Non-paywalled link, anyone? NYtimes won’t let me read it in Firefox’s Private Mode.
Firefox Focus works flawlessly
It's blocked as "Browsing in Private Mode" for me on mobile.
It’s Never Going to Be Perfect, So Just Get It Done
31–40 of 135 posts
Re: It’s Never Going to Be Perfect, So Just Get It Done
#32I’m reminded of a similar online NY Times piece I read, years ago, I think by a woman named Gladys, which was entirely about the harrowing process of procrastinating on, and eventually writing, the piece. All I could think was, poor Gladys. Not, here’s an authority on procrastination. Heck, I’m more of an authority on procrastination, based on my high school and college years alone, not even counting that I’ve overco…
I often tell myself to "just start" rather than to "just get it done," especially when I suspect my anxiety is driving. If I tell myself I'm just going to sit down and pretend-work on the thing that's making me anxious for five minutes, just to get a feel for it, and if it ends up being crappy, I'll just toss it and start over later, I'm usually able to short-circuit the anxious "everything must be well-understood an…
> pretend-work
I pretend I'm live streaming my programming session, it seems to cause some switch to flip in my brain and seems to help.
Maybe I should actually live stream? But I probably wouldn't have real viewers, and don't know how to fit multiple monitors into a stream.
Re: It’s Never Going to Be Perfect, So Just Get It Done
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Quality is local optimization, Market Fit is global optimization. As the saying goes, if you're not embarrassed by v1 you waited too long to launch.
But consider results in consumer technology: Palm versus Blackberry versus iPhone.
Did you use the first iPhone? It had a ton of gaps, even in the market at the time. I believe they would have hamstrung it if not addressed in subsequent versions.
I personally have never viewed iPhone as an example of perfectionism in product delivery. To me it's a whole bunch of solid execution over a very long time scale, before and after introduction.
Re: It’s Never Going to Be Perfect, So Just Get It Done
#34I’m reminded of a similar online NY Times piece I read, years ago, I think by a woman named Gladys, which was entirely about the harrowing process of procrastinating on, and eventually writing, the piece. All I could think was, poor Gladys. Not, here’s an authority on procrastination. Heck, I’m more of an authority on procrastination, based on my high school and college years alone, not even counting that I’ve overco…
There's a good TED talk on procrastination which might interest you: https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_urban_inside_the_mind_of_a_mas...
Eh, I'll get to it later.
Re: It’s Never Going to Be Perfect, So Just Get It Done
#35This is exactly what I was saying in the other HN thread today about code reviews, and I got downvoted a bunch of times. A lot of people have a perfectionist mindset and lose sight of the fact that "perfection" can be subjective and that the product they are creating for the user is more important than the engineer's personal vision. This isn't to say that we should just throw out best practices, wing it, and never t…
This sounds like some non-engineer talk that ends up fucking the team up 1 year later as there code starts breaking everywhere, the code becomes very difficult to refactor, new hires start to struggle ramping up, etc.
I agree that sometimes people can be too focused on perfection in code reviews but consistency, modularity, and other seemingly unimportant things are crucial in maintaining hygiene for your project
Re: It’s Never Going to Be Perfect, So Just Get It Done
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
I often tell myself to "just start" rather than to "just get it done," especially when I suspect my anxiety is driving. If I tell myself I'm just going to sit down and pretend-work on the thing that's making me anxious for five minutes, just to get a feel for it, and if it ends up being crappy, I'll just toss it and start over later, I'm usually able to short-circuit the anxious "everything must be well-understood an…
> pretend-work I pretend I'm live streaming my programming session, it seems to cause some switch to flip in my brain and seems to help. Maybe I should actually live stream? But I probably wouldn't have real viewers, and don't know how to fit multiple monitors into a stream.
I'm convinced that the majority of the value from pair programming (literally sitting next to each other, not "virtual" pair programming) comes from the fear of looking like a lazy idiot in front of the other programmer.
Re: It’s Never Going to Be Perfect, So Just Get It Done
#37At least in software "getting it done" is only half the problem. The real problem is knowing how to find a balance between good enough and catastrophic long term consequences. It's a balance between tactics and strategy. The approach is different in other disciplines such as artistic creation where blind confidence in what you are doing is a better long term strategy and we give a lot more importance to tactics. The…
This comment speaks to me. I'm in a weird point at my job where I'm right at the tail end of supporting this legacy app I've worked on for years, and a brand new app my team will be building from scratch.
It's pretty surreal, because I've been dealing with many of the negative long term effects of decisions that were made for this app years ago, meanwhile I'm about to have to make a whole host of similar new decisions for the next app. I know there are going to be compromises, I know I won't be able to make it perfect, so finding that balance is going to be critical.
I'd love to hear from someone who's had to find that balance and what they've learned.
Re: It’s Never Going to Be Perfect, So Just Get It Done
#38Reacting solely to the headline, no.
"We're never going to find an energy better than coal, so just go down in those mines and go earn your living like a real man!"
Critical thinking is an extremely important skill, always, forever. Not impulsivity.
Re: It’s Never Going to Be Perfect, So Just Get It Done
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
> pretend-work I pretend I'm live streaming my programming session, it seems to cause some switch to flip in my brain and seems to help. Maybe I should actually live stream? But I probably wouldn't have real viewers, and don't know how to fit multiple monitors into a stream.
I'm convinced that the majority of the value from pair programming (literally sitting next to each other, not "virtual" pair programming) comes from the fear of looking like a lazy idiot in front of the other programmer.
Hah same here. Half the time I ask someone to pair with me it’s because I simply cannot muster the motivation to do anything for whatever reason. I find I go through a couple of weeks of this a couple of times a year, I guess you’d call it mild burnout.
Re: It’s Never Going to Be Perfect, So Just Get It Done
#40I’m reminded of a similar online NY Times piece I read, years ago, I think by a woman named Gladys, which was entirely about the harrowing process of procrastinating on, and eventually writing, the piece. All I could think was, poor Gladys. Not, here’s an authority on procrastination. Heck, I’m more of an authority on procrastination, based on my high school and college years alone, not even counting that I’ve overco…
There's a good TED talk on procrastination which might interest you: https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_urban_inside_the_mind_of_a_mas...
I love that guy, but I think the best use of this level of awareness into the mechanics of your procrastination — the elaborate story — is to realize it’s just a story. The moment you really realize this, the story changes.