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Strategies for Long Projects

benbrostoff.github.io

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Re: Strategies for Long Projects

#21

Post by brixon »

onion2k wrote: post #14
killjoywashere wrote: post #6

I don't want to come across as putting down the author's work, but for the sake of everyone else, I want to reframe the definition of "long project". This would be a nice post if it was titled "Strategies for Quick Projects". I'm on year 8 of what is likely a life-long project (at a pace that is doubling annually). That's a fairly long project, but far from the longest. The Manhattan Project, the Human Genome Project…

The Manhattan Project, the Human Genome Project, the Apollo project. The Shuttle program. The National Cathedral. These are long projects. This is semantic hair-splitting a bit, but those things aren't "projects". They're portfolios of programs that are made up of lots of individual projects.

Well, that is a strategy to deal with large/long projects, break them into smaller/shorter ones.

Re: Strategies for Long Projects

#22

Post by michannne »

pure-awesome wrote: post #15
Swizec wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the word you’re looking for is “grit”. Gritiness has also been shown to be the greatest predictor of success. > Grit in psychology is a positive, non-cognitive trait based on an individual's perseverance of effort combined with the passion for a particular long-term goal or end state (a powerful motivation to achieve an objective). This perseverance of effort promotes the overcoming of obstacles or challeng…

I know you're just quoting Wikipedia here, but any idea what does "non-cognitive" mean in this context? What are some examples of cognitive and non-cognitive traits and why does grit fall into the latter category?

My understanding: it's behavioral, you don't need to have a certain level of intelligence to have grit

Re: Strategies for Long Projects

#23

Post by Torwald »

killjoywashere wrote: post #6

I don't want to come across as putting down the author's work, but for the sake of everyone else, I want to reframe the definition of "long project". This would be a nice post if it was titled "Strategies for Quick Projects". I'm on year 8 of what is likely a life-long project (at a pace that is doubling annually). That's a fairly long project, but far from the longest. The Manhattan Project, the Human Genome Project…

Just wanted to add this to your list of long-term projects…

http://longnow.org

Re: Strategies for Long Projects

#24

Post by atrilumen »

Thanks for this.

I've been struggling to work full time on a project for a few years now. I think it's the most important thing that I can do with my life now, so I refuse to let go for any reason. (I'm a US citizen literally starving in Colombia.)

I can't get traction the way I've been going, so I have to make radical changes immediately. Thanks for the list.

    1. Tenacity (check!)
    2. Logging  (need a lot of improvement. where has all my time gone?!)
    3. Compounding (I fear I'll be contemplating this one all day now)
    4. Defending your time (prob need to back off on this one; too lonely)
I'm really loving Musk's rhyme: If the schedule is long, it's wrong; if it's tight, it's right. I've been moving way too slowly, spending too much time on small details.

I need to do my thing more openly instead of hiding out with my head down; maybe I would have never done that first project reboot, and I'd have customers by now!

Re: Strategies for Long Projects

#25

Post by w0utert »

danShumway wrote: post #2

Excellent post. A lot of this rings true to my experiences as well, particularly being defensive about time and commitments. Really, most of the authors points had me kind of nodding along. On the other hand, I somewhat feel what the author is getting at with optimism, but I'm not sure optimism is the right word for what makes me productive. It's difficult to put into words, but I do agree there is a kind of strange…

In my own experience there is a very strong feedback-loop effect attached to the idea of staying optimistic about progress and not getting put off by all the problems you can see in the future.

I've realized on many occasions that I was being put off spending time on projects because of all the stuff I could think of that would take even more time, all the difficult problems I could already see or was sure to find along the way. It's paralyzing. But the effect of crossing off items on the eternal to-do list, the sense of progress, is strong enough to keep me going.

Maybe that's what the author describes as 'optimism': not getting paralyzed by bears down the road, so you can keep the positive feedback from progress going?

Re: Strategies for Long Projects

#27

Post by jshowa3 »

What I don't get is how does one know they will solve a problem? I run into many problems that I don't have a good solution for and can't seem to figure out nor find how to get one. So I usually need to ask a co-worker for help and even then, they usually have to do it for me because they can't find time to show me how to do it. And if they do it or even show you what you need to do, are you really solving that problem?

Guess it's one of those things no one seems to be able to figure out since most of these pieces never really describe, in detail, what their process actually is for something that's unsolvable for them.

Re: Strategies for Long Projects

#28

Post by jshowa3 »

atrilumen wrote: post #24

Thanks for this. I've been struggling to work full time on a project for a few years now. I think it's the most important thing that I can do with my life now, so I refuse to let go for any reason. (I'm a US citizen literally starving in Colombia.) I can't get traction the way I've been going, so I have to make radical changes immediately. Thanks for the list. 1. Tenacity (check!) 2. Logging (need a lot of improvemen…

Except for the fact that Elon Musk nearly always misses his own deadlines so what's the point of that rhyme if you don't even know what the deadline should be?

Making deadlines tight for the sake of it makes no sense other than to keep you working longer. Not that that's a bad thing, but if you end up missing the deadline, well... I don't know what you would think then.

Re: Strategies for Long Projects

#29

Post by wmij »

Something that has helped me with recognizing incremental progress on long running side and personal projects where completion seems so far off is relating it to the crawler vehicles NASA used to get the Space Shuttle to the launch pad.

https://www.nasa.gov/content/the-crawlers https://youtu.be/N1WvVRavXsI?t=60

Incremental progress and speed seem slow (1 mph), but eventually you will get into position for launch.

This has helped me understand how weight and physical constraints (these == time commitments to a primary project, family, sleep, etc.) impact velocity on where you start from getting to an eventual goal (starting a side project and coming to release, launch, etc.). Some things just can't travel faster than 1 mph due to external constraints.

Re: Strategies for Long Projects

#30

Post by kerkeslager »

killjoywashere wrote: post #6

I don't want to come across as putting down the author's work, but for the sake of everyone else, I want to reframe the definition of "long project". This would be a nice post if it was titled "Strategies for Quick Projects". I'm on year 8 of what is likely a life-long project (at a pace that is doubling annually). That's a fairly long project, but far from the longest. The Manhattan Project, the Human Genome Project…

The author starts off in the very first paragraph defining what he means by "long project". This passes the "Did the author communicate?" test with flying colors.
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