11 ms·

Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

244 points by engineercodex 3y ago

damontal 3y ago
This is how Hemingway wrote. He’d stop at a point where he knew what he wanted to write next so the following day he could pick right up where he left off.
ssalka 3y ago
The part about finding a "sticking point" is really important - if you know what's next, you can pick up the context rather easily and get going. If you end the day feeling confused or not sure how to approach the next problem, it's going to be rough coming back to it.
- prepostertron 3y ago
  On the other hand, leaving the day feeling confused and sleeping on the problem is often times more helpful than pushing through when you're not getting anywhere in the moment. It gives time for those "aha" moments when you're not actively problem solving.
  - skerit 3y ago
    Agreed. Leaving work unfinished, knowing what to do next, is for me the best way to be unable to fall asleep at night. That code just has to get out. I have no problem stopping something when I feel stuck though.
    - cratermoon 3y ago
      Write it out then, quickly, before you stop. On paper, that is, with a pen/pencil. Write in pseudo-code if it helps get it on paper faster. Stick that to your monitor or under your keyboard, it'll be there the next morning. If you got it right, typing it in will be easy. If, the next day, you see things differently, you will be past the first draft.
  - dcow 3y ago
    Passive processing is real. Very often it’s not others that need convincing, it’s yourself.
  - TideAd 3y ago
    After many years of learning this lesson over and over again, that much my subconscious works on problems, I've finally learned to trust myself to step away when I feel like I'm grinding.
    - stouset 3y ago
      Yep. I am my most valuable asleep. Day-me just does data entry on the solutions to hard problems night-me figures out.
- worldsayshi 3y ago
  I think the best thing in that situation is usually to empty your brain of the seemingly important observations you've made and then sleep on it.
  - gowld 3y ago
    Unless emptying your brain helps you forget.
    - QuercusMax 3y ago
      I interpret "emptying your brain" to mean "writing things down so you don't have to remember them tomorrow". This probably helps you remember, but without the stress of worrying about forgetting.
      - worldsayshi 3y ago
        Yes, emptying your brain into text.
- swaggyBoatswain 3y ago
  I normally write uncommitted comments of what I need to work on next, e.g. a to-do for the next day
  - ssalka 3y ago
    This is a great suggestion, it can help get rid of that sense of "I need to write this code now" but still produce a meaningful diff in the relevant places you'll need to change without all the mental overhead of determining the logic right there & then
  - fragmede 3y ago
    git lets you edit history so I commit those comments and clean it up later
smallmouth 3y ago
I've done this, in a way, for years! My biggest problem in the morning is just getting going. I work better late in the afternoon and into the evening. So often, I've left a final compile or commit undone so I can just "quickly" do it in the morning out of necessity or, at times, sheer anxiety. When I get this done in the morning, then I'm in the game so to speak.
xyzzy4747 3y ago
Productivity should always be to fulfill a terminal goal that ideally should excite and benefit you. If you are being productive just for the sake of it, or to get an employer off your back, you’re doing something wrong. I made this mistake in my early 20s. If you do the above you don’t need any tricks. You just follow your curiosity, excitement, and obsession. If you’re not excited by the end goals then you will never be able to bandaid that over with productivity tricks.
- jebarker 3y ago
  Does "pay mortgage and feed family" qualify as a terminal goal that is exciting and beneficial?
  - xyzzy4747 3y ago
    It could if you cut costs and increase your net worth by 20-50% over the next year. Otherwise, no, not very exciting.
    - jebarker 3y ago
      I was obviously being obtuse. But I honestly feel like the attitude that work has to be exciting or meaningful for you to be productive is a bourgeoisie luxury. I get paid well by my employer and therefore I feel a responsibility to be productive for them to an appropriate level. EDIT: in fact, I feel like I made _that_ mistake in my 20s and 30s - looking to work for too much of the meaning and fulfillment in my life.
- itishappy 3y ago
  I disagree pretty strongly with this. Who gets excited about data entry, invoices, warehouses and shipments, documentation, sanitation, etc.? Games designed purely for excitement hold my attention for a month or two before I need a break. After about 8 years of playing more Factorio than anything else I am at 1800 hours. How on earth can anybody maintain excitement on a single thing for 2000 hours a year, every year? Don't get me wrong, I'm excited by things my company does, but my day job involves a lot of boring necessities. I strongly suspect this is true of most jobs. I obsessively chase my curiosity and excitement in my spare time, and I have a pile of unfinished projects to show for it. I love the sentiment, I just feel it's not reality for most.
onionisafruit 3y ago
A variant I've been using for a while is leaving a failing test. When I get started again I can focus on getting that test to pass. In the process I build the bigger context.
floydnoel 3y ago
Actual title is "4 simple software engineering habits that transformed my productivity" Using keyboard shortcuts is one of the four. I've been using keyboard shortcuts since I was a child! I can scarcely imagine programming without them. It would be like removing half my fingers or something in terms of detrimental effects. Could somebody even get to a high level in software engineering skills without them? I'm curious. How would you interact with the terminal? Could you completely avoid it?
