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Discipline. All you need.

Andys 18y ago
I have a theory that there's two types of programmers: The ones who interrupt others, and the ones who get interrupted. The interrupters have a more social-oriented personality hate working at home. The ones like me who always seem to be getting interrupted, prefer working at home because we find all our solutions the hard way, Googling and experimenting, and would only ask someone else as a last resort. So we get much more done from home. Where the discipline comes in is in working a full day, since often you can get done in 3 hours what would take you a full day in the office.
- johnm 18y ago
  Re: Two types of programmers I totally agree that people are generally more on one side of that spectrum or the other. That said, the problem with way too many organizations and methodologies is that they don't take into account that it's not a static thing -- i.e., to be productive as a team requires a balance of both. Periods where there's little to no interruptions and periods of high-interactions. Alas, one very key facet is that the majority of managers tend towards the extreme of the interrupter end of the spectrum. As a segue, I've always found it interesting that a lot of the best CEO's actually get up really early in the morning so that they can get a few hours of "real" work done before jumping into the over-scheduled, interrupting rest of the day. Re: Full days work This is another area where the Taylor-istic mindset has completely corrupted notions of "work". Reminds me of the study of taxi drivers. A lot of them worked backwards from what they wanted/needed to make each month to come up with the number that they needed to make day. Then, they'd usually work until they hit that number and then go home. But, that completely misses the burstiness of the business -- some days you're in the zone and cranking while other days it's a waste because things are dead. They could make more money by working long days when the pickings are good.

Andys 18y ago

I have a theory that there's two types of programmers: The ones who interrupt others, and the ones who get interrupted. The interrupters have a more social-oriented personality hate working at home. The ones like me who always seem to be getting interrupted, prefer working at home because we find all our solutions the hard way, Googling and experimenting, and would only ask someone else as a last resort. So we get much more done from home. Where the discipline comes in is in working a full day, since often you can get done in 3 hours what would take you a full day in the office.

johnm 18y ago
Re: Two types of programmers I totally agree that people are generally more on one side of that spectrum or the other. That said, the problem with way too many organizations and methodologies is that they don't take into account that it's not a static thing -- i.e., to be productive as a team requires a balance of both. Periods where there's little to no interruptions and periods of high-interactions. Alas, one very key facet is that the majority of managers tend towards the extreme of the interrupter end of the spectrum. As a segue, I've always found it interesting that a lot of the best CEO's actually get up really early in the morning so that they can get a few hours of "real" work done before jumping into the over-scheduled, interrupting rest of the day. Re: Full days work This is another area where the Taylor-istic mindset has completely corrupted notions of "work". Reminds me of the study of taxi drivers. A lot of them worked backwards from what they wanted/needed to make each month to come up with the number that they needed to make day. Then, they'd usually work until they hit that number and then go home. But, that completely misses the burstiness of the business -- some days you're in the zone and cranking while other days it's a waste because things are dead. They could make more money by working long days when the pickings are good.