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Ask HN: Devs with ADHD do you use specialized tooling?

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Re: Ask HN: Devs with ADHD do you use specialized tooling?

#51

Post by yuvalsteuer »

graypegg wrote: post #27

Omnifocus for me. It’s been the only thing I’ve stuck with. I’m pretty sure that’s because it’s the only task system I’ve used that lets you hide things based on properties; I don’t get anything done facing a giant list, but a small focused list of things I can do right now, is possible. It also fills a need for organization meta-work, but that’s not really a positive hah Best thing I can recommend is pick ONLY ONE t…

> but a small focused list of things I can do right now, is possible.

Agree completely.

Re: Ask HN: Devs with ADHD do you use specialized tooling?

#52

Post by sph »

yuvalsteuer wrote: post #46
sph wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you both. This is why I decided to switch and master Emacs, and I've been diving deep into Lisp and other languages with a REPL like Erlang and Elixir. The quick iteration cycle requires little upfront investment in focus, and it's immediately rewarding to keep you in focus and enter a state of flow. Our concentration is fickle, so streamlining is key.

This, I write auto updating todo list cli tools for specialized tasks because I always lose focus when trying to reprioritize todo items, etc...

Don't spend too much time on your tools. A carpenter doesn't spend hours obsessing over screwdrivers. Reprioritizing todo items is not for people with ADHD, like most of other productivity hacks.

You need to write stuff down, use it as a guidelines to stay on track (hardest part), and tick it off. Everything else is waste of time that masquerades as "productivity hacks."

The goal is to outsource your list of things to do because you have a fallible memory, but the biggest goal is doing something that drives your life forward. Don't get stuck looking for the new productivity fad or rewriting your todo cli.

Re: Ask HN: Devs with ADHD do you use specialized tooling?

#53

Post by yuvalsteuer »

sph wrote: post #38
sitkack wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

REPL, hot code reloading, test code that gets me into the debugging state. Really to dev well, u need to spend considerable effort getting everything setup to maximize flow. Having and not having flow can be 20:1

I agree with you both. This is why I decided to switch and master Emacs, and I've been diving deep into Lisp and other languages with a REPL like Erlang and Elixir. The quick iteration cycle requires little upfront investment in focus, and it's immediately rewarding to keep you in focus and enter a state of flow. Our concentration is fickle, so streamlining is key.

REPL is extremely helpful for me aswell, I normally just develop whole blocks in a REPL interpreter like nodejs or IPython. And just copy the working code to an IDE.

Re: Ask HN: Devs with ADHD do you use specialized tooling?

#54

Post by solarkraft »

sph wrote: post #52
yuvalsteuer wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, I write auto updating todo list cli tools for specialized tasks because I always lose focus when trying to reprioritize todo items, etc...

Don't spend too much time on your tools. A carpenter doesn't spend hours obsessing over screwdrivers. Reprioritizing todo items is not for people with ADHD, like most of other productivity hacks. You need to write stuff down, use it as a guidelines to stay on track (hardest part), and tick it off. Everything else is waste of time that masquerades as "productivity hacks." The goal is to outsource your list of things t…

I spend a good amount of time on my tooling (too much? not sure), because fairly small amounts of friction can distract me for quite a while (long compilation, having to copy over files - it's especially bad when the step requires attention). Have it happen often enough and productivity approaches 0.

Re: Ask HN: Devs with ADHD do you use specialized tooling?

#55

Post by solarkraft »

AnthonBerg wrote: post #21

As much screen area as possible. High refresh rate, good color. Yes, for programming. I have a 55” LG CX 120Hz 4K OLED TV as my monitor now. Space for everything: Code, more code, documentation, filesystem, browser, notes. Tweak everything for low latency. Example: Switch IntelliJ to the ZGC garbage collector. Give it extra RAM. Have a fast GPU. Yes, just for throwing windows around. Fast CPU with lots of cores. Tune…

I guess this is more important than I realized. I use a 4K TV too and it's pretty nice (with the exception of the menu bar being annoyingly high).