- gowld 3y ago
  Sure you can, it's just less efficient so you get less done.
- wharvle 3y ago
  I get by with what's probably about a mid-tier-power-user level of keyboard shortcut knowledge. 50ish? Counting some Mac special-character chord (like em-dash)? I can't really think faster than I can mouse, anyway. I forget any shortcut I don't use more-or-less daily.
- bigstrat2003 3y ago
  Of course they could. The bottleneck in programming is not how quickly you can enter text.
msingh_5 3y ago
I do this. I leave my code in a state where it wont compile. So the next day just hitting build will highlight where i left off - which makes it easy to get started, which makes it easier to move to the next thing.
k__ 3y ago
For me, this only leads to sleepless nights.
- QuercusMax 3y ago
  Do you leave yourself enough breadcrumbs that you can pick things back up in the morning? What's causing you sleepless nights? I find it helps me sleep better as I know I've dumped the context out of my brain and don't need to put effort into retaining it until I can get back to the task at hand.
  - sys_64738 3y ago
    If I do have a problem then I write down every thought so it's out of my head for sleep. Nothing worse for me than trying to solve the problem mentally when trying to sleep.
  - robluxus 3y ago
    Not who you replied to but I'm in the same boat re: sleepless nights. It's not quite literally that bad but it's distracting for sure. I just can't seem to leave enough breadcrumbs to stop ruminating about the problem after work. Of course working from home doesn't help the situation. But sometimes it feels like I have to leave so many breadcrumbs and capture so much context that I might as well just do the work...
  - k__ 3y ago
    I don't know. Could be the ADHD. Over the day I have the meds, but they are bad for sleeping, so I can't use them at night. The meds calm my thoughts, so I don't have too much competing ones over the course of a day. On the other hand, there specific kinds of thoughts that don't prevent sleeping. When I think about loved ones for example, I sleep better. But without meds, I can't control that. When I have unfinished business, it will override everything else.
PreachSoup 3y ago
It really depends. This is just one of the tools that might or might not for you. I think it's more important to know your goal and yourself. In this case, you want to increase your productivity. As long as you can reach your goal, it's good enough. Personally it doesn't work well for me because I need clean separations from work and be in the prolonged work mode would cause burnout. I have no problem to get started in the next morning with my own routine. It's more important for me to put things down and rest everyday. On a meta level, experiment with what might work for you and iterate on your own work flow - it's exactly like TDD programming but for yourself
- gowld 3y ago
  Do you have trouble putting work down if it's unfinished?
  - PreachSoup 3y ago
    Depends. But I would actively put it down and mentally block it and go to sleep when the time comes.
- alentred 3y ago
  I am with you on this one. I, for my part, cannot stop unless I finish some logical subset of the work. Leaving the work incomplete or with bugs would make me sleep worse, and I would spend lots of time the next day trying to understand what I was trying to achieve. Even more so in hobby projects, where I might come back in a couple of days or weeks. What I do, though, is leaving a TODO where I think I need to continue the next time. Works wonders for me. In the end, I think it is about leaving some kind of an "anchor", but the exact kind depends on your personality I guess.
  - PreachSoup 3y ago
    Yep. I think ppls' brains are wired differently naturally.
notatoad 3y ago
this is great productivity hack, but personally i'd rather sacrifice the productivity and finish the workday (or even just go for lunch) feeling like i've finished something.
- onlyrealcuzzo 3y ago
  It feels like a reward mechanism for a different type of person. Long-term, I can't comprehend how this could possibly increase productivity unless it makes you more satisfied / happy and, coincidentally, more productive. For some it might work, for others - definitely not.
- sys_64738 3y ago
  This is me. I finish the day with a success so I don't go home and continue thinking of a problem. I leave work at work nowadays.
- jmartrican 3y ago
  You are missing the point. Finish what you doing, but then start the next item, and leave it unfinished. Whatever you do, leave something unfinished for you to finish tomorrow.
l1ambda 3y ago
Similarly, don’t start or end sprints on Mondays or Fridays (Wednesday is best?), to make it easier to get back into flow after weekends.
ChrisArchitect 3y ago
Was trying to remember where I'd heard this earlier in the year. Someone back then I think called it "park facing downhill". Resonated. An On-Ramp to Flow - One Weird Trick: Leave Your Work Broken https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35456059 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35456059
neosat 3y ago
One tip that I (and many others here ;) ) are going to find pretty easy to do :) That's the kind of research I can get behind.
Atrine 3y ago
> I said no to low-impact tasks. This oversimplification is terrible advice. I've seen many people refuse "low impact" work that's just flat out required for things to operate. Talking about keeping systems stable, working on tickets while they are on-call, and generally doing things that make work easily transferrable to others. These people that "refuse low impact work" end up being terrible teammates a lot of the time.
