Conversation

Andy Matuschak
@andy_matuschak
I've noticed that consciousness recedes when I'm deep in a coding phase, many back-to-back days in flow. My mind narrows to tunnel-vision, fixated on the software and its issues. My sense of self shrinks; non-code ideas cease to arise; I get less curious; writing yields little.
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PlanFlow
@PlanFlowDev
This is very interesting. We've been playing with this idea and its relation to different styles of problem solving. Maybe the flow produced by logical problem-solving is so far off the scale with the flow of the natural environment, that it mentally throws you out of it.
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PlanFlow
@PlanFlowDev
Replying to
@andy_matuschak
We've found this too. Easiest test is ability to hold a conversation. Very hard after an intense coding session. Probably also why open offices are such a bad idea for programmers. I imagine that not many are able to achieve the appropriate level of flow in those environments
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Amaral Krichman
@AKrichman
Oh wow, I was actually experiencing this and wasn't giving it the proper entitlement. Yeah. Coding is definitely something to be done in a quiet place. I work in an open office and I feel like my focus is a tiny thread that's getting stomped by a raging storm all the time. Lol.
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Mauv
@ThatsMauvelous
Replying to
@andy_matuschak
and
@PlanFlowDev
Yes! In design work, eliminating ancillary considerations is always at least a halfway bad idea But in code -- particularly in debugging -- the whole game is bifurcating the problem space repeatedly until it shrinks to a tiny dot and is finally snuffed out. Tunnel vision.
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RVeg
@RVegele
Replying to
@andy_matuschak
and
@PlanFlowDev
I get what you’re describing when doing design work (being on a project can last anywhere from 4-10 weeks) after which I start feeling more out of it and burnout starts to seep in. If I had to guess it’s a question of proficiency - not thinking about the process ‘actively’.
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