Learning via Shipping is the only certain way to be sure you are spending your time learning useful things. You can, of course, learn things that are useful tha

Learning via Shipping is the only certain way to be sure you are spending your time learning useful things. You can, of course, learn things that are useful that don't involve shipping. But if you are learning something that results in shipping, then it was certainly useful. That's not to say you shouldn't spend time learning things that don't involve shipping. Just that these things should be the exception, not the rule. This extends beyond software. For example, learn Mandarin when you are going to actually be going to China, not because you think it's a "useful skill." Learn accounting when starting a business. Start reading Tufte when you have a tangible information design task at hand. In general, it's another form of lazy evaluation, which is almost always a good idea ;)