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Strategies for Long Projects

benbrostoff.github.io

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Re: Strategies for Long Projects

#31

Post by hellisothers »

This article rings true of my experience with accomplishing projects both in and out of software but I think it also describes my approach to life generally (optimism + grit) which makes me think it’s less a thing learned and more a personality/behavior thing. I know several people who’s approach to life, the universe, and everything is “everything is terrible, I’m going to fail” and have built up defensive mechanisms to manage to still succeed.

Also, I would have liked this post to touch on “what do you do when things actually fall apart” too.

Re: Strategies for Long Projects

#32

Post by atrilumen »

jshowa3 wrote: post #28
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.

Good point. But I guess the lesson for me is to have deadlines in the first place. At least it gives you a target.

I think, "go! go! go!"... and then fuck around with small details until I go broke. I need way more awareness of the big picture.

It's so hard to balance. I need a partner, but I've really isolated myself at this point :(

Re: Strategies for Long Projects

#33

Post by Swizec »

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?

It’s a character trait, not a cognitive skill. Still learnable of course, but it’s more about managing emotions than thinking.

Re: Strategies for Long Projects

#34

Post by atrilumen »

jshowa3 wrote: post #28
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.

Also, you learn from missing deadlines. So having deadlines must be valuable even if you consistently miss them.

Re: Strategies for Long Projects

#35

Post by jshowa3 »

atrilumen wrote: post #34
jshowa3 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Also, you learn from missing deadlines. So having deadlines must be valuable even if you consistently miss them.

I don't know. What I learn is that I either: a) suck b) am slow c) drastically underestimated my ability d) drastically underestimated the projects complexity

Either way, most of it is negative. I can't think of much good coming out of missing a deadline other than it makes you look incompetent.

Re: Strategies for Long Projects

#36

Post by atrilumen »

jshowa3 wrote: post #35
atrilumen wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, you learn from missing deadlines. So having deadlines must be valuable even if you consistently miss them.

I don't know. What I learn is that I either: a) suck b) am slow c) drastically underestimated my ability d) drastically underestimated the projects complexity Either way, most of it is negative. I can't think of much good coming out of missing a deadline other than it makes you look incompetent.

And you're better off without learning those things? Man, if there's a problem, especially with me, I need to know it.

Re: Strategies for Long Projects

#37

Post by jshowa3 »

atrilumen wrote: post #36
jshowa3 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. What I learn is that I either: a) suck b) am slow c) drastically underestimated my ability d) drastically underestimated the projects complexity Either way, most of it is negative. I can't think of much good coming out of missing a deadline other than it makes you look incompetent.

And you're better off without learning those things? Man, if there's a problem, especially with me , I need to know it.

No. It's just most people don't view it as themselves being the problem. Which is why it's all mostly a lie.

Even Elon doesn't seem to care about why he misses deadlines because he keeps making them.

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