I am the exact opposite.
I type 150+ WPM and can’t write to save my life. Writing things down with pen/paper does nothing for me.
I feel dumb(er) when typing, and smart(er) when writing
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Re: I feel dumb(er) when typing, and smart(er) when writing
#12To me is the contrary. Writing by hand slows me down. Typing is a direct connection between my ideias and the text. Typing actually helps me think better.
Re: I feel dumb(er) when typing, and smart(er) when writing
#13It's useful to understand the difference between problem space and solution space. Writing code (in most languages) is all about writing in solution space, and sucks at talking about problem space. I find that most people tend to jump into their editor way too quickly and start writing the solution before they've thoroughly analyzed the problem.
When I jump from editor to pen and paper it usually means that I'm having trouble mapping the code I'm writing to a part of the problem Im'solving, and I switch to exploring the problem more before going back to the solution. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that that's pretty much what happened to you as well.
Re: I feel dumb(er) when typing, and smart(er) when writing
#14Writing in my opinion is the best way to think through problems. It takes concentration and effort.
Jeff Bezos says the "smartest thing" they did at Amazon was to ban low effort presentations and embrace writing long-form briefs for each meeting. That made sure the problem was thoroughly thought out by the meeting owner and is read by the group in detail for the first 30 minutes of the meeting.
In open source, many projects adopt a RFC(request for comments) process in which a problem is written about exclusively with solutions and asking for public feedback. This works effectively in ecosystems like Rust, Python, JavaScript, and C#.
If you think about knowledge work in general, 80% of the job is problem solving, creative thinking, etc. 20% of the job is implementing / coding. Jumping straight to code was something I did when I was early in career, but now it's the last thing I do until I understand the problem in detail.
Re: I feel dumb(er) when typing, and smart(er) when writing
#15Without all the context, I think it is due to structure of the problem. Some problem can't be understood clearly with just text, but needs diagrams etc. Coq problem seems like one that could fall in this category. And if you are like me, rough diagramming in computer seems slower/harder than with pen and paper. For these kind of things, I found apple pencil+ipad to superior to both as you don't need to worry about space and page flip and you have all the advantage of free hand scribbling.
Re: I feel dumb(er) when typing, and smart(er) when writing
#16I am the exact opposite. I type 150+ WPM and can’t write to save my life. Writing things down with pen/paper does nothing for me.
I'm only 70 wpm typing and it is still way faster than writing. I think paper is good for doodling though. Like when I want visualize how a system works, but ms paint (or others) works well for this.
Re: I feel dumb(er) when typing, and smart(er) when writing
#17What I experience is that I can remember things I write a lot better. I’m not sure why. I can type a lot faster than I write.
Also for problem solving I agree. I also don’t know why but I feel a lot “freer” when I have a sheet of paper in front of me.
Re: I feel dumb(er) when typing, and smart(er) when writing
#18I don’t know about you but I feel a piece of paper provides much more freedom than a txt file.
While writing text is slower than typing, it’s much, much easier to choose where to write, and to draw lines and boxes. All tools that helps thinking.
> when I finally I decided to grab a paper and pen, and solved it in 5 minutes.
In defense of your hard work, it’s always the last solution you try that works.
Re: I feel dumb(er) when typing, and smart(er) when writing
#19Contratulations, you have discovered [Hammock-Driven Development](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f84n5oFoZBc)! (also https://github.com/matthiasn/talk-transcripts/blob/master/Hi...)
Re: I feel dumb(er) when typing, and smart(er) when writing
#20Writing in my opinion is the best way to think through problems. It takes concentration and effort. Jeff Bezos says the "smartest thing" they did at Amazon was to ban low effort presentations and embrace writing long-form briefs for each meeting. That made sure the problem was thoroughly thought out by the meeting owner and is read by the group in detail for the first 30 minutes of the meeting. In open source, many p…
Actual writing is the best form of pseudocode :)
I like the anecdote, this and the two-pizza rule are some nice bits of Amazon "management lore".