Going over Rich Hickey’s Simple Made Easy talk, clicked for me not just w.r.t. code but behaviorally1 too. So now I’m seeing the braids and weaves everywhere. Why do we still use browser tabs, they are very distracting when they accumulate. And the fact that they do accumulate is almost its own evidence of distraction that has occurred. But when you think, okay let me close the tabs, you try to close a tab but you read it and instantly get sucked back into what you were doing before. And since context switching penalties are high2, you cannot quickly go back to what you were trying to do prior. There is a sunk cost to tabs you have opened. The one tab browser extension3 is a brilliant hack to this. Just click the gem and poof no more tabs. Probably since we all study data structures and algorithms4 , shouldn’t the alternative of using “browser stacks” instead of “browser tabs” be the more obvious choice? Instead it is almost like our browsers follow the rules of improve comedy, “yes and!”.

Wherever you go there you are

Links are similarly distracting if not used carefully. Suddenly a magical force compels you to click them, breaking your linear experience of what you are reading. Here I have to give kudos to Doug Slater whose llm article5 I was just reading per a friend’s recommendation, and I got reminded about the research paper citation style of just attaching a small superscript number instead of a link, allowing the reader to continue to calmly read linearly, knowing they can easily refer to the list of bye-bye-clicks at the end later, because that’s where they are, at the end. So this post is the first one where I’m borrowing Doug’s super-script style, but I would love to convert earlier posts too.

What are you even doing?

We know that single-tracking, single-tasking, is the most reliable way to focus, but life and technology get in the way. At my work team recently, I was asking folks if they have read Google’s pull request guide6 which more than anything highlights the benefits of short pull requests (or Changelist CL like Google calls them). Most of my peers had not read this so we took a dive together and I was surprised to learn in their updated version, (I have not looked in a while), they state fast response time7 to others requests (lists) as the most important thing. This got me slightly concerned about the self-distraction it can promote (And yea I think Nir Eyal would agree we do it to ourselves 😅). But they also highlight you should avoid interrupting yourself8, so that sounds like a good balance, but it is easier written than done. I mention Nir Eyal because I recall his book is the first place I read that we interrupt ourselves as a form of escapism from something uncomfortable. And meta-cognition meta-awareness is having the self awareness to keep chugging along even if it is uncomfortable.

Split second decisions

PLACEHOLDER, want to discuss the research that Typewise pointed to w.r.t. how it takes longer to write if you are constantly choosing between suggestions. And similarly I am recently reflecting that choosing between alternatives in my logseq feels similarly exhausting. This is where keeping your writing hat on, without putting on the editing hat (or the choice making hat) is another single track way.

References

  1. initial simple made easy reaction
  2. placeholder for context switching penalty reference
  3. https://www.one-tab.com/
  4. data structures and algorithms
  5. Doug Slater
  6. Google’s pull request guide
  7. https://google.github.io/eng-practices/review/reviewer/speed.html
  8. https://google.github.io/eng-practices/review/reviewer/speed.html#interruption