
Slow and Steady is Bullshit - carpdiem
http://www.usuallypragmatic.com/2014/07/slow-and-steady-is-bullshit.html
======
dasil003
I hate this linkbait title hyperbole. It takes whatever moderately good points
he had and makes them seem ridiculously wrong-headed. I understand being a
blowhard is often necessary to be seen and heard in American business culture,
but if you don't really know your shit you end up looking like a douchebag to
anyone with half a clue.

For instance, the context-switching cost is very true. It's better to focus on
one thing at a time, and multi-tasking is endemic to our society. If you can
focus on one thing for a few days with no distraction you can really
accomplish mountains especially compared to the usual email/social media
distraction dance that is seemingly normal for anyone with a smart phone these
days.

However on the flip side, compressing learning that is intended to be absorbed
over a few months into a couple weeks of sleepless nights is a surefire way to
make sure your retention is absolutely squalid. We used to call this cramming,
it allows you to pass an exam, but it's well-known that it doesn't lead to
much in the way of long-term learning.

~~~
sheepmullet
"We used to call this cramming, it allows you to pass an exam, but it's well-
known that it doesn't lead to much in the way of long-term learning."

Learning in a compressed time-frame can be highly effective. The problem with
college kids is they stop learning and practicing right after the exam.

If they kept spending a few hours each week for the next few months they would
retain a large chunk of it.

~~~
dasil003
Yes they would, however that would be adding a healthy dose of "slow and
steady" to the equation, wouldn't it?

~~~
Anderkent
Not really. Slow and steady would be splitting the entire learning material
over a longer period. This would be learning everything as fast as possible
(cramming), then taking a couple weeks break, then cramming again. It is
indeed much more effective.

(the general case is much less explored, and the article provides no evidence
either way, unfortunately)

~~~
sheepmullet
I don't think cramming then taking a couple of weeks break and then cramming
again is an effective strategy. It only works with tasks that have a slow rate
of decay.

Good for making progress on a side project and yet horrible for learning.

I think slow and steady combined with a few sprints each year is optimal. I do
1 hour/day most of the year and then 40+ hours/week for two non-consecutive
months.

~~~
Anderkent
Well, I guess we're mostly arguing definitions here. If you do 1 hour/day, but
fit as much knowledge as you can into that hour, are you cramming for one
hour, or taking it slow and steady?

In practical terms, spaced repetition is with no doubt the best method for
remembering things, and you could either see it as slow and steady, or
repetetive cramming. For understanding things, I don't know of a good method;
but it seems like understanding 'keeps better' as long as you remember the
relevant facts.

------
visakanv
TL;DR: Don't half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing. And then another. And
then another. #manliness

\---

I find it odd that we seem to be taking so long as a species to develop a
useful, simple and broadly agreed-upon idea about the peaks and troughs on the
productivity landscape. Yes, it's better to focus than to multi-task. But it's
also good to show up every day and make a little progress. You want to do the
"minimum effective dose" each time.

To use his ladder analogy, climbing a quarter-rung a day gets you nowhere, but
a rung a day is superior to 4 rungs in one day and then no more rungs for a
week.

Aren't there more interesting things we can discuss about the nuances of
productivity than "here there be dragons"? Or is this really just chest-
beating bravado that we all do from time to time to make ourselves feel better
about our choices, and I should get back to work?

~~~
carpdiem
Agreed! I think it's super important to avoid getting burned out, but I really
wanted to highlight the importance of getting to new rungs, though, before you
stop for so long that you slip back down.

