What “work” looks like • Hacker News Board

Re: What “work” looks like

#201

Post by mrweasel » Tue, Oct 25, 2022, 6:43 PM UTC

My mind is apparently a bit more brutal, but much the same. Load the problem, meaning read on the problem, do a few test implementations of the basics, maybe do a rough object oriented solution, then a functional, get stuck and go do something else. Then at any random point here after, but mostly when completely relaxed my mind swing into action with: Hey buddy, remember that thing you where working on? Well, here you go, here's ALL OF IT in 20 seconds, so pay attention.

The human brain is amazing at background processing, but at least in my case it doesn't drip out solutions, you get everything at once.

Re: What “work” looks like

#202

Post by dylan604 » Tue, Oct 25, 2022, 6:46 PM UTC

mr_gibbins wrote: post #140

lqet wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The three fundamental ideas of my PhD came to while: 1.) Sitting in a park sketching solutions on a notebook. 2.) Laying at the beach on vacation. 3.) Playing Legos with my daughter. Without these ideas, I doubt there would've even been a PhD, or even a paper publication. (There was a period of 2 years in my life where I did not have any significant ideas, at all. During that time, I was employed at a company which o…

Snap. Whenever I sat down to cast about for ideas on how to develop the initial form of my PhD, nada, zip. Deliberate concentration on one thing was a shortcut to procrastination. The 'big idea' came when I was on campus, standing outside smoking. Hit me like a bombshell. I literally ran to see my supervisor, blurted out IT'S JUST A F**G MOLECULE, cleared off his whiteboard and spent the next hour sketching out what…

>Companies need to promote creative problem-solving spaces,

Unfortunately, there are people that do not understand how this concept works. These are the same employees that stare at screens trying to for a square peg into a round hole, but then see other employees trying it the other way and complain about how so many people are doing nothing when so much is to be done.

These complaints tend to percolate up, and these creative problem solving spaces end up getting removed to be replaced by more work space for the additional head count to solve all of the work to be done

Re: What “work” looks like

#203

Post by hinkley » Tue, Oct 25, 2022, 6:54 PM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #153

jayde2767 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know the castration of ideas in the "Everything-is-an-Emergency" company culture. If you're not careful, it will condition you to delay work because the next "emergency" and shift in priority is imminent.

I kept my sanity at one place by working on refactoring every moment there wasn’t an emergency. I was trying to make all the changes easier. But that was after having tried several other solutions, including the dreaded Infinite Configurability, which has to be the absolutely best way to punish most of the team for how clever two or three of them are. I’m working at a place like that now and it’s been an eye roller.…

> But that was after having tried several other solutions,

I should clarify that I didn't mean concurrent or consecutive here, but across several different projects. Different preconditions can sink a strategy. It's hard to get any signal when you apply multiple unsuccessful strategies to the same 'experiment'.

Re: What “work” looks like

#204

Post by Yeroc » Tue, Oct 25, 2022, 6:57 PM UTC

gjadi wrote: post #26

There is a good MOOC on coursera on the topic of learning and creative working: Learning How To Learn by Barbara Oakley (there is also a book). She talks about focused and diffused mode of thinking. The main idea is that to create new neuron connections (memory or understanding) you've to work hard on a topic - the focused mode - and then take a break - the diffused mode. By switching modes you help your brain. Of co…

I was hoping someone would mention "Learning How To Learn" as I was immediately reminded of this as well. The process described in this article aligns completely with portions of Barbara's research and teaching.

Re: What “work” looks like

#205

Post by hinkley » Tue, Oct 25, 2022, 6:58 PM UTC

uglygoblin wrote: post #178

hinkley wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I kept my sanity at one place by working on refactoring every moment there wasn’t an emergency. I was trying to make all the changes easier. But that was after having tried several other solutions, including the dreaded Infinite Configurability, which has to be the absolutely best way to punish most of the team for how clever two or three of them are. I’m working at a place like that now and it’s been an eye roller.…

I empathize deeply with you. I have been dealing with a system of "infinite configurability" for the last couple years and it's playing out the same way. The best I've been able to do is slowly codify the most problematic corners and put guard rails as many places as possible. Sometimes I want to put my hands up in defeat and leave but there is also a satisfaction and growth from simplifying the Rube Goldberg machine…

"Code coverage" and code that does everything and thus nothing are a potent cocktail as well. You can have 90% 'coverage' on a file and still only be covering 5% of the actual code paths (that's unfortunately not hyperbole, but a real number from a real analysis I did. When the numbers disagree that much, people tend to ignore the terrifying one)

Re: What “work” looks like

#206

Post by sph » Tue, Oct 25, 2022, 6:59 PM UTC

seti0Cha wrote: post #179

scruple wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't the Italians known for their coffee?

