3 ms·

I mean, to be fair, the article isn't actually advocating that he was "only working a single day per week" despite what the title says. Furthermore, there's a b

I mean, to be fair, the article isn't actually advocating that he was "only working a single day per week" despite what the title says. Furthermore, there's a big difference between "working" as defined by your employer, and "working" as defined by your productive contribution to society. I suppose by the latter, some people never work a day in their lives, eh? ;)

SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
Yeah, the title is clickbaity. It’s saying “Dijkstra was most productive when he went into the office one a week to tend to regular things and had the freedom to do whatever he wanted on other days”. Well, duh, I would also be more productive if I had the political freedom to collapse all of my meetings into one day and make them only about what I wanted to talk about and I could do whatever I wanted to on the remaining four. I’m sure if I was a Turing prize winner like he was I would also be afforded that same freedom.
- zerr 3y ago
  Being a relatively highly paid "consultant"/"contractor" on an hourly basis grants you the same status - management tries to minimize bs on your way so the company pays for a real work done.
  - couchand 3y ago
    Keep raising your rates and they'll keep guarding you from the trivia. Everyone wins!
- commonlisp94 3y ago
  > if I was a Turing prize winner like he was That came later. He just had a flexible gig that was common for researchers at the time. From what I can tell, none of his behavior would be accepted today: - participating in a new field without formal credentials - not writing papers or participating in peer review - writing books and papers without citing other works - bouncing between academic and industry roles Academic research is just a different world, with very different life tradeoffs, even for "big' names.
  - commonlisp94 3y ago
    one related thought: many of the ideas he is famous for (and are named after him) came from his memos. Can you imagine an academic even acknowledging they got an idea from a non-peer reviewed sources, let alone giving him the credit?

SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago

Yeah, the title is clickbaity. It’s saying “Dijkstra was most productive when he went into the office one a week to tend to regular things and had the freedom to do whatever he wanted on other days”. Well, duh, I would also be more productive if I had the political freedom to collapse all of my meetings into one day and make them only about what I wanted to talk about and I could do whatever I wanted to on the remaining four. I’m sure if I was a Turing prize winner like he was I would also be afforded that same freedom.

zerr 3y ago
Being a relatively highly paid "consultant"/"contractor" on an hourly basis grants you the same status - management tries to minimize bs on your way so the company pays for a real work done.
- couchand 3y ago
  Keep raising your rates and they'll keep guarding you from the trivia. Everyone wins!
commonlisp94 3y ago
> if I was a Turing prize winner like he was That came later. He just had a flexible gig that was common for researchers at the time. From what I can tell, none of his behavior would be accepted today: - participating in a new field without formal credentials - not writing papers or participating in peer review - writing books and papers without citing other works - bouncing between academic and industry roles Academic research is just a different world, with very different life tradeoffs, even for "big' names.
- commonlisp94 3y ago
  one related thought: many of the ideas he is famous for (and are named after him) came from his memos. Can you imagine an academic even acknowledging they got an idea from a non-peer reviewed sources, let alone giving him the credit?