Work Habits

[tgreer]

The thread on workplace impressions inspired this. I have a trait in regard to work. I used to think this was simply a bad habit of my own, but over the years I've found that my best programmers shared the trait. Namely: I procrastinate. I will find any excuse to put off starting a project. But, when I finally do start, I get so engaged in the project that I will put off sleeping, eating, socializing - and literally work night and day.

I experienced a moment of profound recognition when I read some comments of a songwriter who described exactly the same trait.

I'm wondering how common this trait is. Is it simply laziness?

I've heard it described regarding procrastinators that they procrastinate intentionally, albeit unconciously, because they crave and/or need the pressure in order to do their best work.



Thomas D. Greer

http://www.tgreer.com

 

[SkipVought]

Ditto here.

And...

I also tinker in my "spare time" (unproductive efforts).

Can't tell you how many times some idea or technique I tinkered with 8 months ago, came in handy.


Skip,

_{[red]Be Advised![/red]
A wee deranged psychic may be runnin' around out there!
SMALL MEDUIM @ LARGE}

 

[SteveGlo]

Me too and the reason is that there is usually an absence of any of the documentation that should be available before the project comes to me - all the stuff the business analysts should have done before the project manager gets going let alone the programmers.

 

[CajunCenturion]

==> I've heard it described regarding procrastinators that they procrastinate intentionally, albeit unconciously, because they crave and/or need the pressure in order to do their best work.
I think there is some truth in that statment, in fact, there is a whole theory of crisis management built around this concept. It can apply to anyone who works best in a crisis, be they programmers, managers, CFOs, CEOs, ditch diggers, or housewives, construction workers, or what have you.

For me, yes, it's true that when the pressure is on, the adrenline starts flowinng, the focus sharpens, and I can take it to the next level. However, it was a lot easier to get to the next level, and come back tomorrow -- twenty years ago.

It reminds me of one of my favorite sayings: Youth is wasted on the young.

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[Chacalinc]

I heard some time age and ascient quote: the hardest thing of crossing through a 5.000 miles dessert is to make the first step.
(kind of.. sorry, I speak spanish).



Chacal, Inc.

 

[CajunCenturion]

That's true Chacalinc, but the issue, for this thread, is what happens after the first step. To many, they wait to take that first step, but once they do, they walk through the desert at their normal pace.

I think the people referenced by this topic procrastinate taking the first step to the last minute, but once they take that first step, they sprint across the desert in record time. They are more comfortable running than walking, so they manufacture, by waiting to the last minute, the need to run.

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[ChrisHunt]

Mmmmmm... 5,000 miles of dessert. That's a lot of pudding.

I'm a procrasinator too, btw.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[CajunCenturion]

I have a response to that ChrisHunt. I'll tell you tomorrow.

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Good Luck
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[SkipVought]

Never do today

what you can put off until tomorrow!


Skip,

_{[red]Be Advised![/red]
A wee deranged psychic may be runnin' around out there!
SMALL MEDUIM @ LARGE}

 

[tsdragon]

I do exactly the same thing. It drives my boss nuts.


Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[grande]

I do it too. I wish I could say that my bosses are annoyed by it, but... They all do it too!

-------------------------
Just call me Captain Awesome.

 

[Neil Toulouse]

I think it all starts at Uni - you put off doing any assignments/work or whatever because there is always beer that needs drinking with your mates down the pub!

...and there is always a night before it needs to be handed in anyway, when the work can commence and finish!

I like work. It fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours...

 

[Trevoke]

CajunCenturion :
"It reminds me of one of my favorite sayings: Youth is wasted on the young."

There is a french saying that goes, "If the young knew, if the old could".

-Haben sie fosforos?
-No tiengo caballero, but I have un briquet.

 

[SilentAiche]

Have you ever found a genuine truism that you just couldn't get done in real life? I'm a near-professional procrastinator (which, btw, I meant to confess to months ago...)

What bugs me is that I have read all these tomes from "expert" CEO's (alright, dangit, I MEANT to read them), who advise, rightly, that the best practice is to do the hardest/least-desired tasks FIRST. That frees up the rest of the day to put off other tasks.

Sorry. If I hate the notion of talking to Mr. Blum about his sorry client, I have a hard time calling him back. I'd rather fix a spreadsheet, edit a Word document, or sew my butt shut (I realy didn't like Mr. Blum.)

Heck, I wasn't planning to post this til February.

I did, however, prove that one can survive, if not prosper, at a good college via procrastination instead of actual studying. Stupid Biology classes have too many long words to figure out the night before the exam...

TIm

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I love logging onto Tek-Tips. It's always so exciting to see what the hell I
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[tsdragon]

Speaking of procrastination, this sounds like a cliche, but I swear it's true: many years ago I bought a book about getting rid of the procrastination habit. I started reading it, honest. I got about halfway through, but never got around to finishing it. Maybe one of these days I'll dig it out of the box it is undoubtedly still stored in and finish it.

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[buck2506]

With all this talk of procrastination, I better start my paper that was due last week.

 

[SilentAiche]

buck2506,

No hurry, dude. It'll still be due next week.

In the meanwhile, have a pepperoni beer

(I have no idea what that means...)

Tim

[blue]______________________________________________________________
I love logging onto Tek-Tips. It's always so exciting to see what the hell I
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[theEclipse]

I have herd over and over that "good programmers are lazy" (not to mention other professions chemists,engineers,ect.).

I figure that its about got to be two-fold:

laze around until its due....then work better under pressure

and of course the intended meaning about writing simple code.

But I'll get to that later. Its about time to finish my projects for the semester...finals next week.

Robert Carpenter
"Disobedience to conscience is voluntary; bad poetry, on the other hand, is usually not made on purpose." - C.S. Lewis (Preface to Paradise Lost)
ô¿ô

http://www.robertcarpenter.net

 

[sleipnir214]

The best quote on the laziness of programmers is probably from Larry Wall, the developer of perl: The three chief virtues of a programmer are laziness, impatience, and hubris.


One should keep in mind that there are two types of laziness: tactical and strategic. Someone who procrastinates is tactically lazy, because he's thinking only about the next few minutes, not about the 20-hour days he'll inevitably have to pull to the the project finished at the last minute.

A strategically-lazy programmer's philosophy is in accordance with Sleipnir's Law of Strategic Laziness, which states, "In the long run, it always requires fewer total resources to do it right the first time." The strategically-lazy programmer is actually the more lazy of the two -- it's just that he understands that efficiency is the hallmark of true laziness. That's why a strategically lazy programmer will drive his coworkers crazy looking for the perfect solution to every problem -- he never ever wants to have to expend the energy to revisit a problem and look for another solution.

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[tgreer]

I don't know about "lazy". I spend a great deal of time thinking projects over. Then when I do code, I code very rapidly.

Thomas D. Greer

http://www.tgreer.com