Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day • Hacker News Board

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#101

Post by jayknight » Sat, Dec 16, 2023, 5:27 PM UTC

usrusr wrote: post #67

MatthiasWandel wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have done something like that at times. I find the bug in the afternoon. Now I have the satisfaction of having found it and don't want to risk the frustration of it not actually being the actual bug I found. So I saved it for the next day, to milk the satisfaction again, but also to be more fresh at it to fix it right and test it, or to better be able to deal with it not being the actual bug! Though my boss at some…

Also taking notes to bridge the time gap, physically or even just in the mind, can help improve understanding. Could be described as rubber-ducking with a future self.

I've tried so hard to take notes about what I do, but I'm really bad at it.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#102

Post by PreachSoup » Sat, Dec 16, 2023, 8:57 PM UTC

alentred wrote: post #40

PreachSoup wrote: post #16

It really depends. This is just one of the tools that might or might not for you. I think it's more important to know your goal and yourself. In this case, you want to increase your productivity. As long as you can reach your goal, it's good enough. Personally it doesn't work well for me because I need clean separations from work and be in the prolonged work mode would cause burnout. I have no problem to get started…

I am with you on this one. I, for my part, cannot stop unless I finish some logical subset of the work. Leaving the work incomplete or with bugs would make me sleep worse, and I would spend lots of time the next day trying to understand what I was trying to achieve. Even more so in hobby projects, where I might come back in a couple of days or weeks. What I do, though, is leaving a TODO where I think I need to contin…

Yep. I think ppls' brains are wired differently naturally.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#103

Post by takinola » Sat, Dec 16, 2023, 9:14 PM UTC

Atrine wrote: post #31

> Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day Years ago a sr. eng on my team would find root causes to bugs late in the afternoon and then just go home. When asked why, they said that they knew exactly what they were going to do first thing in the morning and that it got them straight into the flow state for the rest of the day. I like this example better because understanding a root cause and not hav…

I did something like this yesterday. The only problem is that I spent all night dreaming of SQL statements to implement the solution. YMMV if you have trouble turning your brain off it seems.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#104

Post by wlonkly » Sun, Dec 17, 2023, 7:33 PM UTC

thfuran wrote: post #77

el_benhameen wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure sure, but a complete but incorrect understanding of the system is, to me, still better than an incomplete one. If I have a complete system in my head, I can use that to jumpstart my thinking the next day and then get to a correct understanding. But an incomplete understanding is even more confusing the next day because of all the loose ends.

A complete but incorrect understanding is just an incomplete understanding with some extra confusion.

Sure, but the goal at the end of the day isn't to understand it fully, it's to have something that you can swap out and swap back in the next day.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#105

Post by worldsayshi » Wed, Dec 20, 2023, 2:13 PM UTC

QuercusMax wrote: post #32

gowld wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless emptying your brain helps you forget.

I interpret "emptying your brain" to mean "writing things down so you don't have to remember them tomorrow". This probably helps you remember, but without the stress of worrying about forgetting.

Yes, emptying your brain into text.