melvincarvalho on Nostr: Forced coding, from 2012. "This one is more for my own reference, but sharing anyways ...
Forced coding, from 2012.
"This one is more for my own reference, but sharing anyways as it may help others. In numerous scenarios it is really hard to "get going" when you're trying to code, particularly under the following circumstances:
* You haven't started coding till late(r) in the day
* Emails, Blogs, Social networking have taken up more time than expected and/or distracted more than anticipated
* You've just completed a deliverable, milestone or task.
* You're tired!
All of these are virtually daily occurances in the coding world, and here are the methods I've used to get going again.. no particular order, just a list.
Under all circumstance, avoid planning!
Planning is one of those things you can't do unless you are all ready in the flow, whether this is because you've just had a client meeting, a long discussion, or read a full spec - it's not the thing to do to get your flow going, all you'll do is plan nothing, plan badly, or stare blankly at the screen / paper.
Don't read related material to get you in the flow.
This will purely serve to distract you, make you think about doing things differently, doublt what you've done or worse throw you in to planning mode - fact is you won't be planning "your" app though, you'll be planning "some" ideal app or scenario.
Pick the smallest task, whether complex or not, and just do it!
Doesn't matter what it is, so long as it's coding a little part of the app, or modifying part of it, then it'll do. It could be adding an extra field to an object or table, popping in some validation, anything small and simple. It really doesn't matter if you do it right or wrong; you're not doing it to sign off a task, you're doing it to re-aquaint yourself with your system, by the time you've been through X lines of code you'll be back in work mode and firing on all cylinders, well on your way to getting zoned.
Music, Headphones, Repeat.
You'll know the genre that suits you, personally I find repeating an album or even song fades me in to the zone and keeps me there. The repetitiveness of the tune keeps you there, because just as a phone call can distract you, so can a change in tune to something at a different tempo or worse a completely different genre.
Don't cram!
If you've only got 15 minutes before the next sizable interuption, forget it, don't do anything just chill - make a coffee, smoke, whatever. You're not wasting time you're saving your zone, you can only get zoned a couple of times a day, so don't get zoned for only 15 minutes - save it and get zoned for longer later on.
Speedcode
Why not? as nike say "just do it", if the code has 10 bugs but is finished in half the time then you've done good, that gives you loads of time to fix the bugs, and more importantly you get to those moments where you realise x,y&z need to be changed much quicker. Not only that, but would you rather have a week to go and have a list of 80 bugs, or a week to go and 2 major deliverables a week overdue..
Communicate for no reason.
Often a major focus is simply talking to somebody else on the same project as you, whether its the client or a workmate, and the more stressed they are the better, they'll not only blast you with things but their urgency / stress will often convey straight over to you and focus / zone you instantly.
Do the thing you know, not the thing you don't.
Inline with "don't plan" and "pick the smallest task", always pick something you can already do (if possible), as with everything else, the things you don't know are much easier when you're already zoned, not only that but you'll be more focussed when doing the thing you don't know so less likely to over spec / over code it.
Don't code other things!
nothing on earth will kill your project like working on something else, every minute you spend on another script or app is like an hour lost on what you should be doing, and with every minute that passes you're getting closer and closer to utter project failure - and hence why most open source projects are dead.
Remember, the key to forced coding is just to get you in the zone, and ultimately boils down to just getting stuck in there with some lines of code on your project.
Works for me anyways [most of the time] - if anybody has anything to add (constructive) then please do!
Regards - nathan"
https://web.archive.org/web/20120412165228/http://webr3.org/blog/general/forced-coding/
"This one is more for my own reference, but sharing anyways as it may help others. In numerous scenarios it is really hard to "get going" when you're trying to code, particularly under the following circumstances:
* You haven't started coding till late(r) in the day
* Emails, Blogs, Social networking have taken up more time than expected and/or distracted more than anticipated
* You've just completed a deliverable, milestone or task.
* You're tired!
All of these are virtually daily occurances in the coding world, and here are the methods I've used to get going again.. no particular order, just a list.
Under all circumstance, avoid planning!
Planning is one of those things you can't do unless you are all ready in the flow, whether this is because you've just had a client meeting, a long discussion, or read a full spec - it's not the thing to do to get your flow going, all you'll do is plan nothing, plan badly, or stare blankly at the screen / paper.
Don't read related material to get you in the flow.
This will purely serve to distract you, make you think about doing things differently, doublt what you've done or worse throw you in to planning mode - fact is you won't be planning "your" app though, you'll be planning "some" ideal app or scenario.
Pick the smallest task, whether complex or not, and just do it!
Doesn't matter what it is, so long as it's coding a little part of the app, or modifying part of it, then it'll do. It could be adding an extra field to an object or table, popping in some validation, anything small and simple. It really doesn't matter if you do it right or wrong; you're not doing it to sign off a task, you're doing it to re-aquaint yourself with your system, by the time you've been through X lines of code you'll be back in work mode and firing on all cylinders, well on your way to getting zoned.
Music, Headphones, Repeat.
You'll know the genre that suits you, personally I find repeating an album or even song fades me in to the zone and keeps me there. The repetitiveness of the tune keeps you there, because just as a phone call can distract you, so can a change in tune to something at a different tempo or worse a completely different genre.
Don't cram!
If you've only got 15 minutes before the next sizable interuption, forget it, don't do anything just chill - make a coffee, smoke, whatever. You're not wasting time you're saving your zone, you can only get zoned a couple of times a day, so don't get zoned for only 15 minutes - save it and get zoned for longer later on.
Speedcode
Why not? as nike say "just do it", if the code has 10 bugs but is finished in half the time then you've done good, that gives you loads of time to fix the bugs, and more importantly you get to those moments where you realise x,y&z need to be changed much quicker. Not only that, but would you rather have a week to go and have a list of 80 bugs, or a week to go and 2 major deliverables a week overdue..
Communicate for no reason.
Often a major focus is simply talking to somebody else on the same project as you, whether its the client or a workmate, and the more stressed they are the better, they'll not only blast you with things but their urgency / stress will often convey straight over to you and focus / zone you instantly.
Do the thing you know, not the thing you don't.
Inline with "don't plan" and "pick the smallest task", always pick something you can already do (if possible), as with everything else, the things you don't know are much easier when you're already zoned, not only that but you'll be more focussed when doing the thing you don't know so less likely to over spec / over code it.
Don't code other things!
nothing on earth will kill your project like working on something else, every minute you spend on another script or app is like an hour lost on what you should be doing, and with every minute that passes you're getting closer and closer to utter project failure - and hence why most open source projects are dead.
Remember, the key to forced coding is just to get you in the zone, and ultimately boils down to just getting stuck in there with some lines of code on your project.
Works for me anyways [most of the time] - if anybody has anything to add (constructive) then please do!
Regards - nathan"
https://web.archive.org/web/20120412165228/http://webr3.org/blog/general/forced-coding/