Flexibility vs schedule

Everyone needs some amount of structure. Some people need more than others and it helps them keep their shape. This works until someone throws a bowling ball at you. The more flexibility you have—and the less internal pressure—the more likely you are to be able to absorb the external force without popping.

As a developer it’s important to be flexible. You might think something will take 2 hours, but instead it takes 2 weeks. When you work by yourself this might be fine, but when you work on a team, it’s crucial that you communicate frequently and let the team absorb the change so the group doesn’t pop.

One of the ways to absorb external pressure while still having structure is by making micro schedules and habits. You can use habits to get things done without scheduling and you can keep flexibility in your schedule by using small blocks of flexibility.

Deep work takes time. I like to block off at least 3 hours to get my own tasks done. It is always nice to have more, but 3 is about the minimum for me to get into a flow. Putting 3 hour work blocks back-to-back rarely works for me.

I try to structure, my schedule to optimize for as many separate work blocks as possible. I move meetings together and free up afternoons to make sure I can achieve my goals.

You’ll need to find what works for you, but one thing I know for sure is you need to be flexible because things change all the time.

Controlling a countries supply chain is scary, but it is often more easy to track because it affects physical items in the world. Controlling information and communication in a country is much harder for people to understand and track the impact.

Senior engineers have more ambiguity in problems they solve. They also need to be more careful to prioritize because the scope of what needs fixing only grows the broader you look.

Really neat way to try out tailwind. Even easier than installing things locally in an empty directory.