We've heard stories of developers waking up at their computers to the strange sound of beeping because they fell asleep at the keyboard and the keyboard's auto repeat can't handle any more input with their faces resting on the keys. Isn't that how developers should work?
-There's a tendency to believe that because we work with machines that are tireless and ready for more work that we nee to adapt ourselves to these machines. We feel the urge to always be "on" and ready to give the machine more work. Idleness is regarded as a waste. We try to become like the machine; tireless and always ready for more work.
+There's a tendency to believe that because we work with machines that are tireless and ready for more work that we need to adapt ourselves to these machines. We feel the urge to always be "on" and ready to give the machine more work. Idleness is regarded as a waste. We try to become like the machine; tireless and always ready for more work.
There's a problem with always being "on." When we feel like we always have to be "on" we never let ourselves feel like we can be "off." We don't allow ourselves any periods of idleness and rest. This creates a pattern where we deny ourselves the moments to sit and reflect on what we're doing. We force ourselves to keep moving; keep programming no matter the personal cost. Our brains don't get the ability to rest, relax, and recharge. Our minds are too busy and exhausted to process what we've learned and sweep that knowledge into long-term storage. When we get exhausted we start to worry that we're not doing enough. This doesn't motivate us; instead it creates a vicious feedback loop of fear and panic. We spend our day worrying that we're not doing enough while our minds cry out "enough!" from exhaustion. This feedback loop of fear and exhaustion can spiral us into a vortex of burnout, depression, and a desire to leave programming for good.
Understanding these swings of productivity can allow us to better gauge whether or not the day will allow us to generate the code that needs to be generated, but there's a level below that I think is important.
-We put a lot of emphasis in our day on completion and hitting deadlines. This emphasis can cause us to create strong attachments to completion and deadlines. Sometimes this is warranted because of external factors (the "critical-path" of the project require us to get this done by a certain date and time). But many of our deadlines are internal deadlines that we've set for ourselves. We set a goal that we will be this productive by the end of the day. The unstated condition of this internal productivity deadline is that we'll feel guilty and ashamed if we miss the goal. We'll fee like we're not measuring up to our expectations and wonder if we're worthy of the task at hand. We'll feel like our day has been wasted and wonder if we're capable of doing anything at all.
+We put a lot of emphasis in our day on completion and hitting deadlines. This emphasis can cause us to create strong attachments to completion and deadlines. Sometimes this is warranted because of external factors (the "critical-path" of the project require us to get this done by a certain date and time). But many of our deadlines are internal deadlines that we've set for ourselves. We set a goal that we will be this productive by the end of the day. The unstated condition of this internal productivity deadline is that we'll feel guilty and ashamed if we miss the goal. We'll feel like we're not measuring up to our expectations and wonder if we're worthy of the task at hand. We'll feel like our day has been wasted and wonder if we're capable of doing anything at all.
It's better for us to remove deadlines wherever possible. We won't be able to get rid of the external ones where folks are waiting on our contributions (though it may be possible to renegotiate those if they're not hard deadlines) but we can let go of the desire to meet arbitrary productivity levels and arbitrary deadlines.
projects / themediocreprogrammer.git / blobdiff