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> This is how world class athletes, musicians, artists, writers, and of course programmers take what is in their mind and translate it into reality. > It is th
by scandox 11mo ago
> This is how world class athletes, musicians, artists, writers, and of course programmers take what is in their mind and translate it into reality.
> It is the ultimate sharpening of the axe before chopping the tree[1]
But if part of our axe sharpening is listening to music, reading email, catching up with your feeds and so on then perhaps we need to take a step back and ask if we're just invading our working thought-space with boondoggles.
[1] "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” - apparently Abraham Lincoln.
- rusk 11mo agoA good carpenter takes time to maintain and procure their tools. They still have a nice phone and might listen to music on their headphones while they’re working. A chef must keep their kitchen clean and well organised. Stocked with appropriate and some obscure tools. She must season her saucepan, sharpen her knives.
- giraffe_lady 11mo agoMy first career was as a cook and I would always sit and sharpen my knives after the last service of the week. It was kind of a cool time to reflect on the previous cycle and mentally prepare for the next. There's really nothing comparable in programming and I say this as someone who has spent hundreds of hours yak shaving emacs.
- rusk 11mo ago> I would always sit and sharpen my knives Tech debt
- chairmansteve 11mo agoIn programming anything you do (eg yak shaving) takes up your whole mind. Sharpening knives leaves mental space for reflection.
- skydhash 11mo agoWe do various tasks with computers. And it's not always in a linear fashion. What's important is reducing friction. The latter can manifest in various way, like having to battle with a GUI just to play some music, yet another GUI for email, and another one for your feeds. Emacs stuff can be pretty stable and you have the same interface for everything.