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Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?

#41

Post by nzoschke »

What has worked for me…

Pair programming. I call it pilot / copilot / autopilot. Two real people plus one or two agents working together. Classic XP stuff, the copilot can help remind what we are focusing on, file follow up issues, give instant code reviews.

Bake offs. Do the same task but in two different chats or agents or approaches (TDD vs vibe or legacy app vs next app).

I don’t do these all the time, and they don’t guarantee ROI, but it keeps me focused on one thing to completion intend of getting distracted

Re: Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?

#42

Post by jlos »

marmarama wrote: post #13

Here's the neat thing: you don't. I've tried, and I feel like I've got closer with faster models, but ultimately the agentic loop excludes you. Even if you're asking the agent to do simple short tasks, it's still: prompt, wait, wait, wait, check, and you never really feel like you're the one in control. The problem with faster models is also that they're more stupid, so that additionally breaks your flow when you hav…

*You dont*

Skill issue, not a universal problem.

Re: Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?

#44

Post by munk-a »

embedding-shape wrote: post #11
aaarrm wrote: post #5

Flow state relies on a constant information inflow that holds your attention perfectly, often hinging on competency and challenge. You can't enter it in AI coding because you need to wait for replies. It's incompatible. I just watch YouTube in the downtime these days, or movies that I don't care too much about

> Flow state relies on a constant information inflow Does that mean when I'm in deep thinking without any external "information inflow" I'm not "in flow state"? I'd agree that waiting for replies kind of pulls you out of flow if you just sit and wait, but I'm not sure why you'd do that. You can continue working along-side, validate, or continue iterating on the design while the agent does other things.

When you're deep thinking you have a constant information inflow that's coming from your own thoughts. This is different from relying on an exterior tool because in that scenario your brain is blocked from thinking by relying on that tool giving it a breather to wander off a garden path. That isn't necessarily a bad thing (it's nice to give your brain a stare off into the distance break every once in a while) but if you've adapted your thinking and working style to the constant inflow and outflow of information it can be highly disruptive.

Re: Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?

#46

Post by wjnc »

chipsrafferty wrote: post #35
marmarama wrote: post #13

Here's the neat thing: you don't. I've tried, and I feel like I've got closer with faster models, but ultimately the agentic loop excludes you. Even if you're asking the agent to do simple short tasks, it's still: prompt, wait, wait, wait, check, and you never really feel like you're the one in control. The problem with faster models is also that they're more stupid, so that additionally breaks your flow when you hav…

I want something that works in the background, checking my work as I code, running tests and making suggestions... Without being obstrusive. Like a pair programmer.

This is a UI/UX problem, no? While the current suppliers are mostly locked in the ‘chat for everything’ mode. Guess what, we didn’t go to the moon in chat mode, we don’t drive cars via chat and cyborgs don’t play chess that way. Domain specific interfaces are the way to go (opinion).

Edit with an example: Read some interesting science news yesterday regarding man made risk of high water (Nature). Mailed the author, found the article (popular news doesn’t do attribution) and data and code was open source. Claude Fable had it running very fast and explained the things I forgot from high school. Started on localization and adding some methods from my background (econometrics, extreme value theory). All nice in the /hobby/ way. I can overlap fields in hours now. A brilliant feeling (but probably not brilliant).

What I cannot do is assess the value and novelty of the created work on my own. So I still need to have a set of geologists and econometricians / actuaries work through ‘my work’. That’s what we need tools for! We need UI/UX in this case for novel fields interacting with quality controls made easy. I currently wouldn’t dare ask the author for her time based on my slop. And I cannot critically assess what I’ve made. I only learned today that Greenlands ice attracts water, that Manila and other cities are sinking due to exhaustion of their aquafiers and that the North Sea is surge heavy and unique that way.

Re: Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?

#47

Post by munk-a »

mrweasel wrote: post #10

Could you not just, you know, not use Claude? Or if you must, delegate some tasks to the agent and go work on something yourself, the agent doesn't mind waiting for you to get back.

That's likely the optimal approach but I think a lot of employers are mandating usage amounts especially with the PE firms making deals for user committal in exchange for cash from Anthropic and folks.

Re: Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?

#49

Post by johnfn »

giorgioz wrote: post #12

Read the blog posts from Peter Steinberget blog steipete.me about his setup. Many AI builders converged on using the terminal with multiple panes. When a prompt is running if you don't have anything to do add another pane and start another prompt. Little by little you might have 1-6 prompts in parallel at some point. The flow state with AI is managing productively several prompts in parallel.

It's interesting that the guy providing an actual answer gets downvoted, and everyone saying "it's impossible" got upvoted.

Re: Ask HN: How do you get into a flow state when using AI to code?

#50

Post by vova_hn2 »

Do not wait for replies, try to structure your workflow so that you are always either refining requirements for the future tasks that you are going to to give to the agent later or reviewing (sometimes also manually testing) the code that the agent has produced before.

I think that this is mostly a UI problem. Chat UI is just not a good UI for programming and the fact that the current "AI"-coding sphere has converged on it is incredibly silly.

One of of the first things that I did when I first seriously tried an LLM-based coding agent is making an ad-hoc task manager on skills and simple daemons.

So that I can interact with it using files instead of this stupid workflow of typing a prompt into the console and then just doing nothing while waiting for the response.

There is absolutely no reason not to do it asynchronously.

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