One year of keeping a tada list • Hacker News Board

Re: One year of keeping a tada list

#21

Post by amelius » Sun, Dec 28, 2025, 2:55 PM UTC

GabriDaFirenze wrote: post #11

amelius wrote: post #2

[flagged]

I think I see where you're coming from but, from personal experience, AI has not much to do with one's interest in learning how to paint or draw. I've picked up drawing again this year not only as a passion but it's something I can create with my own hands. It doesn't matter that AI can do it and can do it much better, it's that I can do it. For fun, for relaxing, for meditating, ...

> For fun, for relaxing, for meditating, ...

Sure, but we're talking about a "tada list" here.

Would you write about relaxing and meditation on __your__ tada list?

Re: One year of keeping a tada list

#22

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Dec 28, 2025, 3:08 PM UTC

seba_dos1 wrote: post #16

jebarker wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does the existence of AI make watercolor painting less of a challenge for a human?

It obviously doesn't, as otherwise the existence of other humans that are more skilled than you would have the same effect.

[deleted]

Re: One year of keeping a tada list

#23

Post by linsomniac » Sun, Dec 28, 2025, 3:13 PM UTC

I've been doing a work-oriented "what I did today" list for ~25 years, and really like it. Originally it started because I needed to bill for my time, but when I went to my current job (over a decade ago) I kept doing it. In my iteration, it is a concise sentence about each thing I've worked on that day. At the end of the month I go back through and review it and write up a "Wins" list.

It's surprisingly useful; I share it with my coworkers and we often consult it if we notice something has been behaving differently starting at a certain date to see what was going on then.

I keep it in a simple text file, running in a tmux on a server, so I have connections to it from my laptop and my desktop. It's currently 19,509 lines.

Re: One year of keeping a tada list

#24

Post by jebarker » Sun, Dec 28, 2025, 3:15 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #20

jebarker wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does the existence of AI make watercolor painting less of a challenge for a human?

Would you call multiplying two 100-decimal numbers a challenge? I wouldn't because I would just use libgmp or sympy. And I would certainly not write about it on my "tada list" (if I had one). Anyway, that's how you should read that comment.

Multiplying two 100 digit numbers requires the application of a fixed algorithm which can be learned. If you don't know the algorithm it's challenging, if you do it's not.

But that is not true of painting. Painting requires choosing a subject (for its subjective qualities) and then translating what you _want_ to capture about that subject and how you want to represent it in paint on some medium. You will also be applying a theory of mind and perception about the audience of the painting since you probably want it to appeal to them. All of these choices and the skill to combine them into a painting that achieves what you want is vastly more challenging than multiplication.

Multiplication is akin to paint by numbers.

EDIT: it actually strikes me that this conversation gets to the crux of why AI art is so polarizing. It depends whether you view art predominantly as being about the thing that is created or the process of creation.

Re: One year of keeping a tada list

#25

Post by s900mhz » Sun, Dec 28, 2025, 3:18 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #21

GabriDaFirenze wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I see where you're coming from but, from personal experience, AI has not much to do with one's interest in learning how to paint or draw. I've picked up drawing again this year not only as a passion but it's something I can create with my own hands. It doesn't matter that AI can do it and can do it much better, it's that I can do it. For fun, for relaxing, for meditating, ...

> For fun, for relaxing, for meditating, ... Sure, but we're talking about a "tada list" here. Would you write about relaxing and meditation on __your__ tada list?

Why not? If one of your goals is to try to relax and/or meditate more, then I feel it’s a valid list entry.

It’s all a matter of perspective and personal goals, no?

Re: One year of keeping a tada list

#26

Post by amelius » Sun, Dec 28, 2025, 3:24 PM UTC

s900mhz wrote: post #25

amelius wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For fun, for relaxing, for meditating, ... Sure, but we're talking about a "tada list" here. Would you write about relaxing and meditation on __your__ tada list?

Why not? If one of your goals is to try to relax and/or meditate more, then I feel it’s a valid list entry. It’s all a matter of perspective and personal goals, no?

Because if you read the conclusion, they say that having this list gives them more pressure.

Re: One year of keeping a tada list

#27

Post by sublinear » Sun, Dec 28, 2025, 3:30 PM UTC

andai wrote: post #4

> Maybe the most obvious con: a tada list forces you to have an accomplishment each day so you can write it down, and this added stress to my day. Maybe it makes more sense to have a box per week instead of per day. Or even per month! At least in my own life I've noticed that focusing on daily output tends to be demoralizing, whereas if I look back over the months I am often amazed by what has come out of me.

I think weekly or bi-weekly is best since you're aligning yourself with the time scale that most workplaces tend to operate on.

I've actually had good conversations with nervous junior devs to help them see the value of their contributions this way. There's a lot less reason to stress out if you're working steadily and see that things are going according to plan.

I know devs can be focused on the literal tasks at hand, but the "10k ft view" is not just a cheesy thing people say and it should not be ignored. It gives perspective.

Re: One year of keeping a tada list

#28

Post by dangoodmanUT » Sun, Dec 28, 2025, 3:32 PM UTC

linsomniac wrote: post #23

I've been doing a work-oriented "what I did today" list for ~25 years, and really like it. Originally it started because I needed to bill for my time, but when I went to my current job (over a decade ago) I kept doing it. In my iteration, it is a concise sentence about each thing I've worked on that day. At the end of the month I go back through and review it and write up a "Wins" list. It's surprisingly useful; I sh…

I’m praying you have backups. That last paragraph gives me anxiety

Re: One year of keeping a tada list

#29

Post by sublinear » Sun, Dec 28, 2025, 3:39 PM UTC

andai wrote: post #17

ashtonshears wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shamefully bad advice. Journaling is common to aid the desribed issue.

What I mean is, you're reinforcing a mechanism of conditional self-approval. A Sisyphean endeavor by definition! Giving yourself credit for what you've done is fine, but if it comes from a feeling of insufficiency, then at best it's symptom relief that helps you avoid the underlying issue.

I do agree that it's "bad" to need a reason to justify your existence and happiness, but that's totally separate from evaluating your performance at work. I think you're assuming too much.

Re: One year of keeping a tada list

#30

Post by johnfn » Sun, Dec 28, 2025, 3:42 PM UTC

linsomniac wrote: post #23

I've been doing a work-oriented "what I did today" list for ~25 years, and really like it. Originally it started because I needed to bill for my time, but when I went to my current job (over a decade ago) I kept doing it. In my iteration, it is a concise sentence about each thing I've worked on that day. At the end of the month I go back through and review it and write up a "Wins" list. It's surprisingly useful; I sh…

> It's surprisingly useful; I share it with my coworkers and we often consult it if we notice something has been behaving differently starting at a certain date to see what was going on then.

Don't you have commit logs for this??