendfollowing.com/whitepaper/the_losers_game.pd...
- zeptonaut22 6y ago
  I've found a lot of lessons can be drawn from competitive games with tight feedback loops and applied outside of those domains. There's something to be learned from these areas where there are a whole bunch of people trying very hard to get good at something (e.g. chess, Rocket League), especially with regards to how to build a mindset around failure and how to review your mistakes. The hard part in all of these is finding the right "hooks" in these pursuits that tend to be more obvious in competitive games. How do you "record your performance" when programming or holding meetings about business strategy? How do you review that recording after the fact? What criteria do you use to evaluate success and failure? It's certainly not as easy to do this with "games" that lack a clear scope like startups, but I've found regularly reviewing your performance ("Did this meeting have a clear agenda before starting?") and building checklists for what practices lead to success is immensely helpful.

That article taught me more more about tennis than about software development.

by Fred27 6y ago

That article taught me more more about tennis than about software development.

I wonder how it applies to most sports. I think the amateur strategy of "don't make as many mistakes" applies to professional team sports too. I can think of a lot of successful professional teams who for the most part simply outlast their opponent by not making mistakes and capitalizing on their opponents mistakes. American football for sure often has games turn on a handful of plays.

Toks 6y ago
Any sort of competitive game or sport at a high level devolves into "don't make any mistake" whether it be chess, football or anything in-between.

cableshaft 6y ago

Also seems like it would apply to most competitive games. Like I can easily see the same concept applying to Chess. Looks like this is the Loser's Game essay he mentioned, btw. Also looks like in that essay, it's less about tennis and more about basically doing what the OP did, but applying the metaphor to investing: https://www.trendfollowing.com/whitepaper/the_losers_game.pdf https://www.trendfollowing.com/whitepaper/the_losers_game.pd...

zeptonaut22 6y ago
I've found a lot of lessons can be drawn from competitive games with tight feedback loops and applied outside of those domains. There's something to be learned from these areas where there are a whole bunch of people trying very hard to get good at something (e.g. chess, Rocket League), especially with regards to how to build a mindset around failure and how to review your mistakes. The hard part in all of these is finding the right "hooks" in these pursuits that tend to be more obvious in competitive games. How do you "record your performance" when programming or holding meetings about business strategy? How do you review that recording after the fact? What criteria do you use to evaluate success and failure? It's certainly not as easy to do this with "games" that lack a clear scope like startups, but I've found regularly reviewing your performance ("Did this meeting have a clear agenda before starting?") and building checklists for what practices lead to success is immensely helpful.