
Work Doesn’t Happen at the Computer - ingve
https://thesweetsetup.com/work-doesnt-happen-at-the-computer/
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sandworm101
>> 3: Work on the most mentally-demanding tasks first. Once you’ve narrowed
your list down to what is mission critical, start with the hardest one.

No. Just no. I learned this in a past life working in the film industry and
apply it daily in the military. If you have three things that must happen in a
day, do the easy tasks _first_ , especially where these tasks involve multiple
people and/or equipment.

Think of what happens if you start with the hard task. Little problems happen.
Delays stack up. The quest for perfection stretches the one task into the
entire day. Soon the sun is going down and you haven't accomplished anything.
If you start with the simple things those little problems are easier to solve.
On a film set this is why the big action shot, the complicated bar scene with
the moving camera and twenty extras, happens at the end of the day. The core
team warms up by doing the easy two-person dialogue scenes early in the
morning. When it is time for the harder tasks all the equipment has already
done its thing. You know all the necessary people are present and ready. And
the looming deadline means there is a sense of urgency in the air. Everyone
wants to go home and so puts maximum effort into making that final shot work
in as few takes as possible.

~~~
chrisseaton
Heh my experience is the opposite - I could spend all day doing really an
unlimited number of easy tasks, and never get to that one hard task. Telling
myself lies like 'just one more easy one...' along the way.

> Think of what happens if you start with the hard task. Little problems
> happen. Delays stack up.

Well yeah... if there's likely to be delays in the hard task then I want them
started as soon as possible so there is time for the delay to be cleared and I
can do other easy things in the delay time. If I start at 1630 and then
there's a delay, then the task isn't done on that day.

~~~
sandworm101
It depends on the complexity and number of people/equipment. I want those
little delays to impact as few people as possible. Say the camera team is
missing some equipment. I want that delay to happen on the little shot, the
task requiring the fewest number of people. By doing the little shot early in
the morning I will discover and solve that delay then, before the big
complicated task. Do the complicated shot first and I have a hundred people
standing around waiting on the camera team. But if you are just one person
setting there own schedule such strategy might not matter.

~~~
chrisseaton
I guess on a production you have a finite set of 'jobs', easy or otherwise, in
the shots that you have on your list.

In my work there is an infinite number of easy but still reasonably productive
things I could do.

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mark_l_watson
I have always said this.

For many years working at a large defense contractor (SAIC, now called Leidos)
I only worked 32 hours a week, and when at work, I would often talk co-workers
into taking walks around La Jolla Cove, near of office, when we had to plan
work, discuss problems or improvements with our software, etc. That was
decades ago, and I feel that it was the correct strategy for getting valuable
work done and making a positive impact.

A little off topic, but I have been exploring ways to spend much less time at
my computers, easier for me to do now that I am (mostly) retired. As an
experiment, I have been using a high compute capacity VPS and a small iPad Pro
to write code examples and do some of the actual writing for a second edition
of a book [1]. I find that I do even more thinking away from any device,
usually while hiking or walking around the block. I do cheat and occasionally
plug my iPad into a large high resolution monitor that my mosh client takes
great advantage of. +1 for Mosh + tmux + a VPS far more powerful than a
laptop.

[1] [https://leanpub.com/hy-lisp-python/](https://leanpub.com/hy-lisp-python/)

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skrebbel
I recognize that the following is a total HN classic offtpic nitpick, but
_damn_ I can't even begin to imagine how heavy life must weigh if each day,
you feel obliged to "win the day". To consider even the concept of a day a
struggle, an adversary to beat. That sounds just immeasurably depressing to
me.

~~~
bonniemuffin
I'm a pretty driven, productive person by nature, so I don't need advice on
how to fight the day like a battle. I do still struggle with getting sucked
into devices, but it takes the form of work eating up all my relaxation time.

Maybe I need advice on how to collaborate with the day, so that me and the day
can get to know each other, enjoy each other's company, and become more than
the sum of our parts.

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chrisseaton
> Now the assumption is that the only place work gets done is at a computer.

This is an extremely office-centric view of the world. Most people’s work is
not like this.

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ggoo
Like all these posts, what works for one is likely not the same as what works
for another - find your own system and stick with it.

~~~
thealistra
Yeah. I don’t like how the tone of this article is „you should do X” instead
of „X works for me, look maybe parts will work for you”

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TYPE_FASTER
Doing the following has helped me in the past: 1\. Print out calendar view of
the day (Outlook for Windows has a printable view that shows your calendar for
the day and to do items) 2\. Write down a prioritized list of tasks if they're
not already there 3\. Write down on your calendar when you're going to do them

