Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Have you ever not done anything on work whole day?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 35 posts

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever not done anything on work whole day?

#21

Post by DarrenDev »

I once worked a short contract for a big name telecom company in Ireland. I was one of about 15 contractors they’d hired for a big project.

Every day we’d all form a big circle on the balcony on the third floor, right next to the pool table that nobody used. The usual daily stand-up, only without the “any blockers” question.

There was one guy who was working on a user story that required a file from another part of the business. Every day, for 2 months, he said with a straight face “I’m waiting for the file.” And every day, we all nodded our heads as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Two months. I left before he ever got his file. Maybe he’s still there now, 8 years later, waiting for his file.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever not done anything on work whole day?

#22

Post by nicbou »

Productivity ebbs and flows.

I'm self-employed and I'm not forced to be productive. Some days I work from dusk until dawn, and others I just send an email. The best part of this arrangement is that I don't need to pretend otherwise.

I am human. Sometimes I sleep poorly. Sometimes I have more important things to do than work. Sometimes I frankly just don't feel like it. I get more done overall if I accept this and give myself space to recover.

You are a garden, not a machine. Your intellectual output is subject to external conditions. It can't be exploited with the regularity of a well-oiled machine.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever not done anything on work whole day?

#24

Post by nickd2001 »

Its probably common for people to have procrastination problems when working remotely, especially those who are younger and haven't got sufficiently frustrated with their own procrastination and failure to deliver, to address it and develop more self discipline yet. To address the exact Q though - how about pick a 1-point story off the "Refined and Ready" column or whatever you call it, and get that into UAT / Code Review, then at least you got something to show however small. Doing that tends to lead you to, er, start getting on with your other work. ;)

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever not done anything on work whole day?

#27

Post by mrrthrowaway »

musicale wrote: post #16
mrrthrowaway wrote: post #15

Yes, quite often. I like programming but can't do it for 8 hours per day. I'm not sure how I'm keeping this up, but I am. I do it for like 4 to 5 hours at most. I know I should count my blessings as programming is an easier job than most (doesn't wear on your body, etc.). I just don't know how I'd be able to work 8 hours per day in any job. I don't want to work. I try myself to get to work because it's not a nice sit…

John Carmack would probably be disappointed, but 25 hours of productive tech work in a week, especially at a typical company, sounds pretty good to me. There's also something to be said for learning things outside the narrow range of work and having a life outside work.

Thanks for saying that, I really don't feel good about doing this. But I feel worse if I don't do it.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever not done anything on work whole day?

#28

Post by ChildOfChaos »

I really struggle with this and honestly the days I get little done, I really wish I did, but often I just feel tired, unfocused, struggle to concentrate etc and then other times I am able to make myself sit down and pump out what I need to do.

I'm a more chaotic worker, I work in spurts, which can be horrible at work, currently on a project that is due at the end of the month, project manager wants updates at the end of the week to see where we are, basically expecting 25% a week, but to me life and things don't work like that, I will make sure we hit that target and do the hours towards the end that require it if we are off track, but for me it's never consistent, I would love for it to be that way, but i've kinda just realised that the world is chaos and I am chaos and I just try to mold things too that.

For me as well, usually it takes me a bit to fully understand something and then once I do, I tend to be able to get it done much quicker and it's simple to me, so i always tend to be much slower at the start than others as I am trying to figure it out, prodding and exploring the different options until I find what fits.

I feel like a lot of the world just isin't setup for how I work or how some people work, it seems it's better suited for early birds and highly organised people, rather than those of us that are introverted, night owls and distracted/work better in spurts.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever not done anything on work whole day?

#29

Post by mattbrewsbytes »

You didn't ask about productivity, you just stated that you did nothing for your software engineering work. This implies you have other types of work, possibly meetings, documentation, helping out others. Did you do those things? Then state that, many of the little things that happen add up and if you get slammed with a lot of that then you may not write any code that day. Did you spend hours troubleshooting some weird bug? Maybe feel imposter syndrome about it like others might be better at solving it and don't want to mention that, I would mention it to your manager. Long hours on tough problems are learning opportunities, things you'll likely remember for a career.

If you are distracted and didn't do any work at all for your employer, just tell your manager you need to put in a day off request for yesterday, got distracted with "life" (bingeing a show, grinding levels in a video game, staring at a wall, etc). Own up to it because if you end up letting it slide, its a slippery slope into that growing to a week of doing nothing and covering for yourself with varying excuses. Sure a day here or there might go unnoticed but eventually this will catch up with you if you aren't being honest with yourself. Then time goes by and someone looks at your outputs and sees next to nothing. A nothing day might be a sign that you should schedule time off every month/quarter, if you have one planned you'll look forward to it more and that might motivate you to get your stuff done.

Software work can be extremely boring at times and being remote has lots of potential distractions. Another perspective could be asking yourself if remote work is a good fit for you personally? It isn't for everyone.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever not done anything on work whole day?

#30

Post by mattpallissard »

There is a difference between doing nothing and accomplishing nothing. Sometimes you're trying to figure out the next step, sometimes you've gone down the wrong rabbit hole, sometimes you just have a shitty day. That's much different than just slacking off or getting distracted and is easy enough to explain to a reasonable person.

I have 5 kids, live in a very remote community (so getting some things done is a multi day affair), and am fairly involved in my community. My schedule is always full weeks in advance. Even if you set aside the honesty aspect of it, I can't afford to procrastinate.

I'm always a little anxious about getting everything done. When you pair that with time constraints it's easier to be disciplined. No, it's not easy and yes, it takes practice, but it's attainable for most people.

Post reply on HN