In the Zone
-
Richard Andrew x64 wrote:
(The Zone is the place where we are feeling that we're coding our best.)
The Zone isn't found, it's created. Contemplate your work before engaging in it and visualize the blue sphere of the zone in front of you. Notice the energy vortices and pulsations. With your mind, move the blue sphere of the zone towards you so that it encompasses your head. Feel the vibrations of the zonergy infusing into your brain. Breath deeply, increasing the frequency from a low hum to an ear piercing whine. Take the frequency even higher beyond the auditory range, until your whole body is experiencing the tingling ant-crawling sensation of ultrasonic energy imbuing itself into your very neurons. Focus that energy towards your fingertips. Move your hand slowly to the keyboard, and begin coding, in the Zone. Marc
Testers Wanted!
Latest Article: User Authentication on Ruby on Rails - the definitive how to
My BlogWhat substance are you using?
"The ones who care enough to do it right care too much to compromise." Matthew Faithfull
-
What substance are you using?
"The ones who care enough to do it right care too much to compromise." Matthew Faithfull
I wonder about that too. Thanks for asking!
BDF I often make very large prints from unexposed film, and every one of them turns out to be a picture of myself as I once dreamed I would be. -- BillWoodruff
-
When you start work for the day, how long does it take for you to get into "The Zone?" And when you're interrupted, how long does it take to get back into "The Zone?" (The Zone is the place where we are feeling that we're coding our best.)
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
Richard Andrew x64 wrote:
When you start work for the day, how long does it take for you to get into "The Zone?"
Two cups of coffee.
Richard Andrew x64 wrote:
And when you're interrupted, how long does it take to get back into "The Zone?"
About as along as it takes the interruptor to bleed out.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Richard Andrew x64 wrote:
(The Zone is the place where we are feeling that we're coding our best.)
The Zone isn't found, it's created. Contemplate your work before engaging in it and visualize the blue sphere of the zone in front of you. Notice the energy vortices and pulsations. With your mind, move the blue sphere of the zone towards you so that it encompasses your head. Feel the vibrations of the zonergy infusing into your brain. Breath deeply, increasing the frequency from a low hum to an ear piercing whine. Take the frequency even higher beyond the auditory range, until your whole body is experiencing the tingling ant-crawling sensation of ultrasonic energy imbuing itself into your very neurons. Focus that energy towards your fingertips. Move your hand slowly to the keyboard, and begin coding, in the Zone. Marc
Testers Wanted!
Latest Article: User Authentication on Ruby on Rails - the definitive how to
My BlogDid you bring enough to share?
Software Zen:
delete this; -
When you start work for the day, how long does it take for you to get into "The Zone?" And when you're interrupted, how long does it take to get back into "The Zone?" (The Zone is the place where we are feeling that we're coding our best.)
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
I usually start work around 08:30 but these days I have to go through around 100+ emails from overnight (largely system alerts). But then there are requests - mostly stupid - from the users (internal and external) some of which will sometimes throw up some issues. But by the time I've worked through the overnight stuff the users are in and the emails tend to come in faster than I can work through them. They tail off around lunchtime so by about 15:00 my inbox is clear. But then the project manager usually comes online via Skype and there's a load more nonsense to deal with, usually until around 16:30. That's when I actually start "working" in the sense of addressing items on the project development task list. By 17:00 I'm in the zone and sadly, with the light evenings, I'm often still there at 19:30 when my wife finally gives up waiting, comes in and says "dinner's in the oven". In March I was aware of the gathering darkness and usually managed to finish around 18:00. It's been getting silly recently so have asked my other half to "break the trance" at 18:30 if I don't come out of it myself! And the project manager still can't get his head around why I'm only managing to do 2 - 3 hours' work on task list items per day... :(
-
I usually start work around 08:30 but these days I have to go through around 100+ emails from overnight (largely system alerts). But then there are requests - mostly stupid - from the users (internal and external) some of which will sometimes throw up some issues. But by the time I've worked through the overnight stuff the users are in and the emails tend to come in faster than I can work through them. They tail off around lunchtime so by about 15:00 my inbox is clear. But then the project manager usually comes online via Skype and there's a load more nonsense to deal with, usually until around 16:30. That's when I actually start "working" in the sense of addressing items on the project development task list. By 17:00 I'm in the zone and sadly, with the light evenings, I'm often still there at 19:30 when my wife finally gives up waiting, comes in and says "dinner's in the oven". In March I was aware of the gathering darkness and usually managed to finish around 18:00. It's been getting silly recently so have asked my other half to "break the trance" at 18:30 if I don't come out of it myself! And the project manager still can't get his head around why I'm only managing to do 2 - 3 hours' work on task list items per day... :(
You say your manager comes in on Skype. Do you telecommute?
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
-
You say your manager comes in on Skype. Do you telecommute?
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
-
When you start work for the day, how long does it take for you to get into "The Zone?" And when you're interrupted, how long does it take to get back into "The Zone?" (The Zone is the place where we are feeling that we're coding our best.)
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
As you become older, getting "in the zone" and dealing with interruption takes a little less time. You start thinking more about what you're doing instead of all the different ways to do it. At least that's how I see it.
-
Depends on how long I spend drinking coffee and reading posts like this... :)
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer Enjoy comedy? Watch Talking Head Games (SFW)
Well, then there's also the time spent fielding questions once I get to the office after I'm done reading stuff like this over breakfast and initial caffeination.
-
When you start work for the day, how long does it take for you to get into "The Zone?" And when you're interrupted, how long does it take to get back into "The Zone?" (The Zone is the place where we are feeling that we're coding our best.)
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
-
When you start work for the day, how long does it take for you to get into "The Zone?" And when you're interrupted, how long does it take to get back into "The Zone?" (The Zone is the place where we are feeling that we're coding our best.)
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
Richard Andrew x64 wrote:
When you start work for the day, how long does it take for you to get into "The Zone?"
It takes me anwhere from half an hour to a full hour to construct the mental model I need before I can start to get serious work done (a.k.a. get in the zone). I find the time is very dependant on how large of a mental model I need to load to make sure my changes won't have unintended consequences elsewhere in the code, so there's a lot of variability from task to task and code base to code base.
Richard Andrew x64 wrote:
And when you're interrupted, how long does it take to get back into "The Zone?"
On averatge, it takes me about half the time to recover my mental model as it took to originally construct it. Other software tasks or mental exercises can completely destroy it within minutes, whereas interruptions unrelated to software will take far longer. This is why I can't build my programming skills during breaks, much as I'd like to productively use that time.
We can program with only 1's, but if all you've got are zeros, you've got nothing.
-
When you start work for the day, how long does it take for you to get into "The Zone?" And when you're interrupted, how long does it take to get back into "The Zone?" (The Zone is the place where we are feeling that we're coding our best.)
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
