I recently streamed a 5.5hr session of me building a prototype (for patrons). I've done a few of these now—I'm interested in how livestreams might help convey tacit knowledge, particularly in domains which are normally apprenticeship-oriented.
Some observations on the medium:
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With the stream going, I found it surprisingly easy to stay 100% focused and on task for a 5hr session. This isn’t usually a big deal for me—I’ve got strategies for distraction—but as in meditation, the process usually requires some “returning to the breath.” Here it didn’t.
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I felt obliged to narrate as I worked. I think the video would be massively less useful without that. Narration is taxing—I found I couldn’t ruminate while also narrating. So sometimes when I got stuck I’d have to switch back and forth.
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In a “rubber ducky” sense, forcing myself to narrate could be helpful. Sometimes things becomes clearer when I try to explain why I’m confused. But some mental trails are simply inchoate, and will remain so for quite some time. Trying to make them legible can damage them.
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When stuck during streams, I felt pressure to get myself unstuck much sooner than I normally would, e.g. by giving up or switching strategies. This is sometimes a useful pressure, but often not—many times I’ve broken through a block by banging my head against it for hrs (or wks).
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I felt a little hit of gratification at the end of my workday when producing these streams. My projects are all super long, so a given day rarely produces legible output—but hey, look, I published a video! This strikes me as dangerous.
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This portion resonates with me quite a lot and is why I don’t stream I think. I’m scared that optimizing for my own hit of happiness wouldn’t be great and also scared that I’d be able to avoid doing it unintentionally. My projects also make little sense until complete too.
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And I’ve struggled with the idea that communicating what is going on is in valuable at all.
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I think it's valuable insofar as the act of communication helps you sharpen your own understanding of the work.
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Which goes back to the rubber ducking thing you mentioned :) good point.
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I just worry about noise.
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