- maximinus_thrax 3y ago
  > people that "refuse low impact work" end up being terrible teammates a lot of the time. yes, but there's a high chance they'll climb the corporate ladder way faster, while not caring about being great teammates because this is not a requirement for advancement. Actually, dumping this on someone else's lap [0] should be on the list of things to do if you want to move up from loser to sociopath [1]. [0] https://hedgehoglibrarian.com/2023/08/14/executive-function-theft/ https://hedgehoglibrarian.com/2023/08/14/executive-function-... [1] https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/ https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...
- beacon294 3y ago
  That can be an organizational problem, reliability should be impact.
- teh_klev 3y ago
  > working on tickets while they are on-call That's why they call it "on-call", you only work if you get the call. If you're on-call and being expected to work on unrelated tickets then you're now adding many hours/days to your working week, and somewhere near and just over the horizon is burnout town.
Atrine 3y ago
> Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day Years ago a sr. eng on my team would find root causes to bugs late in the afternoon and then just go home. When asked why, they said that they knew exactly what they were going to do first thing in the morning and that it got them straight into the flow state for the rest of the day. I like this example better because understanding a root cause and not having it fixed is more concrete than "slightly unfinished" which is too vague for me to measure.
- 4death4 3y ago
  What if you're not working on a bug? If you're proficient, you should be able to measure the amount of work left in something so that it's "easily finish-able in the morning."
- el_benhameen 3y ago
  I like this, too. “Slightly unfinished, but fully understood” is a great place to pick up. A “slightly unfinished understanding” of the problem or task at hand is a great way to nuke one’s mental model and end up stuck trying to recreate it in the morning.
  - pinkmuffinere 3y ago
    But how do you really know if the problem is fully understood? I often think I’ve understood a problem multiple times, and only reach a true understanding through repeated testing and fixes.
    - el_benhameen 3y ago
      Sure sure, but a complete but incorrect understanding of the system is, to me, still better than an incomplete one. If I have a complete system in my head, I can use that to jumpstart my thinking the next day and then get to a correct understanding. But an incomplete understanding is even more confusing the next day because of all the loose ends.
      - 3y ago
pulse7 3y ago
Leave work completely finished and fully tested for easier switching to another work the next day.
al_borland 3y ago
This was something Hemingway did. He'd stop writing mid-sentence when he knew where things were going, so he could pick up and continue on the next day. "Learned never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it. I always worked until I had something done, and I always stopped when I knew what was going to happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day." — Ernest Hemingway
betenoire 3y ago
I don't like this tip at all. I get the sentiment, getting started is the HARDEST part of the day for me. But if I can finish something now, why wait until tomorrow? It's a golden rule sort of thing. I'm imagining the HR person saying, "It will only take a few minutes to fix this for you, so I'm going to wait until tomorrow". Examples are endless. There are better ways to get myself going in the morning, than to leave myself softballs from the previous day. Learning to make myself a realistic and attainable plan for the day works better for me.
- campbel 3y ago
  I like the closure so I can take my mind off the task and onto home life. Leaving stuff hanging just means I'll be performing the task mentally all night.
- spaceywilly 3y ago
  I’ve had good luck as well with the practice of leaving myself a “head start” to pick up in the morning. It seems like it wouldn’t help that much, but in practice it makes the task of getting back into the programming zone much easier. Seems like just one of those ways to trick our brains into working a little better.
- ryanwaggoner 3y ago
  I think it’s different if someone is waiting on the immediate output of your work. But in your example, if the HR person needs to process 1000 documents this month and mine is one of them, I’d much prefer they use this process to help them actually get through all that, rather than struggle to start every day and get less done over the course of the month.
  - teh_klev 3y ago
    > I think it’s different if someone is waiting on the immediate output of your work. I partially agree, something needs to be on fire or a complete showstopper for that to happen. My only other reason would be helping out a colleague who's trapped in a gravity well of fail and needs a bit of help and support.
user568439 3y ago
Doesn’t work for me. There are chances that I will be trying multiple ways to finish it in my head while attempting to fall asleep. Causing insomnia some days and therefore very tired the next day. If I can, I avoid this situation.
exabrial 3y ago
I actually write everything I was working on down on a sticky note and stick it to my track pad. Then I write down everything outstanding. After a stiff cup of coffee and closing out communications and 1min tasks, super easy to jump back in.
chucklenorris 3y ago
If i did that i would think the rest of the day at what i have to do next. I have days when I am completely absorbed by a problem so my family, kids, healthy habbits fall into the background noise as i think about it. A lot of times i can't properly sleep, or i have exhausting dreams trying to work out my next steps. It might work for people that can shut off ther brains on command, unfortunately i'm not one of those people.