I used to have a setup that would only allow for 30Hz it and it was super painful.

Also: Glitchy animations are the biggest reason I can't use Windows. macos has some too and I find those pretty bad as well.

Re: Ask HN: Devs with ADHD do you use specialized tooling?

#56

Post by MacsHeadroom »

Dracophoenix wrote: post #45
AnthonBerg wrote: post #21

As much screen area as possible. High refresh rate, good color. Yes, for programming. I have a 55” LG CX 120Hz 4K OLED TV as my monitor now. Space for everything: Code, more code, documentation, filesystem, browser, notes. Tweak everything for low latency. Example: Switch IntelliJ to the ZGC garbage collector. Give it extra RAM. Have a fast GPU. Yes, just for throwing windows around. Fast CPU with lots of cores. Tune…

Would multiple monitors also be a good solution, or is that too distracting for you? How much and what brand of RAM do you use? What are the rank and CAS numbers? What about GPU? What RAID configuration are you using? How many SSDs and which models?

I have four monitors and it works for me.

Lowest possible CAS, highest possible clock speed.

Nvidia RTX series is necessary for dabbling with AI at acceptable speeds, which seems to be the future. 3090 or 4090 are best due to higher VRAM.

You don't need raid, just get fast nvram SSDs.

Re: Ask HN: Devs with ADHD do you use specialized tooling?

#57

Post by solarkraft »

joshxyz wrote: post #15

i use leechblock ng to prevent myself from browsing websites that are not work related

It's nice. I've set it to block HN after 10 minutes and blur YouTube (using it for music) after 1. Especially the blurring is quite effective.

Re: Ask HN: Devs with ADHD do you use specialized tooling?

#58

Post by helldritch »

A little bit different to software, but the big kicker for me was a standing desk.

When I'm on calls I compulsively wander around the apartment with my wireless headphones on, I can't stand still. If I'm in a call for 4 hours, I will be walking constantly for 4 hours (often covering 20km in small circles in my apartment).

I got a powered sit/stand desk with presets so I can press a single button to have it raise up or lower down, and it's made me a lot more present at my desk during discussions, because I can sort of fiddle about on my feet while still being in front of my screens.

Strongly considering adding a flat, miniature, quiet walking machine underneath my desk for this stuff, if I can find one which meets my specs.

Re: Ask HN: Devs with ADHD do you use specialized tooling?

#59

Post by gremlinsinc »

yuvalsteuer wrote: post #50
ttcmuni wrote: post #30

Github copilot has actually been incredibly useful for me. Writing boilerplate and starting new files was always so slow/boring, but copilot kinda helps me continue my flow (even when its suggestions are completely wrong). Fair warning that sometimes its suggestions are subtlety wrong so you still need to read it over - but since it’s there my mind immediately jumps to verifying it as opposed to the risk of distracti…

This! Github copilot is like a search engine for code without the distracting elements of a traditional search engine, for me atleast.

Yeah exactly and if it messes up delete what you started with and try writing a comment about what you want it to do, often then it codes something better than I would.

You just need to get good at writing comments or descriptive function names.

Re: Ask HN: Devs with ADHD do you use specialized tooling?

#60

Post by yuvalsteuer »

solarkraft wrote: post #54
sph wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't spend too much time on your tools. A carpenter doesn't spend hours obsessing over screwdrivers. Reprioritizing todo items is not for people with ADHD, like most of other productivity hacks. You need to write stuff down, use it as a guidelines to stay on track (hardest part), and tick it off. Everything else is waste of time that masquerades as "productivity hacks." The goal is to outsource your list of things t…

I spend a good amount of time on my tooling (too much? not sure), because fairly small amounts of friction can distract me for quite a while (long compilation, having to copy over files - it's especially bad when the step requires attention). Have it happen often enough and productivity approaches 0.

That's also my experience
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