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

 

[sleipnir214]

tgreer:
Very few people understand that when I'm coding, I'm just typing. It's when I am staring off into space, thinking about the problem that I am programming.

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[SilentAiche]

sleipnir214,

Along those same lines, I solved far more computer problems while on smoke break than while at my keyboard.

Tim

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

 

[tsdragon]

I'd agree with the smoke-break comment. Whenever I get stuck on a problem I get up, walk away from the computer, and take a smoke break. Getting away from the computer and just thinking about the problem seems to help.

On another note: I read a long time ago that if you want to find the most efficient way to do something, get a lazy person to do it.

Tracy Dryden

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

 

[bekibutton]

Very few people understand that when I'm coding, I'm just typing. It's when I am staring off into space, thinking about the problem that I am programming."

That is very true. I swear half my office think I'm sat here doing nothing

 

[Neil Toulouse]

Smoking breaks rule as far as I am concerned for solving problems! They are trying to completey ban smoking at our place though, so I can see my efficiency going down the toilet!

Yes, I could go and stand outside on the roof (our smoking area! 7 storeys up...) but I think people would look at me rather oddly (if they don't already) if I didn't have a smoke in my hand

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

 

[sleipnir214]

CajunCenturion and I have on two occasions worked for the same companies. Although he and I have both since given up the demon weed, at the first company, we both smoked.

We got to know each other because by some strange coincidence our needs for nicotine, without any intent of our own, were syncronized. After a time, we began to talk about our various projects. After a longer time, a lot of people began to join us.

Including people that didn't smoke and had never smoked. They just wanted to not miss the impromptu symposia that would spontaneously form out in the smoking area. Our respective supervisors would grumble that they would put a stop to the whole damned enterprise if it weren't for the fact that we all got more work done outside in the smoking area than we did at our desks.

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[jsteph]

I'm wondering how common this trait is.

tgreer
I'm glad you brought this out because I was thinking I was flawed. I wonder if any of you also 'suffer' from this (possibly related) phenomenon: Moments of pristine lucidity at 3 AM.

I will have spent the evening coding (rather, as posted by another, staring off into space) trying to figure out some complex problem, algorithm, bug, whatever--unitl midnight. I give up and go to bed thinking that the problem can't be solved and I'll have to 'adjust the deliverables' to make up for this thing I can't figure out.

But I'll wake up all of a sudden at 3 Am, with the spot-on solution. I run downstairs, code it, test it--voila! Problem solved.

I think it has somthing to do with serotonin or whatever brain chemical is pumping through our heads at those hours.
--Jim

I

 

[sleipnir214]

jsteph:
I do exactly the same thing. Even if I don't wake up in the night, I'll wake up the next morning with the solution right at-hand and a sort of mental fatigue that tells me my mind's been working hard all night.

If I have a problem that I worked hard to solve during the day and come up with the solution that night, I have to be careful to not think about the problem or the solution for about an hour before bed. Otherwise, my subconscious is going to work all night trying to implement the solution.

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[tsdragon]

I've had trouble sleeping because my brain didn't want to let go of something I've been working on. I don't always solve the problem by laying awake though. Usually I just lose sleep. If I do manage to fall asleep I sometimes get the solution.

Tracy Dryden

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

 

[GwydionM]

I normally don't think about work problems outside of working hours. Occasionally I do see a solution on the bus going home.

At home, I read about topics unrelated to work--a neat way of diverting your mind, among other things. But if I've been reading something serious and thinking about what it means, I do sometimes wake up with an extra idea. I keep a notebook to jot down ideas.

------------------------------
An old man who lives in the UK

 

[TheRambler]

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

It happened to me also when I was reading The Tao Of Programming.

A manager was about to be fired, but a programmer who worked for him invented a new program that became popular and sold well. As a result, the manager retained his job.

The manager tried to give the programmer a bonus, but the programmer refused it, saying, ``I wrote the program because I thought it was an interesting concept, and thus I expect no reward.''

The manager upon hearing this remarked, ``This programmer, though he holds a position of small esteem, understands well the proper duty of an employee. Let us promote him to the exalted position of management consultant!''

But when told this, the programmer once more refused, saying, ``I exist so that I can program. If I were promoted, I would do nothing but waste everyone's time. Can I go now? I have a program that I'm working on."

Looks like we are both on our way to enlightenment, we must trascend earthly desires. ;-)

Although that book is almost twenty years old, there are many good anecdotes in it, you may enjoy reading it. Regarding procrastination, I like this one:

A novice programmer was once assigned to code a simple financial package.

The novice worked furiously for many days, but when his master reviewed his program, he discovered that it contained a screen editor, a set of generalized graphics routines, an artificial intelligence interface, but not the slightest mention of anything financial.

When the master asked about this, the novice became indignant. ``Don't be so impatient,'' he said, ``I'll put in the financial stuff eventually.''

 

[Trevoke]

Finding the answer at 3am is a very, very common trait -- but most people don't realize it because they don't have a problem-solving job, or problem-solving hobbies.

The joke about enlightenment is actually spot-on. Letting go of the problem is the best way to sort it out. Thinking about it too much, getting too focused on it, all this blinds you to other ways of thinking about it. If you are cold and detached, you can brute-force your way through it, but isn't it better to let your brain do the thinking?

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

 

[SkipVought]

This is a story from "the good ol' days" that my Dad related to me.

My Dad, a carpet designer, worked in a department that was run by a big frog in a little pond.

The "boss" would send half the crew to lunch, and have the remaing designers stop what they were working on, and work on the designs that the lunch group had been working on, in order that what they had been working on, would not be interrupted by the lunch break.

The process was reversed when the first group returned from lunch and the second group left.


Skip,

_{[red]Be Advised![/red]
The band of elderly oriental musicians, known as Ground Cover, is, in reality...
Asian Jasmine!}

 

[CRilliterate]

Skip,
does it make ANY sense if First group worked on Second's group design - their own work would be left off...

 

[SilentAiche]

an aside, to FatSlug:

I love your sig - I laugh every time I see it because (for me) it's so damn true.

From way up in the moon-seats, it's just me.

Tim

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

 

[SkipVought]

Sense? Duh!

Skip,

_{[red]Be Advised![/red]
The band of elderly oriental musicians, known as Ground Cover, is, in reality...
Asian Jasmine!}

 

[CRilliterate]

'Duh' no or 'Duh' yes?

 

[SkipVought]

The FORMER!

Skip,

_{[red]Be Advised![/red]
The band of elderly oriental musicians, known as Ground Cover, is, in reality...
Asian Jasmine!}

 

[CRilliterate]

You confusing me, SkipVought.