owlstuffing 3y ago
No thanks. I have plenty of work ahead of me, I'd much rather close up shop having removed it from my back. Now, if it’s later in the evening, well then it’s tomorrow’s work.
JohnFen 3y ago
A mentor of mine taught me a variant of this that I use to this day. Always have a simple task waiting for you in the morning. One that you can accomplish in under an hour. He phrased it as "park facing downhill" -- so you can roll-start your engine with ease in the mornings.
sprior 3y ago
A long time ago I started leaving a trivial compile error (I was doing C++ at the time) in the code when I left for the day as a little bookmark, so the next day I'd just kick off a compile and see right where I was working.
- sowbug 3y ago
  Same here. I leave a to-do comment but without the comment delimiter. Won't compile, and it describes why. Feels a little like I'm living in the movie Memento, but it works.
Brajeshwar 3y ago
I agree and practice Points No. 2, 3, and 4, but the main title of the post and Point No. 1 isn’t, at least in my opinion, a good one. If I leave something “unfinished” intentionally when I could have finished it, I would likely not sleep right, eat with ease, talk to other people, so on and so forth. However, I agree that if time is a constraint and the task is “lengthy,” I suggest keeping it to a stage of completion at a stage and then picking up the next day/time. Many smart people want to keep something ready for tomorrow because they tend to be lost when there are no instructions on what is next. My suggestion would be to have a “Default,” which can be a simple set of instructions in plain text, something along the lines of, “If I’m stuck and have no clue what I have to do — then here are the defaults - do this, then this or that.” These can be bigger-picture goals or the “waypoints” for your daily/weekly tasks that you have to do. I have been practicing the idea of the “Defaults” for a pretty long time but I got a lot more clarity and definitions from “The Power of Defaults.”[1][2] These are the things I keep on the top of my mind and return to when I’m stuck, confused, or doubtful. If I have to be really prepared for the next day, I just keep it ready the night before. 1. https://julian.digital/2021/12/20/the-power-of-defaults/ https://julian.digital/2021/12/20/the-power-of-defaults/ 2. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/the-power-of-defaults/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/the-power-of-defaults/
ivanjermakov 3y ago
Cool trick is to type a comment for future you as a plain text right in the source code. This way IDE will yell at you and the code will not compile. It will be clear next morning where to start.
Aeolun 3y ago
Will just leave work dissatisfied every day like that.
galaxyLogic 3y ago
I think the point is you take the problem home with you and let your subconscious work on it evening and night and then next day you are in a better position to do the right thing about it. However note that nobody pays for you to work on it, or have your sub-conscious work on it on your own time. But if you really want to do a good job then that's the way to do it.
furyofantares 3y ago
I usually just write one sentence in english right in the code where I had been typing. The next day, the compiler points me directly to it and I can pick up where I left off fairly easily. It makes it easier to stop at any time, easier to leave-it-at-work, and easier to start the next day.
- whynotmaybe 3y ago
  And I thought I was a weirdo for doing it, I just discovered it's "normal".
nxobject 3y ago
I wonder how often this nugget of wisdom is rediscovered and passed on, in every field – I remember learning it as a kid from an autobiography of Roald Dahl, who in turn learned it from Hemingway... > I never come back to a blank page; I always finish about halfway through. Hemingway taught me the finest trick : “When you are going good, stop writing.” You don’t go on writing and writing until you come to the end of it, because when you do, then you say, well, where am I going to go next? You make yourself stop and you walk away. And you can’t wait to get back because you know what you want to say next. > [1] [1] https://www.writingforums.com/threads/hemingways-curious-trick-stop-while-youre-going-good.139596/ https://www.writingforums.com/threads/hemingways-curious-tri...
CGamesPlay 3y ago
I do something similar, where I paint myself an arrow for the next session. I don’t stop at the hardest part (which feels like procrastination), but after completing it and making my commit, I will often leave my working tree dirty with a TODO comment describing what is the next step, potentially along with some other comments that just say “modify here” at the relevant places. This way, when I run “git status” next session, I see exactly what I thought I needed to do next and where exactly I thought it needed to be done.
zubairq 3y ago
Good technique!
lIl-IIIl 3y ago
I heard this advocated by TDD (Test Driven Development) practitioners. Normal cycle is 1. Write test that will fail or not compile 2. Run it 3. Write code to make it pass 4. Refactor 5. Go to 1 When you are ready to go home, go after #2.
ItsBob 3y ago
I do something similar I suppose: I deliberately add an error (if one doesn't exist) into the code I'm working on. Usually the method I last worked on. So when I start in the morning, or especially after the weekend, I hit F5 and it shows me the exact line where it broke... and that's where I start from. It's mega simple but it works for me as I do my utmost to forget about work when I'm not there.
iAkashPaul 3y ago
I use Maccy for this alongside nifty macOS configurations