From what I've seen, Italian coffee consumption is nothing like American coffee consumption. They don't sip at enormous cups of drip coffee while working, but instead quickly drink small amounts of espresso as a break. It seems to me that leads both to less caffeine consumption and more actual enjoyment of the beverage.

Italians drink small cups of espresso or moka (if homemade), and maybe a cappuccino at breakfast. The morning and lunch time ones are mandatory, then maybe one mid afternoon or in the evening.

If you happen to see someone having a cappuccino at lunch, or, yikes! with their dinner, they're probably a tourist.

When I last lived there, Starbucks and the lattes and pumpkin spice big mugs were a "weird American novelty" for teens in major city centres.

Re: What “work” looks like

#207

Post by quesera » Tue, Oct 25, 2022, 7:00 PM UTC

jrcplus wrote: post #167

I worked at Apple during the second, golden Steve Jobs era. It's easy to assume that the culture of secrecy and need-to-know disclosure was for marketing/PR benefit and/or old-school Silicon Valley "only the paranoid survive" mindset, and perhaps that's true, but a very real side effect is that you have very tight loops of communication, so you can focus and move quickly without being stuck in tons of meetings or dro…

> It's the best "case against collaboration" I have experienced.

Steve Jobs is also famous for promoting work spaces / floor plans designed to encourage serendipitous (or at least spontaneous) interactions between people and groups. Notably at Pixar, but then again at Apple Park.

There's a tension between the two. Probably the "ideal", if such a thing could exist at all, varies between individuals and teams, the nature of their work, and over time.

This is a completely boring idea though, one which will inspire no blog posts!

Re: What “work” looks like

#208

Post by Justsignedup » Tue, Oct 25, 2022, 7:03 PM UTC

Recently, working from home, this is what brainstorming looks like to me:

- i raise my desk so i can stand

- i pace around the house talking to myself

- we all asynchronously type different weird ideas to each other and discuss each one, then go back to pacing

I've never been as creative as I have been with this setup.

Re: What “work” looks like

#209

Post by hrbf » Tue, Oct 25, 2022, 7:04 PM UTC

boppo1 wrote: post #105

hrbf wrote: post #42

Back when I started as a freelancer, I initially copied the 9-to-5 rhythm of „working“. That, despite having viewed this forced window of work as one of the biggest annoyances that come with a job. Over time, I could overcome this „weird“ feeling of not sitting at my desk while working. It went quite a bit like the author describes: - Load up on context and information. - Start outlining the problem. - When stuck, tr…

> that’s a huge, separate discussion. I don't think so. It's basically just the tragedy of the commons. Most workers are responsible and a 20-30 minute nap/walk break would make them more productive. 20% will abuse it endlessly.

I hear this argument repeatedly. What’s missing is the question _why_ said people do this. I feel it’s not sufficient to lump them together under “some people are leeches” and be done with it. I’d argue that if they had a meaningful responsibility, they wouldn’t bug off.

Re: What “work” looks like

#210

Post by Joeri » Tue, Oct 25, 2022, 7:06 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #152

This is one of the most absurd, black-and-white things I've ever read. Does innovation come from running, showering, lying in bed? Absolutely, no question. But at the same time, when you get a diverse group of people to solve particular problems, they generally come up with far better solutions than any one of them would have on their own. Because these are really about two totally different types of problems. The fi…

What the group is good at in your second category is precisely defining the shape of the problem. In my experience the solution is then still born from an individual's creative efforts, even during this group effort. I prefer the sandwich model of cooperation: get together to define the problem, separate to work on it, get together to review solutions, iterate.