4 ms·

If you only have one AI window open, you’re doing it wrong. You task swap to another window/agent, get it working on something, rinse and repeat. I can keep 4

by efitz 4mo ago

If you only have one AI window open, you’re doing it wrong. You task swap to another window/agent, get it working on something, rinse and repeat. I can keep 4 busy most of the time. When I task swap I also check in on what the other agents are doing to make sure they’re on track, not blocked and not struggling.

well_ackshually 4mo ago
congratulations on your soon to be coming burnout. Keeping that many tasks in parallel, running all the time will kill you.
- speff 4mo ago
  I suppose it depends how hands-off the tasks are - I max out at 2 parallel sessions working on different parts and it's fairly exhausting once done. I can see the number of parallel work increasing if there's a good dev/test loop. But at $WORK, that's not usually an option.
  - rootnod3 4mo ago
    So, hands-off meaning "just let the AI cook and don't check it"? Either you follow everything it does, revise the plans, do the code review, manual adjustments, etc, or you run sessions in parallel, not being that attentive and constantly context-switch (also resulting in less attention I guess). I fail to see the benefits honestly.
- DonHopkins 4mo ago
  It's great to work from home so you can take nice little micro naps while code's generating, reviewing, building, and deploying. A calm attentive alternative of vibe coding: restful coding. It's much easier to read and review code after a refreshing cat nap, especially with a real cat. Too bad that's not usually acceptable to do that in the office. It should be! Slacking off by sword fighting all day is too exhausting. https://xkcd.com/303/ https://xkcd.com/303/
  - baq 4mo ago
    Nap while you can. The baseline is slowly raising; AI fed with organization context will hunt you down and lay you off, as it has done at multiple companies this spring already.
    - blharr 4mo ago
      I mean, I didn't read it as a joke. Taking a rest can lead to a clearer ability to think... thereby being more productive, not less.
      - baq 4mo ago
        For the record I took it 100% seriously, having been wfh since covid I’ve taken more than one nap during ‘work hours’ myself… I’m saying ‘spin up an agent and go for a long walk’ being ok is close to over and it’s over in some companies already - and it isn’t because they’re monitoring what you’re doing, it’s that they know what is possible from those few folks who don’t go for walks and spin up more agents instead.
- locknitpicker 4mo ago
  > congratulations on your soon to be coming burnout. Multitasking does not mean burnout. It just means you are not wasting time while idling. Multitasking was not invented for AI coding assistants. What do you think feature branches are used for?
  - well_ackshually 4mo ago
    The constant context changes, mental overload, inability to focus on one thing and do it well is exactly what every software developer has been fighting against for the past thirty years because it leads to shit quality and burns you out. You're automating the burnout. Idling is a necessity, not an illness. Your feature branch is to put things aside and send them to CI, or wait and think on them. Not to have four of them running in parallel in your head frying you.
    - locknitpicker 4mo ago
      > The constant context changes, (...) After you put together a plan, today's models can take well over a minute to execute it. Also, your work shifts to code review and executing acceptance tests, followed by either tweaking your current change or moving on to the next change. This is really not about context changes. This is about not having to switch contexts because your focus stays on architecture+review instead of having to do deep dives to type code around. > Your feature branch is to put things aside and send them to CI, or wait and think on them. No, not really. Feature branches, as well as most types of branches, is to set aside work fronts that are in progress and run in parallel.
      - well_ackshually 4mo ago
        >today's models can take well over a minute to execute it. A full, whole, entire _minute_ ?! Sixty seconds ! Oh no, they must be optimized away, we do not deserve our free time like so, we should toil until we fall over because... Growth? It's still context switching. Either what you're doing is surface enough that you don't give a shit, it doesn't matter and you don't review it anyways (so the only context is basically the prompt you wrote or the nth SELECT * FROM table CRUD piece of crap), or you're context switching and it's fucking you over. The context isn't about remembering how you write if err != nil, it's the expected behaviour of what you're working on. You're not getting a promotion from doing this, you're getting burnout. > Feature branches, as well as most types of branches, is to set aside work fronts that are in progress and run in parallel They're not running in parallel, unless you use work trees. They were put to the side, because you can't continue or finish the work they're about. Even just three branches in parallel in a modestly active repo that happen to be long lived drift enough that just keeping them up to date with develop makes it a waste of time. Focus on one or two things, and do them well. That, or get checked for ADHD.
- surajrmal 4mo ago
  If you have ever TL'd a team, it doesn't sound too crazy. I have 8 folks I generally talk to very consistently throughout the day. If I'm not in 1:1s with them I'm usually reviewing their changes or chatting with them over chat. I don't think I can do all of that and work with a bunch of AI windows, but I do think they could likely do something similar to me with several agents running in parallel.
  - well_ackshually 4mo ago
    Your team members can be held "accountable" of the code they write: they can explain it, defend it in a PR, take ownership of it. Your LLM has forgotten whatever shit it wrote when you opened a new tab, and that responsibility is now on you. And it wrote absolute dog shit
forlorn_mammoth 4mo ago
So exactly like playing Civ or some other building game. You constantly jump around between your various units and correct what they are doing. I do wonder how much of how people approach coding is shaped by the games they played when younger.
- rootnod3 4mo ago
  I don't think that analogy holds. Within Civ, you are in one game. Playing 4 instances of Civ, or better: 4 instances of 4 different games is more likely the comparison.

