For anybody reading the comments here without reading the article, and assuming some toxic-management-friendly nudge to burn-out style working (as implied by some of the comments); it's actually a very useful and thought-provoking self-help essay that may help as a tool against procrastination.
Speed matters: Why working quickly is more important than it seems (2015)
81–90 of 177 posts
Re: Speed matters: Why working quickly is more important than it seems (2015)
#82For me, after years producing software, I've set myself up to be able to say no. I disregard urgency when it exists for urgency's sake, coming out of business despair or a gut feeling. I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday. Working…
>I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday. I feel sorry for you. As some who's been around the block a few times, I will never, EVER, give away my mental or physical health for someone's business. My health is more important than thei…
In defense of the parent, I can imagine a situation where I'm excited and truly bought into a product as improving peoples lives and am willing to expend the energy to dramatically improve that product in meaningful ways. I think this is something a lot of folks in our industry want, and that's not per se bad though it can lead to negative outcomes.
Re: Speed matters: Why working quickly is more important than it seems (2015)
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday. I feel sorry for you. As some who's been around the block a few times, I will never, EVER, give away my mental or physical health for someone's business. My health is more important than thei…
In defense of the parent, I can imagine a situation where I'm excited and truly bought into a product as improving peoples lives and am willing to expend the energy to dramatically improve that product in meaningful ways. I think this is something a lot of folks in our industry want, and that's not per se bad though it can lead to negative outcomes.
I had a project like this once. I really threw myself into it. I wasn't dying, but it did have a negative impact on my life in most other dimensions.
Then some kind of politics held the project up (likely for years), and they had me work a different project, so I quit, 'cause it was the success of that particular project that had me coming to work (it was gonna prevent traffic accidents, and it was fun to work on).
I have a healthier work/life balance now, but I don't care about what I'm working on. If they could get the wheels moving on that project again I'd switch back in a heartbeat.
I'm gonna die either way. If I have to put in a bit more work in order for it all to have meant something more than pointless meetings and products that nobody wants, then that's work I'm willing to do.
Re: Speed matters: Why working quickly is more important than it seems (2015)
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, that sentence leapt out at me too. Bizarre life priorities, and undermines otherwise sensible remarks.
Happy to be a slave as long as it makes me feel good.
You're willingly choosing to work on an interesting problem that you otherwise would not have access to, and, let's be real, our compensation and autonomy as developers is far from that of servitude. Plus you can quit any time.
Slavery here really hyperbolic. We're talking about hard work that is both interesting and rewarding.
Re: Speed matters: Why working quickly is more important than it seems (2015)
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not ideal, but mistakes and experiments seem to be the best way people learn.
There's nothing wrong with making mistakes in experiments . However, when you're building financial systems, there's absolutely no room for mistakes.
Most financial systems are designed to have room for mistakes.
Banks keep ledgers of transactions instead of just the balances, so that if an account balance is off, it can be recalculated from the transactions.
Transactions can be cancelled in case there was an error.
Invoices are often checked by humans before they are sent to customers, introducing an option to catch errors. If the customer receives a faulty invoice, they can contact whoever wrote it and ask for a correction. And so on.
Of course, there isn't room for error in every corner -- having a flaw in an authentication or authorization protocol could be very costly to recover from.
But in general, the assumption that in finance in general, there is no room for mistakes is simply false.
Re: Speed matters: Why working quickly is more important than it seems (2015)
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Measure once, cut twice, earn one to throw away.
This is a bad analogy for software. One of the unique properties of software, compared to other crafts, is that the material cost of iteration is virtually zero. We should use that to our advantage instead of pretending we're carpenters.
Even using the carpentry analogy, I suspect the point is to avoid ruining something on which a lot of time was spent. The material cost of most raw materials isn't very high, but ruining something you've already spent hours crafting is extremely costly.
The other thing to bear in mind is that there is always more work to be done than time to do it. You have to factor in opportunity cost. As many other commenters have said, ultimately it's a balance which depends on your company's particular situation.
Re: Speed matters: Why working quickly is more important than it seems (2015)
#87It seems like this should work the other way too? If you want to break a habit, add a delay. This seems like a good idea for a browser extension. Maybe sometimes you want to undo the work that the website did making things go faster?
I’ve seen this used to good effect with coworkers that habitually ask for help before trying to solve the problem themselves. Instead of ignoring them or complaining that they’re wasting your time, wait to respond for a few minutes so that you’re no longer faster than looking the information up for themselves. Obviously this only works over some kind of messaging service; face-to-face conversations have significantly…
I try and do this with customers, if I slow the response they often figure things out for themselves.
Re: Speed matters: Why working quickly is more important than it seems (2015)
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday. I feel sorry for you. As some who's been around the block a few times, I will never, EVER, give away my mental or physical health for someone's business. My health is more important than thei…
Yeah that's a junior mistake. In this case, a person can have a solid 20+ years of great career and still do this basic mistake. World is full of people rich and poor, smart and not so much, who end up regretting their life choices when getting old. I would say it differently though - do I have +-guaranteed massive return that over-compensates my extra effort and loss? If I get something meaningful, ie paid next 5 am…
Potentially unpopular opinion but I agree. If there's a definite payoff to burning hard on a given project, I'll do it. Trading a few months or weeks for a paid off home is hardly insane at all.
Re: Speed matters: Why working quickly is more important than it seems (2015)
#89For me, after years producing software, I've set myself up to be able to say no. I disregard urgency when it exists for urgency's sake, coming out of business despair or a gut feeling. I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday. Working…
>I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday. I feel sorry for you. As some who's been around the block a few times, I will never, EVER, give away my mental or physical health for someone's business. My health is more important than thei…
I feel both sorry for the parent and also relate to it. I have several sprints a year that get me so excited about work, that I will head to work after kids’ bedtimes to code — all night — because I can’t stop thinking about some solution. Sometimes I’m so excited I wouldn’t be able to sleep so might as well work.
Re: Speed matters: Why working quickly is more important than it seems (2015)
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday. I feel sorry for you. As some who's been around the block a few times, I will never, EVER, give away my mental or physical health for someone's business. My health is more important than thei…
I feel both sorry for the parent and also relate to it. I have several sprints a year that get me so excited about work, that I will head to work after kids’ bedtimes to code — all night — because I can’t stop thinking about some solution. Sometimes I’m so excited I wouldn’t be able to sleep so might as well work.
Why do you do that for a company that would be throw you away if it made economic sense to do so?
Why don't you find personal avenues in which to exert that creative energy for you, your family, or society?