Where do you personally find the optimums of productivity? For me it's all
about having enough projects going that when I get tired of one, I can switch
to another and feel fresh about it.

~~~
visakanv
Sadly for me I think I still approach productivity in a very "barbaric" way- I
have long periods of idleness and procrastination, then I rush a fuckton of
work all at once. I've seen some success in my personal projects from writing
daily, but I haven't yet adapted such practices to my work and other
commitments... I'm an unproductive person who shouldn't be talking about this,
heh.

------
Argorak
This title is missing a "for me".

I am all for finding out your personal way of doing things, but don't call
things bullshit just because they don't work for you.

------
duncanawoods
I see this type of thinking as the road to procrastination.

If you see each task as a large do or die task that needs sacrifice and
extended concentration to complete otherwise there is no point even starting
it... you don't start it.

That said, I do agree with this type of thinking and believe many other people
do too which is why procrastination is such a widespread problem! My broader
take is that you need gears and know when to change up/down. Sometimes you are
going up hill and sometimes downhill. Sometimes you need to brake and
sometimes steering is more important than speed. Ahhh car metaphores...

------
300bps
As someone who has managed many people, I believe this is a personality type.
I've seen many programmers who make consistent, daily progress. In my
experience that is the most common type. I've also seen a good number of
people as described in the article. And there was one programmer that worked
for me that took it to an extreme. She would do nothing for a week and a half
and then do two weeks of work in a day or two.

I think it is important to find what works to motivate you on a personal
level. Sounds like OP made a step in that direction but may be over applying
the advice to other people.

------
fivedogit
Even though I get tired of all the "rules" the entrepreneurial community sets
out, half of which contradict the other half, I can completely relate to "slow
and steady is bullshit" idea.

I started a company when I was 23 and found product-market fit almost
immediately. But, being young, naive and completely unexposed to "real"
entrepreneurship, I tried to grow the company organically, customer by
customer, market by market (in my case, TV markets) rather than raise money. I
woke up every day, hit my cold call targets, and spent the rest of the time
coding, dealing with other IT issues, recruiting, managing employees,
bookkeeping, etc.

While I was busy gathering rinky-dink customers in one corner of the country,
my competitors raised money, expanded nationwide, and completely ate my lunch.

While this may be of the "well, that sounds like a personal problem" variety,
I believe the following holds true when a new "gold mine" (i.e. as yet
unrecognized market opportunity) is discovered by one or more companies:

"Even if you're growing, if you're not growing like crazy, you're falling
behind, comparatively."

For example, let's say there's a company competing with Uber that's growing by
2x per year. In a vacuum, that's great, right? But not in reality. Uber is
growing at like 100x per year and will eventually destroy that company.

So yes, I completely agree with OP, a least in terms of startups.

------
jjgreen
Pointless machismo is tiresome.

------
goldenkey
Overworking oneself is foolish. Great labor is made with precise work in clear
thought, under a nourished and well-recovered body. Strokes of genius on the
other hand, can be better aptly recognized for their origin of the mad
spurious scientist. Software development usually does not involve too many
strokes of genius. The hardest part is being precise, and being comprehensive.
Do not take stimulants, code like a maniac, and kill yourself to build
something. Build it calmly and collectively. This will reduce regret, and
ensure that you do not sacrifice your health for a lucky strike.

------
deathhand
{one conventional wisdom} is better than {other conventional wisdom}

Next week rolls around....

No OP was wrong! {Other conventional wisdom} is better than {one conventional
wisdom} because of their personal story!

------
Tyrannosaurs
A friend once said of "The 7 habits of highly effective people" that the first
habit was not wasting time reading self help books.

In a similar vein I suspect one of the key behaviors driving productivity
might be not spending much time writing about productivity on the internet.

Irony of posting this understood obv, but then I make no claims to
productivity, quite the opposite.

~~~
kwijibob
Actually reading self-help and productivity books is a great way to invigorate
your productivity. That is why productivity blogs are so popular.

I will happily read or reread a productivity book just to be inspired to get
my game on.

~~~
throwawayaway
It's also a great way to waste time, and fool yourself into thinking you're
doing the right thing, when you would actually be better off spending the time
working.

~~~
kwijibob
At least it is a form of "sharpening the saw" (to quote Covey). You are still
in the mode of thinking about how to be a better worker.

There are a whole lot of time sinks on the internet that are much much worse
ways of wasting time.

------
sheepmullet
2-3 times per year you can go all-out for 3-4 weeks. The rest of the year you
have to go at a much slower pace.

To make good progress both methods need to be used together.

Look at dieting. It is very easy and painless to eat 150-200 calories below
maintenance per day (as an average sized man). You just eat a little bit less.
E.g. If you normally get a large meal at McDonalds then get a medium instead.
But over a year that adds up to 15 odd pounds of fat!

Or you can go on a hardcore diet and lose 3-4 pounds a week! If you are smart
you will do it for 3-4 weeks and then taper off onto the slow and steady
method for the rest of the year.

The problem is people see a huge amount of progress in those 3-4 weeks and
think "If it works for 4 weeks I'll keep it up until I have a 6-pack". Then
they crash and put it all back on.

~~~
randallsquared
> Look at dieting. It is very easy and painless to eat 150-200 calories below
> maintenance per day

Were you intentionally trying to make the reverse point? 'Cause this may be
the worst possible example, otherwise: it's clearly _not_ easy and painless to
eat 200 calories below maintenance every day, given the huge obesity problem
we have.

~~~
sheepmullet
It is easy and painless. Pretty much everyone has the willpower to be able to
order the medium sized McDonalds meal rather than the large (or the large
instead of the super-sized). Or to use smaller sized plates when eating at
home.

People don't stick to it because the results aren't very visible and they
aren't fast. Not because it is difficult.

If you are 60 pounds overweight and somebody tells you to simply eat a little
less and in 4-5 years you will be a healthy weight is that really going to
motivate you to change?

------
5partan
That was my thinking too, that being said, i would be much further in my
sportive efforts if i would have taken the slow and steady approach. sure you
can burn yourself out for three months, take a break and repeat the cycle,
that is, if you don't loose interest because of overtraining, and get
distracted with other stuff. better 15 minutes a day a whole life than 3 or
more hours a day for who knows how long.

------
am185
works well when planned well. example, if you don't know linux, you can
download the whole linuxfromscratch.org and read a few page during weekdays,
and burn your weekend implementing it... or if you don't know much c++, you
can download and find a few pdfs and videos online during weekends and burn
yourself during weekdays... at least it works for me and gave me food for
survival... :)

------
joshdance
Steady and slow is actually a great way to accomplish long term goals. Average
speed is sometimes more important. Especially in fitness.

------
kenkam
Different people have different ways of working. OP likes to works in sprints.
Others might not. YMMV.

------
tlarkworthy
[http://xkcd.com/874/](http://xkcd.com/874/)

------
mykhal
bullshit

~~~
kelvin0
He can focus 3 weeks of work in an evening and ... leap over tall buildings.
Don't be jealous. ;-)

