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Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

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Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#401

Post by charles_f »

chx wrote: post #126

This again? A blog post stuffed with stolen art and often heard but absolutely not working advice? > Every morning, I start my day by planning it out in a custom template that displays my Google Calendar events and Todoist task list. For real? One of the best ADHD tools I am aware of is called the Anti Planner. It doesn't take long to find posts like "why to-do lists don't work for people with ADHD" https://coachjess…

Yes, the morning routine and "at the end of the day" journaling are things that I never successfully implemented.

Thanks for pointing to body doubling and anti planner. They seem like interesting concepts. Do you have any others that are worth checking?

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#402

Post by gregsadetsky »

TheRealHB wrote: post #387
gregsadetsky wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fascinating! A few questions: - once the LED has slowed down to 60 bpm, do you keep it at that tempo for the rest of the day? for a few hours? do you ever go back to 120 bpm and then go back down? - generally speaking, how did you come up with the idea? - do you think that a software version (i.e. some blinking pixels in the top right corner of a monitor) would work, or is the intensity of the LED (i.e. the fact that…

Sure, Here is what I did to my current v.3+ - Once it reaches the lowest rate, the LED goes off after a 30min timer set, it fades the light over that time under the same blinking rate. So I won't notice. - The Idea comes from desperation really, mostly curiosity on why sound beats from upbeat music had a effect to improve mood, i.e. work more at gym. Also the idea that your brain will take patterns and try to synch w…

Thanks, super interesting!

There was research some time ago (jeez, 10 years ago...) [0] [1] that used video and... computer vision algorithms to detect a person's heart rate without any devices. Wondering if it could be used here i.e. use your webcam instead of an external hardware sensor?

Other thing - would you be open to publishing/sharing your algorithm / esp32 code (on Github or as a blog article)?

[0] https://news.mit.edu/2012/amplifying-invisible-video-0622

[1] https://people.csail.mit.edu/mrub/vidmag/

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#403

Post by TheRealHB »

arsome wrote: post #163
TheRealHB wrote: post #54

The Blinking LED, A simple Hack that still works for me after years: 1. Place a tiny LED (red or yellow) by the side of your monitor or virtually on the screen corner. Basically anywhere almost bordering your field of view. 2. Make it blink like a fast heartbeat (120-150 bpm) and gradually slowdown to around 60 bpm (or your slow heartbeat base). Make the slope approx 20 to 60 minutes (you can adjust the best rate by…

You could probably just implement this in software on a side monitor even...

I explained above on another question, did started as Software (v.1 and v.2) but I guess my brain tried to ignore and sabotage the work on the screen, so I placed as a tiny device underneath (gotcha F brains!).

Like tricking the brain to see as not part of the work.

; )

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#404

Post by JohnBooty »

atcalan wrote: post #300
cottage-cheese wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think ADHD is the new norm. Maybe selection bias, but a significant number of my friends are diagnosed.

5% of the population have the disorder. Self selection may be causing you to see it as very prevalent.

I think that may be true.

I also think it's true that many professions will aggressively surface ADHD.

Imagine a plumber making house calls all day. There's a fair bit of structure and variety baked into his day, he's moving around, gets to use his hands, etc. It's hard and skilled work but it also might be really compatible with ADHD.

Now think of a software engineer. 8-10 hours of monofocus on a single task every day. It's just you and the computer... which also has the largest array of distractions (the internet) just a click away. Fucking nightmare scenario for ADHD. If you've got even a hint of ADHD this career will expose it and expose it hard.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#405

Post by TheRealHB »

flir wrote: post #118
TheRealHB wrote: post #54

The Blinking LED, A simple Hack that still works for me after years: 1. Place a tiny LED (red or yellow) by the side of your monitor or virtually on the screen corner. Basically anywhere almost bordering your field of view. 2. Make it blink like a fast heartbeat (120-150 bpm) and gradually slowdown to around 60 bpm (or your slow heartbeat base). Make the slope approx 20 to 60 minutes (you can adjust the best rate by…

Intriguing. Wonder if sound would work also.

