5 ms·

This is the way. I stop working with tests passing but write a context comment on whats to be done next. It’s like flushing my working memory.

generic92034 3y ago
On the other hand it can be helpful, in my experience, to stop right in the middle of a very hard problem, where you are still searching for a good solution. Come the next morning I often know at least a possible solution, without having worked on it consciously.
- srcreigh 3y ago
  In uni there were a few times where I'd spend 12 hours solving assignment problems. At EOD I still had maybe half unsolved, although I'd tried to solve them all. Next morning in the 30 minutes I had before class, I quickly solve all the problems before handing it in. Oh, another time for algorithms assignment, I am up until 5am or so. Still had 2/5 problems left unsolved (but again I had tried to solve them). I go for coffee at the student center, oops it's not 24/7. I take a light nap in the student center waiting for the coffee place to open up. Full on REM dream problem solving occurs. A couple hours later I awake knowing full well how to solve the 2 remaining problems. I grab my coffee and leave to write up the solutions. Sleep really helps.
- yuuuuyu 3y ago
  The risk with this is that you keep procrastinating away before getting going again. It's the anticipated pain of frustration that prevents you from starting. Not so much if your idle time generated a solution to the problem. But if it didn't, then you are in trouble.
  - sublinear 3y ago
    This is an underrated comment. Not only this, but there are some micromanaged environments that make this impossible and you're immediately hit in the face with a meeting first thing in the morning that destroys any energy you might have had to continue after being asked several ways if it's "done yet".
    - yonaguska 3y ago
      I've been 60 minutes of focused work away from wrapping up this current ticket for the past two days. Too exhausted to get going in the morning before meetings and interruptions kill my productivity for the day. Usually I start work two hours before the workday actually starts because context switching and meetings drain me, and deep work won't get done otherwise. The curse of ADHD.
      - sublinear 3y ago
        I already know I don't have ADHD, so I can tell you it might not be your ADHD. It's not that you're ruminating about what they asked, but that they all keep asking you because they use you as their syncing mechanism and must repeat yourself to several people. Effectively just as bad for productivity. Morning meetings are a deliberate tactic. Middle management needs answers for their next meeting which is also right after yours in the morning. The people who get to have meetings at the very end of the day are at the top of the hierarchy, and guess what? They got their work done! If there was ever a real example of inequality that should be fixed (fuck all that DEI shit) this would be it. Work from home actually massively reduced this meeting train crap at my workplace, but they just found other ways to annoy people. It's still an improvement though.
  - srcreigh 3y ago
    Yeah, you have to give it a solid effort for this to work. On day two if it's not solved yet, you have to give another solid effort before resting. I'm not sure if in this scenario it's an option to solve the problem on the first go. Usually when I hit this scenario, I am simply unable to do it in the first place, but the next day is easy.
    - yuuuuyu 3y ago
      Right. Or you try to break it down into subproblems which may be easier to solve. And those are then candidates for the downhill parking on-ramp for next day.
  - generic92034 3y ago
    Well, if it did work, and you have a good solution the next morning there will be no reason to procrastinate.
- kitsunesoba 3y ago
  It’s crazy the degree to which the subconscious mind chews on problems it’s been given. I never even dream about the problem in question but pretty consistently sleeping on friction points like that will clear them in short order the next morning. It’s almost kind of spooky, like there’s a second person in my head burning the midnight oil.
  - cortesoft 3y ago
    I wonder how much of it is also about getting out of a local maxima... you are pursuing a specific solution, and are exploring the end of a long chain of choices you made on how to approach it... and starting over again the next day clears out all those choices, letting you maybe discover a better solution that was on a different branch of the decision tree.
- m463 3y ago
  can't tell you how many great solutions appeared in my head in those moments when you're awake before getting out of bed.

generic92034 3y ago

On the other hand it can be helpful, in my experience, to stop right in the middle of a very hard problem, where you are still searching for a good solution. Come the next morning I often know at least a possible solution, without having worked on it consciously.

srcreigh 3y ago
In uni there were a few times where I'd spend 12 hours solving assignment problems. At EOD I still had maybe half unsolved, although I'd tried to solve them all. Next morning in the 30 minutes I had before class, I quickly solve all the problems before handing it in. Oh, another time for algorithms assignment, I am up until 5am or so. Still had 2/5 problems left unsolved (but again I had tried to solve them). I go for coffee at the student center, oops it's not 24/7. I take a light nap in the student center waiting for the coffee place to open up. Full on REM dream problem solving occurs. A couple hours later I awake knowing full well how to solve the 2 remaining problems. I grab my coffee and leave to write up the solutions. Sleep really helps.
yuuuuyu 3y ago
The risk with this is that you keep procrastinating away before getting going again. It's the anticipated pain of frustration that prevents you from starting. Not so much if your idle time generated a solution to the problem. But if it didn't, then you are in trouble.
- sublinear 3y ago
  This is an underrated comment. Not only this, but there are some micromanaged environments that make this impossible and you're immediately hit in the face with a meeting first thing in the morning that destroys any energy you might have had to continue after being asked several ways if it's "done yet".
  - yonaguska 3y ago
    I've been 60 minutes of focused work away from wrapping up this current ticket for the past two days. Too exhausted to get going in the morning before meetings and interruptions kill my productivity for the day. Usually I start work two hours before the workday actually starts because context switching and meetings drain me, and deep work won't get done otherwise. The curse of ADHD.
    - sublinear 3y ago
      I already know I don't have ADHD, so I can tell you it might not be your ADHD. It's not that you're ruminating about what they asked, but that they all keep asking you because they use you as their syncing mechanism and must repeat yourself to several people. Effectively just as bad for productivity. Morning meetings are a deliberate tactic. Middle management needs answers for their next meeting which is also right after yours in the morning. The people who get to have meetings at the very end of the day are at the top of the hierarchy, and guess what? They got their work done! If there was ever a real example of inequality that should be fixed (fuck all that DEI shit) this would be it. Work from home actually massively reduced this meeting train crap at my workplace, but they just found other ways to annoy people. It's still an improvement though.
- srcreigh 3y ago
  Yeah, you have to give it a solid effort for this to work. On day two if it's not solved yet, you have to give another solid effort before resting. I'm not sure if in this scenario it's an option to solve the problem on the first go. Usually when I hit this scenario, I am simply unable to do it in the first place, but the next day is easy.
  - yuuuuyu 3y ago
    Right. Or you try to break it down into subproblems which may be easier to solve. And those are then candidates for the downhill parking on-ramp for next day.
- generic92034 3y ago
  Well, if it did work, and you have a good solution the next morning there will be no reason to procrastinate.
kitsunesoba 3y ago
It’s crazy the degree to which the subconscious mind chews on problems it’s been given. I never even dream about the problem in question but pretty consistently sleeping on friction points like that will clear them in short order the next morning. It’s almost kind of spooky, like there’s a second person in my head burning the midnight oil.
- cortesoft 3y ago
  I wonder how much of it is also about getting out of a local maxima... you are pursuing a specific solution, and are exploring the end of a long chain of choices you made on how to approach it... and starting over again the next day clears out all those choices, letting you maybe discover a better solution that was on a different branch of the decision tree.
m463 3y ago
can't tell you how many great solutions appeared in my head in those moments when you're awake before getting out of bed.