244 points by engineercodex 3y ago

This is how Hemingway wrote. He’d stop at a point where he knew what he wanted to write next so the following day he could pick right up where he left off.

ssalka 3y ago

The part about finding a "sticking point" is really important - if you know what's next, you can pick up the context rather easily and get going. If you end the day feeling confused or not sure how to approach the next problem, it's going to be rough coming back to it.

prepostertron 3y ago
On the other hand, leaving the day feeling confused and sleeping on the problem is often times more helpful than pushing through when you're not getting anywhere in the moment. It gives time for those "aha" moments when you're not actively problem solving.
- skerit 3y ago
  Agreed. Leaving work unfinished, knowing what to do next, is for me the best way to be unable to fall asleep at night. That code just has to get out. I have no problem stopping something when I feel stuck though.
  - cratermoon 3y ago
    Write it out then, quickly, before you stop. On paper, that is, with a pen/pencil. Write in pseudo-code if it helps get it on paper faster. Stick that to your monitor or under your keyboard, it'll be there the next morning. If you got it right, typing it in will be easy. If, the next day, you see things differently, you will be past the first draft.
- dcow 3y ago
  Passive processing is real. Very often it’s not others that need convincing, it’s yourself.
- TideAd 3y ago
  After many years of learning this lesson over and over again, that much my subconscious works on problems, I've finally learned to trust myself to step away when I feel like I'm grinding.
  - stouset 3y ago
    Yep. I am my most valuable asleep. Day-me just does data entry on the solutions to hard problems night-me figures out.
worldsayshi 3y ago
I think the best thing in that situation is usually to empty your brain of the seemingly important observations you've made and then sleep on it.
- gowld 3y ago
  Unless emptying your brain helps you forget.
  - QuercusMax 3y ago
    I interpret "emptying your brain" to mean "writing things down so you don't have to remember them tomorrow". This probably helps you remember, but without the stress of worrying about forgetting.
    - worldsayshi 3y ago
      Yes, emptying your brain into text.
swaggyBoatswain 3y ago
I normally write uncommitted comments of what I need to work on next, e.g. a to-do for the next day
- ssalka 3y ago
  This is a great suggestion, it can help get rid of that sense of "I need to write this code now" but still produce a meaningful diff in the relevant places you'll need to change without all the mental overhead of determining the logic right there & then
- fragmede 3y ago
  git lets you edit history so I commit those comments and clean it up later

smallmouth 3y ago

I've done this, in a way, for years! My biggest problem in the morning is just getting going. I work better late in the afternoon and into the evening. So often, I've left a final compile or commit undone so I can just "quickly" do it in the morning out of necessity or, at times, sheer anxiety. When I get this done in the morning, then I'm in the game so to speak.

xyzzy4747 3y ago

Productivity should always be to fulfill a terminal goal that ideally should excite and benefit you. If you are being productive just for the sake of it, or to get an employer off your back, you’re doing something wrong. I made this mistake in my early 20s. If you do the above you don’t need any tricks. You just follow your curiosity, excitement, and obsession. If you’re not excited by the end goals then you will never be able to bandaid that over with productivity tricks.

jebarker 3y ago
Does "pay mortgage and feed family" qualify as a terminal goal that is exciting and beneficial?
- xyzzy4747 3y ago
  It could if you cut costs and increase your net worth by 20-50% over the next year. Otherwise, no, not very exciting.
  - jebarker 3y ago
    I was obviously being obtuse. But I honestly feel like the attitude that work has to be exciting or meaningful for you to be productive is a bourgeoisie luxury. I get paid well by my employer and therefore I feel a responsibility to be productive for them to an appropriate level. EDIT: in fact, I feel like I made _that_ mistake in my 20s and 30s - looking to work for too much of the meaning and fulfillment in my life.
itishappy 3y ago
I disagree pretty strongly with this. Who gets excited about data entry, invoices, warehouses and shipments, documentation, sanitation, etc.? Games designed purely for excitement hold my attention for a month or two before I need a break. After about 8 years of playing more Factorio than anything else I am at 1800 hours. How on earth can anybody maintain excitement on a single thing for 2000 hours a year, every year? Don't get me wrong, I'm excited by things my company does, but my day job involves a lot of boring necessities. I strongly suspect this is true of most jobs. I obsessively chase my curiosity and excitement in my spare time, and I have a pile of unfinished projects to show for it. I love the sentiment, I just feel it's not reality for most.

onionisafruit 3y ago

A variant I've been using for a while is leaving a failing test. When I get started again I can focus on getting that test to pass. In the process I build the bigger context.

