

Writing is the cure - mantas
http://blog.puncht.com/2009/06/18/writing-is-the-cure/

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russell
It sure is. I find that writing about a dilemma solidifies the pros and cons.
It's much better to spend a couple of hours at the keyboard, even a day, than
to go charging off in the wrong direction. The real problem with going in the
wrong direction is the difficulty of backing away from sunk costs. Don't take
that to mean that I'm not in favor of a little coding research to get my mind
around a problem; it is usually a win.

I have also found that verbal requests, especially from a boss or client, need
to be fleshed out in writing. Avoids spending a week on a feature, only to
have the client pissed off, because I couldn't read his mind.

Even HN helps. I'm finding that frequent commenting here is improving my
ability to capture ideas concisely. (Or so the illusion goes :-)

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cninja
"Writing doesn't just communicate ideas; it generates them."
<http://www.paulgraham.com/writing44.html>

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chrisduesing
This is a pretty interesting approach. I have generally used my very
infrequently updated blog for recapping something I did that was particularly
difficult, or when I completed learning something new. I recently did a post
on trying to decide which functional language to teach myself and it had ~1000
uniques (100 times more than my usual posts). More importantly the
conversation it generated helped me choose a language.

So blogging before you make a decision can lead to more blogging and better
decisions!

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TrevorJ
There's another thing that may be going on here as well. I usually go to a
forum to ask advice on a hard problem. In the act of laying out all the steps
I've taken and describing the problem, I generally begin to imagine the
replies I may get. You know how it is, people usually ask if you've tried this
or that. Any number of 'obvious' solutions are suggested. In an effort to head
off those comments I usually end up thinking of an 'obvious' solution I hadn't
tried yet, and that generally solves the problem. Failing that, explaining why
it can't be this or that issue in the post leads me to think of other
possibilities that it COULD be. Nine times out of ten I don't finish the post.

~~~
jamesbritt
The path to enlightenment is hitting the "Send" button.

No sooner do I send off some request for help does a solution come to mind.

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twopoint718
Maybe it also has something to do with the Rubber Duck method:
[http://lists.ethernal.org/oldarchives/cantlug-0211/msg00174....](http://lists.ethernal.org/oldarchives/cantlug-0211/msg00174.html)

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pasbesoin
Have you ever asked a question and had the answer solution occur to you while
you are describing the question? I believe that may be similar. I've heard it
said that an explanation for this scenario (speaking to another as a catalyst)
may be due to the fact that speaking engages different brain functionality.
Both the motor skills of speaking, and the effort to compose the idea and
question into a well-composed, meaningful expression.

Separately, with regard to writing, does anyone else notice a difference
between writing longhand and typing? For me, whether it's a kinesthetic
difference, or that long hand slows me down a bit more so that my thoughts
have longer to percolate before being recorded, I find myself more concise and
frequently more eloquent when writing long hand. For important things, I'll
still sometimes write them out long hand even if their eventual destination is
a computer.

~~~
Radix
I think there might be something to that. I've noticed I enjoy writing better
on a pad than at a word processor. Part of it is because I find the ability to
format distracting, but I think there is more to it. Reviewing and editing
feels more natural when I can circle and strike out, or pen in possible
differing directions.

I wonder how natural it feels is related to how early people begin typing.
Though I am quite kinesthetic so that may be more likely.

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billswift
What you say or write down also tends to be more strongly remembered than what
you just think. (This is the basis for writing down your ideas whenever you
get them (speaking them aloud is helpful if you can't stop to write).)

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CraigBuchek
This is why pair programming works so well. In writing things down, asking a
question, or explaining things, you have to think about them in a more
organized manner.

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piramida
That is obvious, anyone who had a hard problem knows that just talking through
it (or writing it down) helps straighten your _own_ thoughts.

