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What I'm Up to Now

martinfowler.com

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Re: What I'm Up to Now

#41

Post by jlg23 »

diskzero wrote: post #11

Fowler states: I’ve long known that when you’re doing very creative work, such as writing or programming, the useful hours you can do in a day is rather less than the accepted industrial eight. I don't want to disagree with him as this is quite subjective, but when I am totally engrossed in solving a problem, I get into a flow and the time flies by. If the problem is both interesting and challenging, I can't wait to…

That you can be "engrossed in solving a problem" is a luxury. One that I enjoyed when I was responsible only to myself. Once my wife and daughter entered my life, it was gone. And even before, from time to time, I had to make space for other obligations that came before my interest/work.

The problems to solve still interest me, but changing diapers or getting something from the supermarket for my daugher before it closes has become important enough that may they to "disrupt"[1] my life anytime.

[1] in quotes, because I would not want to live without these "disruptions" anymore. The accomplishment of calming my baby daughter in a few seconds dwarves any of the hacks people still know me for.

Re: What I'm Up to Now

#42

Post by diskzero »

jlg23 wrote: post #41
diskzero wrote: post #11

Fowler states: I’ve long known that when you’re doing very creative work, such as writing or programming, the useful hours you can do in a day is rather less than the accepted industrial eight. I don't want to disagree with him as this is quite subjective, but when I am totally engrossed in solving a problem, I get into a flow and the time flies by. If the problem is both interesting and challenging, I can't wait to…

That you can be "engrossed in solving a problem" is a luxury. One that I enjoyed when I was responsible only to myself. Once my wife and daughter entered my life, it was gone. And even before, from time to time, I had to make space for other obligations that came before my interest/work. The problems to solve still interest me, but changing diapers or getting something from the supermarket for my daugher before it cl…

That is a good observation. I am the primary care-giver for a sick spouse, so I have also seen the luxury of time spent on programming diminish.

I am glad you pointed this out. Now that I am older, and perhaps wiser, I can look back at some of the unhealthy attitudes that I had about co-workers who had to balance the much more important demands of life against completing a certain feature or getting a demo ready by a certain date.

When I look at my younger self, I can see how this attitude can lead to ageism and the lack of respect and support some employees see in organizations that only value how much code you can crank out.

Re: What I'm Up to Now

#43

Post by vlunkr »

recursivedoubts wrote: post #40

Martin, if you are reading this, here's something you could do: Revisit REST (and the Richardson Maturity Model[1]) and explain why REST has failed so spectacularly in the JSON API world. It's worth doing because REST-ful hypermedia systems are using an interesting and distinctive network model, and most younger web engineers don't know much about it and end up using the client-server approaches that have become so c…

> explain why REST has failed so spectacularly in the JSON API world

Could you elaborate on this?

Re: What I'm Up to Now

#44

Post by gighjifews »

Somewhat flippant, but also a serious question - do people like Martin Fowler and uncle bob actually do anything or do they just describe systems that do not (and probably will never) actually exist? Have they built real world software, or do they just describe some ideal state that has never actually occurred in reality - some kind of geek porn?

I’d much rather listen to people who have actually done things than people who have theoretical done things (people who do both are best).

I ask because I thought Rob Pike was one of those people until I found out what he does / has done.

Re: What I'm Up to Now

#45

Post by [deleted] »

vlunkr wrote: post #43
recursivedoubts wrote: post #40

Martin, if you are reading this, here's something you could do: Revisit REST (and the Richardson Maturity Model[1]) and explain why REST has failed so spectacularly in the JSON API world. It's worth doing because REST-ful hypermedia systems are using an interesting and distinctive network model, and most younger web engineers don't know much about it and end up using the client-server approaches that have become so c…

> explain why REST has failed so spectacularly in the JSON API world Could you elaborate on this?

[deleted]

Re: What I'm Up to Now

#46

Post by user3939382 »

gighjifews wrote: post #44

Somewhat flippant, but also a serious question - do people like Martin Fowler and uncle bob actually do anything or do they just describe systems that do not (and probably will never) actually exist? Have they built real world software, or do they just describe some ideal state that has never actually occurred in reality - some kind of geek porn? I’d much rather listen to people who have actually done things than peo…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Fowler_(software_engine...

Re: What I'm Up to Now

#47

Post by m0zg »

user3939382 wrote: post #46
gighjifews wrote: post #44

Somewhat flippant, but also a serious question - do people like Martin Fowler and uncle bob actually do anything or do they just describe systems that do not (and probably will never) actually exist? Have they built real world software, or do they just describe some ideal state that has never actually occurred in reality - some kind of geek porn? I’d much rather listen to people who have actually done things than peo…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Fowler_(software_engine...

So I guess the answer is "no", then? :-)

Re: What I'm Up to Now

#49

Post by hhmc »

webmaven wrote: post #26
diskzero wrote: post #11

Fowler states: I’ve long known that when you’re doing very creative work, such as writing or programming, the useful hours you can do in a day is rather less than the accepted industrial eight. I don't want to disagree with him as this is quite subjective, but when I am totally engrossed in solving a problem, I get into a flow and the time flies by. If the problem is both interesting and challenging, I can't wait to…

> [W]hen I am totally engrossed in solving a problem, I get into a flow and the time flies by. If the problem is both interesting and challenging, I can't wait to get back to working on it and I hate having to stop! I agree that it is possible to remain in a state of flow for "the standard industrial eight", but on occasions where I've remained in a state of flow for eight (or more) hours, the quality of the work suf…

> and the following day is a total loss (as in "me no think good, think meat broken")

I've certainly experienced this also. I'm curious if there's a neurological explanation?

Re: What I'm Up to Now

#50

Post by bryanrasmussen »

diskzero wrote: post #11

Fowler states: I’ve long known that when you’re doing very creative work, such as writing or programming, the useful hours you can do in a day is rather less than the accepted industrial eight. I don't want to disagree with him as this is quite subjective, but when I am totally engrossed in solving a problem, I get into a flow and the time flies by. If the problem is both interesting and challenging, I can't wait to…

I tend not to have flow in programming for more than 3 or 4 hours. In writing my experience is that you can have flow for days but at some point it starts to peter out and then you grind to a halt, and because you have been running on flow for such a long time it is difficult to force yourself to just write, because you hope to get the flow back, so then you spend a few days doing nothing but a paragraph or two until you realize you have to do the work and the flow is just not coming back by itself.
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