by efitz 4mo ago

well_ackshually 4mo ago

congratulations on your soon to be coming burnout. Keeping that many tasks in parallel, running all the time will kill you.

speff 4mo ago
I suppose it depends how hands-off the tasks are - I max out at 2 parallel sessions working on different parts and it's fairly exhausting once done. I can see the number of parallel work increasing if there's a good dev/test loop. But at $WORK, that's not usually an option.
- rootnod3 4mo ago
  So, hands-off meaning "just let the AI cook and don't check it"? Either you follow everything it does, revise the plans, do the code review, manual adjustments, etc, or you run sessions in parallel, not being that attentive and constantly context-switch (also resulting in less attention I guess). I fail to see the benefits honestly.
DonHopkins 4mo ago
It's great to work from home so you can take nice little micro naps while code's generating, reviewing, building, and deploying. A calm attentive alternative of vibe coding: restful coding. It's much easier to read and review code after a refreshing cat nap, especially with a real cat. Too bad that's not usually acceptable to do that in the office. It should be! Slacking off by sword fighting all day is too exhausting. https://xkcd.com/303/ https://xkcd.com/303/
- baq 4mo ago
  Nap while you can. The baseline is slowly raising; AI fed with organization context will hunt you down and lay you off, as it has done at multiple companies this spring already.
  - blharr 4mo ago
    I mean, I didn't read it as a joke. Taking a rest can lead to a clearer ability to think... thereby being more productive, not less.
    - baq 4mo ago
      For the record I took it 100% seriously, having been wfh since covid I’ve taken more than one nap during ‘work hours’ myself… I’m saying ‘spin up an agent and go for a long walk’ being ok is close to over and it’s over in some companies already - and it isn’t because they’re monitoring what you’re doing, it’s that they know what is possible from those few folks who don’t go for walks and spin up more agents instead.
locknitpicker 4mo ago
> congratulations on your soon to be coming burnout. Multitasking does not mean burnout. It just means you are not wasting time while idling. Multitasking was not invented for AI coding assistants. What do you think feature branches are used for?
- well_ackshually 4mo ago
  The constant context changes, mental overload, inability to focus on one thing and do it well is exactly what every software developer has been fighting against for the past thirty years because it leads to shit quality and burns you out. You're automating the burnout. Idling is a necessity, not an illness. Your feature branch is to put things aside and send them to CI, or wait and think on them. Not to have four of them running in parallel in your head frying you.
  - locknitpicker 4mo ago
    > The constant context changes, (...) After you put together a plan, today's models can take well over a minute to execute it. Also, your work shifts to code review and executing acceptance tests, followed by either tweaking your current change or moving on to the next change. This is really not about context changes. This is about not having to switch contexts because your focus stays on architecture+review instead of having to do deep dives to type code around. > Your feature branch is to put things aside and send them to CI, or wait and think on them. No, not really. Feature branches, as well as most types of branches, is to set aside work fronts that are in progress and run in parallel.
    - well_ackshually 4mo ago
      >today's models can take well over a minute to execute it. A full, whole, entire _minute_ ?! Sixty seconds ! Oh no, they must be optimized away, we do not deserve our free time like so, we should toil until we fall over because... Growth? It's still context switching. Either what you're doing is surface enough that you don't give a shit, it doesn't matter and you don't review it anyways (so the only context is basically the prompt you wrote or the nth SELECT * FROM table CRUD piece of crap), or you're context switching and it's fucking you over. The context isn't about remembering how you write if err != nil, it's the expected behaviour of what you're working on. You're not getting a promotion from doing this, you're getting burnout. > Feature branches, as well as most types of branches, is to set aside work fronts that are in progress and run in parallel They're not running in parallel, unless you use work trees. They were put to the side, because you can't continue or finish the work they're about. Even just three branches in parallel in a modestly active repo that happen to be long lived drift enough that just keeping them up to date with develop makes it a waste of time. Focus on one or two things, and do them well. That, or get checked for ADHD.
surajrmal 4mo ago
If you have ever TL'd a team, it doesn't sound too crazy. I have 8 folks I generally talk to very consistently throughout the day. If I'm not in 1:1s with them I'm usually reviewing their changes or chatting with them over chat. I don't think I can do all of that and work with a bunch of AI windows, but I do think they could likely do something similar to me with several agents running in parallel.
- well_ackshually 4mo ago
  Your team members can be held "accountable" of the code they write: they can explain it, defend it in a PR, take ownership of it. Your LLM has forgotten whatever shit it wrote when you opened a new tab, and that responsibility is now on you. And it wrote absolute dog shit

forlorn_mammoth 4mo ago

So exactly like playing Civ or some other building game. You constantly jump around between your various units and correct what they are doing. I do wonder how much of how people approach coding is shaped by the games they played when younger.

rootnod3 4mo ago
I don't think that analogy holds. Within Civ, you are in one game. Playing 4 instances of Civ, or better: 4 instances of 4 different games is more likely the comparison.