floydnoel 3y ago

Actual title is "4 simple software engineering habits that transformed my productivity" Using keyboard shortcuts is one of the four. I've been using keyboard shortcuts since I was a child! I can scarcely imagine programming without them. It would be like removing half my fingers or something in terms of detrimental effects. Could somebody even get to a high level in software engineering skills without them? I'm curious. How would you interact with the terminal? Could you completely avoid it?

gowld 3y ago
Sure you can, it's just less efficient so you get less done.
wharvle 3y ago
I get by with what's probably about a mid-tier-power-user level of keyboard shortcut knowledge. 50ish? Counting some Mac special-character chord (like em-dash)? I can't really think faster than I can mouse, anyway. I forget any shortcut I don't use more-or-less daily.
bigstrat2003 3y ago
Of course they could. The bottleneck in programming is not how quickly you can enter text.

msingh_5 3y ago

I do this. I leave my code in a state where it wont compile. So the next day just hitting build will highlight where i left off - which makes it easy to get started, which makes it easier to move to the next thing.

k__ 3y ago

For me, this only leads to sleepless nights.

QuercusMax 3y ago
Do you leave yourself enough breadcrumbs that you can pick things back up in the morning? What's causing you sleepless nights? I find it helps me sleep better as I know I've dumped the context out of my brain and don't need to put effort into retaining it until I can get back to the task at hand.
- sys_64738 3y ago
  If I do have a problem then I write down every thought so it's out of my head for sleep. Nothing worse for me than trying to solve the problem mentally when trying to sleep.
- robluxus 3y ago
  Not who you replied to but I'm in the same boat re: sleepless nights. It's not quite literally that bad but it's distracting for sure. I just can't seem to leave enough breadcrumbs to stop ruminating about the problem after work. Of course working from home doesn't help the situation. But sometimes it feels like I have to leave so many breadcrumbs and capture so much context that I might as well just do the work...
- k__ 3y ago
  I don't know. Could be the ADHD. Over the day I have the meds, but they are bad for sleeping, so I can't use them at night. The meds calm my thoughts, so I don't have too much competing ones over the course of a day. On the other hand, there specific kinds of thoughts that don't prevent sleeping. When I think about loved ones for example, I sleep better. But without meds, I can't control that. When I have unfinished business, it will override everything else.

PreachSoup 3y ago

It really depends. This is just one of the tools that might or might not for you. I think it's more important to know your goal and yourself. In this case, you want to increase your productivity. As long as you can reach your goal, it's good enough. Personally it doesn't work well for me because I need clean separations from work and be in the prolonged work mode would cause burnout. I have no problem to get started in the next morning with my own routine. It's more important for me to put things down and rest everyday. On a meta level, experiment with what might work for you and iterate on your own work flow - it's exactly like TDD programming but for yourself

gowld 3y ago
Do you have trouble putting work down if it's unfinished?
- PreachSoup 3y ago
  Depends. But I would actively put it down and mentally block it and go to sleep when the time comes.
alentred 3y ago
I am with you on this one. I, for my part, cannot stop unless I finish some logical subset of the work. Leaving the work incomplete or with bugs would make me sleep worse, and I would spend lots of time the next day trying to understand what I was trying to achieve. Even more so in hobby projects, where I might come back in a couple of days or weeks. What I do, though, is leaving a TODO where I think I need to continue the next time. Works wonders for me. In the end, I think it is about leaving some kind of an "anchor", but the exact kind depends on your personality I guess.
- PreachSoup 3y ago
  Yep. I think ppls' brains are wired differently naturally.

notatoad 3y ago

this is great productivity hack, but personally i'd rather sacrifice the productivity and finish the workday (or even just go for lunch) feeling like i've finished something.

onlyrealcuzzo 3y ago
It feels like a reward mechanism for a different type of person. Long-term, I can't comprehend how this could possibly increase productivity unless it makes you more satisfied / happy and, coincidentally, more productive. For some it might work, for others - definitely not.
sys_64738 3y ago
This is me. I finish the day with a success so I don't go home and continue thinking of a problem. I leave work at work nowadays.
jmartrican 3y ago
You are missing the point. Finish what you doing, but then start the next item, and leave it unfinished. Whatever you do, leave something unfinished for you to finish tomorrow.

l1ambda 3y ago

Similarly, don’t start or end sprints on Mondays or Fridays (Wednesday is best?), to make it easier to get back into flow after weekends.

ChrisArchitect 3y ago

Was trying to remember where I'd heard this earlier in the year. Someone back then I think called it "park facing downhill". Resonated. An On-Ramp to Flow - One Weird Trick: Leave Your Work Broken https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35456059 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35456059

neosat 3y ago

One tip that I (and many others here ;) ) are going to find pretty easy to do :) That's the kind of research I can get behind.

