
The Cult of Done -- are you in it? - feross
http://www.brepettis.com/blog/2009/3/3/the-cult-of-done-manifesto.html?v=1
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pavel_lishin
If everything is a draft, how does anything ever actually move into "done"?

Anyway, sure, I'll join a cult whose founding premise was banged out in 20
minutes because the creators apparently couldn't schedule more time to
collaborate on it. Which way to the koolaid line?

~~~
ctdonath
Yet, here we are discussing that output on a major news/discussion forum.

What did you deliver during those 20 minutes?

~~~
pavel_lishin
I fixed a bug at work.

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wadetandy
The very fact that I found this on HN while procrastinating my project for
today means I probably shouldn't be allowed in the Cult.

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hammock
I'm interested if someone is willing to expand on the "there is no editing
stage" tenet. I like the idea of there are only three stages of doing (see the
rubik's picture at #1 for an immediate understanding of this).

~~~
ctdonath
Considering the depiction of #3, "editing" may mean "artificial shortcuts
which conflict with the point of doing". In solving a Rubik's Cube, you don't
tear off the stickers and rearrange them because that defeats the whole
purpose of the task. Much creative output would be destroyed by "editing"
which was not in the spirit of the execution: the Mona Lisa's background would
require major overhaul, David would require a leaf, e e cummings' poetry would
be capitalized, Anthony Burgess (A Clockwork Orange) would get pummeled with a
dictionary, etc.

Old Russian proverb, favored by a former co-worker: "Better is the enemy of
good."

~~~
nicpottier
Not an old Russian proverb, Voltaire:

<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_is_the_enemy_of_good>

More typically quoted as "perfect is the enemy of good"

One of my favorite sayings... also see Lagom for a similar philosophy in
Sweden.

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rwl
I much prefer this approach: <http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/>

~~~
vegai
That's kind of good, but my procrastination doesn't seem to fall to such a
category.

When I procrastinate, I'm not doing _anything_ sensible, which includes trying
to apply any anti-procrastination technique.

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powertower
> 1.There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.

To me it would sound better this way:

There are three forms of doing: not doing (procrastinating), doing (specific
action), and done (moving on).

"Being" is not a "doing". Being is _existing in the "now"_ , without a past,
without a future, with no desires, without action. It is a state that is
achieved by only a handful of people.

~~~
code_duck
Yeah, I'm not sure how one goes from 'not knowing' to 'action'. Seems like
this would be similar to a physics puzzle of jumping states with no in-between
state. That is, one has to go from 'not knowing' to 'knowing what action to
take' which might involve 'studying' prior to 'action'. I realize that's not
as catchy, though.

~~~
thorax
Sounds to me like it's implying that if you aren't in "not knowing" then you
know enough to act and better be doing so.

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esmevane
I don't want to be overtly negative here, but this document is a philosophical
terror.

I recognize that you wrote it out of inspiration and tried to encapsulate it
to an abbreviated timeframe, but where you seem to want to espouse
productivity and forward thinking, you have instead illustrated what I would
describe as, at best, a destructive and dishonest personality.

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zeteo
"Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you
are doing [...] Failure counts as done. So do mistakes. Destruction is a
variant of done."

Sounds like an elephant trying to run the china shop. A little dose of
humility can actually be more productive, sometimes.

------
Evgeny
I thought it's a great piece of sarcasm targeted at people who are obsessed
with "getting things done" to the point when they don't even think if stuff
actually needs to be done or can it be done in a better way etc.

But I can see some people are seriously disccussing it? Now I'm confused.

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Tarski
I think this is kinda similar to Eat That Frog? [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eat-
That-Frog-Important-Things/dp/03...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eat-That-Frog-
Important-Things/dp/0340835044)

------
armored
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of sapho that
thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning.
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.

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codeup
> Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.

The perfect laugh.

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ztay
Quality, creativity, and difficult problems are the devils tools!

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code_duck
I like the poster!

By the way, never ask this guy how to make a hammock.

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lifeisstillgood
to summarise, JFDI.

~~~
ctdonath
Did www.jfdi.org ?

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windexh8er
Old, outdated. Cults are passe. Lame.

~~~
lfx
Whats the diff? Cult, technic, methodology. Same thing, different branding.