It does, but the blinking was better in my case.

I used to do beats high to low, instrumental music basically.

; )

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#406

Post by datadrivenangel »

gosub100 wrote: post #245
keyle wrote: post #33

This hits home. I think we need to really take a hard look at today's world of tech and how we communicate and collaborate. I find that, if time allows, I get a massive productivity boost after 4:30pm and everyone is either winding down or leaving. All the sudden, the walls flatten, the horizon deepens and I enter a deep state of flow. Around 10 AM, after an elongated "stand up", I should be ready to go... And yet it…

during covid I was "overemployed" at first 2 jobs, then 3 (which I sustained for over 8 months). Some of it was luck, like not having conflicting meetings, having jobs in different timezones, and the leniency given due to the chaos of the times, but I actually did get work done. But during the average day, I was only there to respond to slack and participate in meetings. I wouldn't really "work" as in write code, unt…

Was it worth it to have multiple jobs?

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#407

Post by The_Colonel »

TremendousJudge wrote: post #193
throwoutway wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, I'd add to give your manager your phone number for emergencies and tell them you've allow-listed their number to ring when others can't. Then get back to flow

That sounds like a terrible idea to me, I'd never want to do that. If they like the work I do, management should learn to respect the way I do it.

If you like the company/team enough to work there, you should learn to respect the way it operates.

Hopefully it doesn't sound too combative, but I wanted to express that it's a two way street and compromises have to be found. I dislike various things in my company on a personal level, but often make sense from company/team point of view.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#408

Post by TheRealHB »

maskil wrote: post #110
TheRealHB wrote: post #54

The Blinking LED, A simple Hack that still works for me after years: 1. Place a tiny LED (red or yellow) by the side of your monitor or virtually on the screen corner. Basically anywhere almost bordering your field of view. 2. Make it blink like a fast heartbeat (120-150 bpm) and gradually slowdown to around 60 bpm (or your slow heartbeat base). Make the slope approx 20 to 60 minutes (you can adjust the best rate by…

"Make the slope approx 20-60 minutes", to be clear does this mean it should take that period of time to gradually go from 120 to 20-60?

Yes, I started with a 1 hour slope... from 150 to 60 over that time.

Also it is not really a blink but a quick fade in/out effect not a flash.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#409

Post by citruscomputing »

A few years ago, I was part of a neurodiversity ERG, and we were gathering recommendations for the new office that was going to be built. I found "Designing a Neurodiverse Workplace"[0]. It is a fantastic design document that told me about things I didn't have the language to express that I needed. One of the points it makes is "have a variety of types of spaces and let people pick and move between them", which the author touches on with regard to hybrid work. Everyone (not just ND people) gets overwhelmed by sensory stimuli sometimes, needs to be alone sometimes, needs to be around people and noise sometimes. I kinda knew "yeah yeah accessibility benefits everyone" but I didn't really get it until then. Highly recommend reading this.

[0]: https://www.hok.com/pdf/download/31839/

If that link doesn't work: https://www.hok.com/ideas/publications/hok-designing-a-neuro...

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#410

Post by The_Colonel »

JohnBooty wrote: post #369
flir wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WFH encourages scheduled meetings. It's a nightmare. I'd much rather just get an interruption out of the blue than have someone schedule a meeting to talk to me, because in the run-up to the meeting I won't try to start anything (what's the point if I've got a pending interruption?) At least my standups are first thing in the morning.

I'd much rather just get an interruption out of the blue than have someone schedule a meeting to talk to me After 15+ years of exploring my own ADHD and learning about others' experiences, I'm still constantly wowed by how differently we all react to this stuff. For me, out-of-the-blue interruptions are a worst case scenario for my ADHD. It's very hard for me to get into the "flow" if I know that I might be interrupt…

In my experience scheduled meetings tend to be longer and involve more people than necessarily.

Also, somewhat contraintuitively, I often avoid starting some new work e. g. 30 minutes before a scheduled meeting, meanwhile without it I just start, and if interruption happens,... it just happens.

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