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Just do what comes naturally is great advice for beginners. See the pottery class parable: https://www.industryweek.com/leadership/companies-executives/article/

by Swizec 2y ago

Just do what comes naturally is great advice for beginners. See the pottery class parable: https://www.industryweek.com/leadership/companies-executives/article/21961057/pottery-class-a-parable-for-idea-generation https://www.industryweek.com/leadership/companies-executives... tldr: Pottery class, 2 groups. 1 group instructed to make the perfect pot (graded by quality of 1 best pot). 1 group instructed to make a bunch of pots (graded by pounds of clay used). At the end of semester, the group who was trying to make as many pots as possible also produced the single best pot of the class. Lesson: You need reps. Lots of reps. You really do just gotta do what comes naturally, get feedback, then do more. Doing is the only way to learn tacit skills. You can read about the best way to ride a bike for 10 years and achieve nothing. Or you can spend an afternoon failing a lot until you can ride a bike. Software architecture and code structure are similar. You just gotta produce piles upon piles of code and see what works.

deleted 2y ago
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int_19h 2y ago
"Get feedback" is the key part here. When feedback is "just do what comes naturally", you will not get better.
- Swizec 2y ago
  Yes and feedback can be from your own experience of building upon the code with your next task.
  - int_19h 2y ago
    The problem with this is that you will often end up with something that seemingly works (barely), but the way you got there precludes you from advancing further.
skylanh 2y ago
I heard this presented as a photography class. Doing a quick search shows that it's from a memory plot in "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. The story features Jerry Uelsmann and having his class of photographers either work by quantity or quality of shots. The specific example I remember was "you can only take 1 shot" vs "take as many as you can"; and the lesson being /the group that did many reps had ultimately better photos/.
- Swizec 2y ago
  > Doing a quick search shows that it's from a memory plot in "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. The post I linked predates Atomic Habits by 10 years :)
hoseja 2y ago
That is "do what comes naturally for a long time". Is education about efficiently and effectively transferring thousands of years of invention and practice insights or about letting everyone build civilization from first principles?

by Swizec 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

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int_19h 2y ago

"Get feedback" is the key part here. When feedback is "just do what comes naturally", you will not get better.

Swizec 2y ago
Yes and feedback can be from your own experience of building upon the code with your next task.
- int_19h 2y ago
  The problem with this is that you will often end up with something that seemingly works (barely), but the way you got there precludes you from advancing further.

skylanh 2y ago

I heard this presented as a photography class. Doing a quick search shows that it's from a memory plot in "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. The story features Jerry Uelsmann and having his class of photographers either work by quantity or quality of shots. The specific example I remember was "you can only take 1 shot" vs "take as many as you can"; and the lesson being /the group that did many reps had ultimately better photos/.

Swizec 2y ago
> Doing a quick search shows that it's from a memory plot in "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. The post I linked predates Atomic Habits by 10 years :)

hoseja 2y ago

That is "do what comes naturally for a long time". Is education about efficiently and effectively transferring thousands of years of invention and practice insights or about letting everyone build civilization from first principles?