Atrine 3y ago

> I said no to low-impact tasks. This oversimplification is terrible advice. I've seen many people refuse "low impact" work that's just flat out required for things to operate. Talking about keeping systems stable, working on tickets while they are on-call, and generally doing things that make work easily transferrable to others. These people that "refuse low impact work" end up being terrible teammates a lot of the time.

maximinus_thrax 3y ago
> people that "refuse low impact work" end up being terrible teammates a lot of the time. yes, but there's a high chance they'll climb the corporate ladder way faster, while not caring about being great teammates because this is not a requirement for advancement. Actually, dumping this on someone else's lap [0] should be on the list of things to do if you want to move up from loser to sociopath [1]. [0] https://hedgehoglibrarian.com/2023/08/14/executive-function-theft/ https://hedgehoglibrarian.com/2023/08/14/executive-function-... [1] https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/ https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...
beacon294 3y ago
That can be an organizational problem, reliability should be impact.
teh_klev 3y ago
> working on tickets while they are on-call That's why they call it "on-call", you only work if you get the call. If you're on-call and being expected to work on unrelated tickets then you're now adding many hours/days to your working week, and somewhere near and just over the horizon is burnout town.

Atrine 3y ago

> Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day Years ago a sr. eng on my team would find root causes to bugs late in the afternoon and then just go home. When asked why, they said that they knew exactly what they were going to do first thing in the morning and that it got them straight into the flow state for the rest of the day. I like this example better because understanding a root cause and not having it fixed is more concrete than "slightly unfinished" which is too vague for me to measure.

4death4 3y ago
What if you're not working on a bug? If you're proficient, you should be able to measure the amount of work left in something so that it's "easily finish-able in the morning."
el_benhameen 3y ago
I like this, too. “Slightly unfinished, but fully understood” is a great place to pick up. A “slightly unfinished understanding” of the problem or task at hand is a great way to nuke one’s mental model and end up stuck trying to recreate it in the morning.
- pinkmuffinere 3y ago
  But how do you really know if the problem is fully understood? I often think I’ve understood a problem multiple times, and only reach a true understanding through repeated testing and fixes.
  - el_benhameen 3y ago
    Sure sure, but a complete but incorrect understanding of the system is, to me, still better than an incomplete one. If I have a complete system in my head, I can use that to jumpstart my thinking the next day and then get to a correct understanding. But an incomplete understanding is even more confusing the next day because of all the loose ends.
    - 3y ago

pulse7 3y ago

Leave work completely finished and fully tested for easier switching to another work the next day.

al_borland 3y ago

This was something Hemingway did. He'd stop writing mid-sentence when he knew where things were going, so he could pick up and continue on the next day. "Learned never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it. I always worked until I had something done, and I always stopped when I knew what was going to happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day." — Ernest Hemingway

betenoire 3y ago

I don't like this tip at all. I get the sentiment, getting started is the HARDEST part of the day for me. But if I can finish something now, why wait until tomorrow? It's a golden rule sort of thing. I'm imagining the HR person saying, "It will only take a few minutes to fix this for you, so I'm going to wait until tomorrow". Examples are endless. There are better ways to get myself going in the morning, than to leave myself softballs from the previous day. Learning to make myself a realistic and attainable plan for the day works better for me.

campbel 3y ago
I like the closure so I can take my mind off the task and onto home life. Leaving stuff hanging just means I'll be performing the task mentally all night.
spaceywilly 3y ago
I’ve had good luck as well with the practice of leaving myself a “head start” to pick up in the morning. It seems like it wouldn’t help that much, but in practice it makes the task of getting back into the programming zone much easier. Seems like just one of those ways to trick our brains into working a little better.
ryanwaggoner 3y ago
I think it’s different if someone is waiting on the immediate output of your work. But in your example, if the HR person needs to process 1000 documents this month and mine is one of them, I’d much prefer they use this process to help them actually get through all that, rather than struggle to start every day and get less done over the course of the month.
- teh_klev 3y ago
  > I think it’s different if someone is waiting on the immediate output of your work. I partially agree, something needs to be on fire or a complete showstopper for that to happen. My only other reason would be helping out a colleague who's trapped in a gravity well of fail and needs a bit of help and support.

user568439 3y ago

Doesn’t work for me. There are chances that I will be trying multiple ways to finish it in my head while attempting to fall asleep. Causing insomnia some days and therefore very tired the next day. If I can, I avoid this situation.

exabrial 3y ago

I actually write everything I was working on down on a sticky note and stick it to my track pad. Then I write down everything outstanding. After a stiff cup of coffee and closing out communications and 1min tasks, super easy to jump back in.

chucklenorris 3y ago

If i did that i would think the rest of the day at what i have to do next. I have days when I am completely absorbed by a problem so my family, kids, healthy habbits fall into the background noise as i think about it. A lot of times i can't properly sleep, or i have exhausting dreams trying to work out my next steps. It might work for people that can shut off ther brains on command, unfortunately i'm not one of those people.

owlstuffing 3y ago

No thanks. I have plenty of work ahead of me, I'd much rather close up shop having removed it from my back. Now, if it’s later in the evening, well then it’s tomorrow’s work.

