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

Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

411–420 of 424 posts

Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?

#411

Post by eternityforest »

jll29 wrote: post #408
eternityforest wrote: post #219

A lot of those are pretty domain specific. Calculus is 10x only because it lets you get into fields where calculus is 10x. I have no idea what a general everyday coder would do with it. I could list tons of design patterns, like separate mutable and atomic readonly copies of the same data, but they wouldn't be universal, although patterns are wonderful. The closest thing to a real 10x I know is laziness and respect f…

I would say either a field requires calculus or not. If yes, then you need to know it, full stop. And if it doesn't you don't need it, full stop. It's not the case that if you need it, it makes you 10x more productive. All architects needs architecture knowledge; you can't just say "knowing architecture makes architects 10x more productive".

If the field is just general programming then you could say calculus is a 10x career boost, because you can take on calculus related projects as opposed to being limited to mathless stuff.

Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?

#412

Post by escapedmoose »

garfieldnate wrote: post #399
escapedmoose wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely this. I was a chronic procrastinator prone to intense anxiety and breakdowns just before deadlines. Then I took a really good ~3 hour course on time management, and it seriously changed my life. I can’t even describe how much more productive I am. It’s changed how I approach every task, professional and personal. I can’t even remember the last time I felt any sort of stress or anxiety about my to-do list.…

I'd like to second the recommendation for Dave Crenshaw's courses. I never realized before that I wasn't actually managing my time; I was just desperately chasing the non-existent end of my entire life's to-do lists. I'm still working on getting through my initial in-box (the one you create by going through his trigger lists), but all the important stuff got done, and I have confidence that the things I haven't gotte…

Thanks for the other course recommendations! Given how insanely valuable his time management course was for me, I’m absolutely going to jump on that “productive meetings” course.

Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?

#413

Post by duckmysick »

escapedmoose wrote: post #215
futureshock wrote: post #21

I think the true 10x multiplier is not a technical skill at all. It is the ability to quickly cut through irrelevant tasks and actions to focus on the thing that will move the business goal forward fastest. It is enshrined in the concept of the MVP and the short iteration cycle. Quicky building something that does not solve a business problem is not productive. Work=force*displacement. No movement, no work. A closely…

Absolutely this. I was a chronic procrastinator prone to intense anxiety and breakdowns just before deadlines. Then I took a really good ~3 hour course on time management, and it seriously changed my life. I can’t even describe how much more productive I am. It’s changed how I approach every task, professional and personal. I can’t even remember the last time I felt any sort of stress or anxiety about my to-do list.…

I started going through the course three days ago, right after you posted it. I can already feel improvements in organizing my time.

The course doesn't offer anything novel - for example it has elements of Getting Things Done. But it's presented in a more accessible way that resonates with me. It also focuses on making good habits, something I already discovered in another book recommended on HN, Tiny Habits.

Thanks for the recommendation. I really appreciate it.

Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?

#414

Post by utopkara »

Late to the party, but here's an eclectic mix:

- Logbook of your work, plans, thoughts; use whatever tool that you know will be around the longest. Be it git, apple notes, or any other. Make sure it has a search, and keeps track of dates. - Somewhat related; an infinite terminal history. You may have the best one liners, but you don't want to keep rewriting them. Also, know your unix tools. - Computer Science; as covered in GRE computer science; those are just fundamental, if you try to find your way around learning them, you'll just waste time and effort; just go through the learning. This is assuming you are a software engineer. - Competent peers and good ways to review work, and collaborate in general. Code reviews are great, but they are just a small fraction of what you can achieve with a team. Retros, design reviews, pair coding, planning for common objectives are all productivity multipliers. - A focus on objectives; this is a basic one, but not an easy one. You'll be making many decisions when you code, design, review, discuss, communicate, argue, negotiate, etc. if you don't keep track of the various objectives, you'll waste time and effort either immediately or in the long run. In a time crunch, stop and think about your objectives, and whether you can work towards them more effectively. - Basic drawing and handwriting; you need to get comfortable with using a pen or a marker, and the ways of putting your ideas on a piece of paper or whiteboard. I've witnessed many impenetrable computer science theory or just basic design problems turn to dust when beaten down on a whiteboard by clear minds. - Regular breaks, walks and occasional coffee. Being tied up on a (hard) problem for many hours without breaks is usually a waste of time, also unhealthy for your body. - Knowing your data; if you are trying to solve a problem with ML and you don't know what your data looks like, you are wasting your time. Understand your data first. This requires experience, looking is not seeing or understanding. Also, know your objectives, see above. - Know your sources of wisdom; these could be people, books, or search tools. You are unlikely to be the first to run into the same problem. If you are looking for a novel problem or solution, it is mandatory to check what has been done before. If you are dealing with a tough problem, you might get insights from others. If you are looking for better documentation, maybe it's out there somewhere. Don't forget to check before you get lost.

Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?

#415

Post by danhab99 »

Buttons840 wrote: post #308

The ability to type 30+ WPM. This is a pretty low bar to cross. About half the people I have worked with when faced with the task of writing a 40 character line of code will do something like find a similar line and copy and paste it, and then change a character or 2, and then go find a 6 character variable that they need to type and instead of just typing the 6 characters, they highlight another copy of the variable…

My dad is annoyingly like this. I'm so grateful that I learned vim shortly after he taught me how to code.

Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?

#416

Post by andrei_says_ »

angarg12 wrote: post #260

I roughly divide these skills into three tiers: * Micro-optimizations: e.g. a shortcut that saves you a few seconds several times a day. * 'Mid'-optimizations: e.g. writing an script that saves you an hour once a week. * Macro-optimizations: e.g. pushing back against building a useless feature that saves you several months in a year. Most developers focus in the micro level, but I believe 10x productivity lives in th…

I am not a great dev but having worked long enough in the industry I know where to push back on the macro level and that allows me to build things with incredible speed.

So much effort is spent on building the wrong things for the wrong reasons.

Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?

#417

Post by stefanya42 »

ketzo wrote: post #256
kalev wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> High tolerance for feeling ignorant, confused, silly, inadequate, a novice: none of these states should phase you: you should not have a comfort zone: let your mind feel at ease in not understanding something: go to the eye of the storm and weather it: you'll come out being more capable; I’d love to be more at ease on uncomfortable situations. Any tips?

I will give you a fairly specific answer that comes from my history of going to therapy for anxiety and depression. Whenever I find myself in an anxious or uncomfortable situation, the thing that I need to remind myself is that things are going to turn out okay for me, whatever happens. I do this by working my way up a version of Mazlowe's hierarchy: 1. Am I physically safe? Can I breathe? Can I move my body? 2. Do I…

I am totally with you on this. Catastrophizing when things get difficult makes it so much harder.

I make it a point to count my many blessings (most of which you enumerate there) every day.

Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?

#418

Post by stefanya42 »

muzani wrote: post #396
kalev wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> High tolerance for feeling ignorant, confused, silly, inadequate, a novice: none of these states should phase you: you should not have a comfort zone: let your mind feel at ease in not understanding something: go to the eye of the storm and weather it: you'll come out being more capable; I’d love to be more at ease on uncomfortable situations. Any tips?

I have a friend who took anti-anxiety meds and was immediately extremely productive.

Agreed, I was on anti-depressants for years.

Their most noticeable effect on me was a dramatic decrease in anxiety, and an accompanying increase in comfort in social contexts and far less catastrophizing about challenging life situations.

Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?

#419

Post by hi41 »

dmos62 wrote: post #67

- Writing as form of (or tool for) thinking; Leslie Lamport said (maybe quoting someone) that if you're thinking, but not writing, you only think that you're thinking; - High tolerance for feeling ignorant, confused, silly, inadequate, a novice: none of these states should phase you: you should not have a comfort zone: let your mind feel at ease in not understanding something: go to the eye of the storm and weather i…

> High tolerance for feeling ignorant, confused, silly, inadequate, a novice

What are some tools to do this? When I feel I don’t know something, I feel very anxious, stupid and unhappy. How did you develop the skill to be okay when ignorant?

Re: Ask HN: What bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers?

#420

Post by lkesteloot »

garfieldnate wrote: post #398
Buttons840 wrote: post #308

The ability to type 30+ WPM. This is a pretty low bar to cross. About half the people I have worked with when faced with the task of writing a 40 character line of code will do something like find a similar line and copy and paste it, and then change a character or 2, and then go find a 6 character variable that they need to type and instead of just typing the 6 characters, they highlight another copy of the variable…

This honestly blows my mind. It's very difficult for me to imagine a programmer who is bad at typing. Do you live somewhere where personal devices are uncommon? They made us learn to touch-type in high school (when I was 15), and it made it so much easier to interact naturally on AIM. It was the most immediately-useful course I'd ever had.

http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirties...

"Here's the industry's dirty secret: Programmers who don't touch-type fit a profile. ... Here's the deal: everyone is laughing at you. Or if they're your close friend, they're just pitying you. Because you suck."

Post reply on HN