JohnFen 3y ago

A mentor of mine taught me a variant of this that I use to this day. Always have a simple task waiting for you in the morning. One that you can accomplish in under an hour. He phrased it as "park facing downhill" -- so you can roll-start your engine with ease in the mornings.

sprior 3y ago

A long time ago I started leaving a trivial compile error (I was doing C++ at the time) in the code when I left for the day as a little bookmark, so the next day I'd just kick off a compile and see right where I was working.

sowbug 3y ago
Same here. I leave a to-do comment but without the comment delimiter. Won't compile, and it describes why. Feels a little like I'm living in the movie Memento, but it works.

Brajeshwar 3y ago

I agree and practice Points No. 2, 3, and 4, but the main title of the post and Point No. 1 isn’t, at least in my opinion, a good one. If I leave something “unfinished” intentionally when I could have finished it, I would likely not sleep right, eat with ease, talk to other people, so on and so forth. However, I agree that if time is a constraint and the task is “lengthy,” I suggest keeping it to a stage of completion at a stage and then picking up the next day/time. Many smart people want to keep something ready for tomorrow because they tend to be lost when there are no instructions on what is next. My suggestion would be to have a “Default,” which can be a simple set of instructions in plain text, something along the lines of, “If I’m stuck and have no clue what I have to do — then here are the defaults - do this, then this or that.” These can be bigger-picture goals or the “waypoints” for your daily/weekly tasks that you have to do. I have been practicing the idea of the “Defaults” for a pretty long time but I got a lot more clarity and definitions from “The Power of Defaults.”[1][2] These are the things I keep on the top of my mind and return to when I’m stuck, confused, or doubtful. If I have to be really prepared for the next day, I just keep it ready the night before. 1. https://julian.digital/2021/12/20/the-power-of-defaults/ https://julian.digital/2021/12/20/the-power-of-defaults/ 2. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/the-power-of-defaults/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/the-power-of-defaults/

ivanjermakov 3y ago

Cool trick is to type a comment for future you as a plain text right in the source code. This way IDE will yell at you and the code will not compile. It will be clear next morning where to start.

Aeolun 3y ago

Will just leave work dissatisfied every day like that.

galaxyLogic 3y ago

I think the point is you take the problem home with you and let your subconscious work on it evening and night and then next day you are in a better position to do the right thing about it. However note that nobody pays for you to work on it, or have your sub-conscious work on it on your own time. But if you really want to do a good job then that's the way to do it.

furyofantares 3y ago

I usually just write one sentence in english right in the code where I had been typing. The next day, the compiler points me directly to it and I can pick up where I left off fairly easily. It makes it easier to stop at any time, easier to leave-it-at-work, and easier to start the next day.

whynotmaybe 3y ago
And I thought I was a weirdo for doing it, I just discovered it's "normal".

nxobject 3y ago

I wonder how often this nugget of wisdom is rediscovered and passed on, in every field – I remember learning it as a kid from an autobiography of Roald Dahl, who in turn learned it from Hemingway... > I never come back to a blank page; I always finish about halfway through. Hemingway taught me the finest trick : “When you are going good, stop writing.” You don’t go on writing and writing until you come to the end of it, because when you do, then you say, well, where am I going to go next? You make yourself stop and you walk away. And you can’t wait to get back because you know what you want to say next. > [1] [1] https://www.writingforums.com/threads/hemingways-curious-trick-stop-while-youre-going-good.139596/ https://www.writingforums.com/threads/hemingways-curious-tri...

CGamesPlay 3y ago

I do something similar, where I paint myself an arrow for the next session. I don’t stop at the hardest part (which feels like procrastination), but after completing it and making my commit, I will often leave my working tree dirty with a TODO comment describing what is the next step, potentially along with some other comments that just say “modify here” at the relevant places. This way, when I run “git status” next session, I see exactly what I thought I needed to do next and where exactly I thought it needed to be done.

zubairq 3y ago

Good technique!

lIl-IIIl 3y ago

I heard this advocated by TDD (Test Driven Development) practitioners. Normal cycle is 1. Write test that will fail or not compile 2. Run it 3. Write code to make it pass 4. Refactor 5. Go to 1 When you are ready to go home, go after #2.

ItsBob 3y ago

I do something similar I suppose: I deliberately add an error (if one doesn't exist) into the code I'm working on. Usually the method I last worked on. So when I start in the morning, or especially after the weekend, I hit F5 and it shows me the exact line where it broke... and that's where I start from. It's mega simple but it works for me as I do my utmost to forget about work when I'm not there.

iAkashPaul 3y ago

I use Maccy for this alongside nifty macOS configurations