Love this! In software engineering, there's a joke called the two rules of optimization. They are:
1. Don't do it.
2. Don't do it yet.
Programming is one of those things that lends itself easily to optimization, because there is a calculable minimum number of instructions to accomplish any task. But the more time you spend optimizing, the less you actually get done. And yet, we coders can't stop ourselves, which is why we blow past the first rule and need the second one! 🤣
Here's to hoping anyone who read this post and thought, "nah, there are still some things I could optimize" finds a rule #2 to slow them down.
I'm not a software engineer - hell, I can't even code. But it seems to me that when it comes to say, some websites, the complexity of some of them, especially with layers of security that are still somehow breachable, feels like cases of optimization. (Not being a software engineer, am I completely off base? Or not?)
I get how programming also lends itself to detail and minutiae, but yeah, it seems to be taken to the extreme with some.
So, when programmers talk about optimization we're usually trying to get the code as small and as fast as possible. This means focusing on one small section of an application, trying to eke out fractional performance gains while other features are still waiting to be created. As you can probably imagine, the costs start to outweigh the benefits rather quickly in that scenario! Despite knowing this, it's still an easy trap to fall into (hence rule #2). 😅
What you're talking about is a related phenomenon I'd label "feature optimization." Someone has decided to design a system trying to handle every possible scenario, spreading their effort too thin and leaving gaps in the process. They want everyone to be able to access their site--maximizing traffic--and so focus too much on optimizing compatibility rather than the important details like security (potentially blocking users with out-of-date browsers, for example).
In both cases, the problem is optimizing rather than focusing on what really matters--minimizing/refining in one instance and maximizing/diluting in the other. Both of these are driven by metrics. And both cause undue stress to the developer who would have been better off to take a breath and think about what really matters. 😉
Thanks for the reply, and again, I confess my ignorance as I’m not a programmer or even know code. I absolutely see that attention to detail is a must in what you do. My day profession is as a lecturer in academic English across three universities in the Tokyo area, and one of the jobs is as a science and technology institution while another is at the science and engineering faculty campus of another institution. (While most of my students are chem eng or ME, I have had some from IT.)
I stress to all my students that attention to detail is vital in everything they do - even in my classes - and that the cultivation of that habit is something that can transfer to their field. (If they can do it - whatever “it” is - in a second language, think of what it might have as an effect on streamlining their thinking in their first language.)
But it does seem, as you’ve pointed out, that some not only absorb that habit, but take it to the extreme.
Thanks for reading, Sue! We humans have to stand together against the tech oligarchs who want to exploit us and turn us into cogs for their money-making machinations!
So beautifully said. I suspect that the rush so many of us feel to be productive is rooted in death-- in our own finitude. We can't escape death but we can be less greedy with our time and ironically when we do, we feel like we have more of it to enjoy. At least, I do. Life is slower and richer and happier when I'm reading Mother Goose to my daughter for the 57th time than when I'm hurriedly trying to do some New Big Thing. Of course, there's a balance in all things. But your reminder is, I think, more important than ever.
Thank you, Brenna! The absolute joys of rereading books to children!
My youngest is now 14, was just talking the other day about how she would have me read a flap book called "Rainbow Castle" to her several times a night before she went to bed. It made me tear up when she told me that she was grateful I never complained about it. (I'm sure I must have complained about it at some point, : ) but thankfully not enough to scar her.)
She told me she has some friends who told her that her parents hated reading to them, and would tell them no when it came to reading the same book.
I'm on the fence at best, with one cheek, when it comes to AI, and find most of the apps for things like calorie counts and such way too much to deal with - I can see how, when it comes to work, AI can streamline and make efficient the processes of tasks where they are called for, and certainly for people with health issues, that apps for intake of certain substances make sense.
But the idea that every facet of everyday life must be algorithmized and statistically calculated, that creativity comes down to the processing and analysis of data points, makes everyday life work in itself. Being human can indeed be about being the best you can be, but most worthwhile human life lies between the extremes of calculative minutiae and undisciplined mess. What all these apps and AI calibrating amount to is a kind of cyberannuation of human life - every moment of every day, whether with work or leisure, has to be measured and analyzed in some way - so many minutes for this, so many steps for that. Life is not a virtual office with a virtual time card. Great post, Jason!
Thanks, Lee! Our essential huamness is not a problem that needs to be solved.
I'm very against AI as currently implemented, but optimistic that it could be a useful technology if it's built properly. AI should make search engines better, but the current flavor of AI has made them demonstrably worse.
I would love to have an AI that could go into my poetry spreadsheet and pull out all of the poems that meet a certain set of criteria and format them into a Word document for me. I don't want AI to try and write poetry (or anything) for me.
That would be a great thing - it could be a way for you to review and analyse where you are at your best, not out of calculation, but out of what devices, what imagery, have the most resonance, where you can gauge your growth in the medium and get a sense of where to go and, if a change in direction appears to be opening up, to take it and see where it leads to. Then you get to the human work, the one you do yourself.
Not yet. I’m still finalizing the layout, which determines the printing cost and therefore the price. But I should have all my ducks in a row in the next few days!
I totally agree with you, Jason. Optimization stems from a mix of comparison, perfectionism and trying to become what you're not. When there's sth I can either be better at doing or I need to better at doing, I become motivated to do it. But before doing so, I always ask myself: Ist das notwendig für mich zu optimieren oder nicht? (Is it necessary for me to optimise this or not?)
Right on! I would add that you can't quantify an epiphany. (Take THAT, bean-counters!)
Yes! Epiphanies never show up in the spreadsheet
Love this! In software engineering, there's a joke called the two rules of optimization. They are:
1. Don't do it.
2. Don't do it yet.
Programming is one of those things that lends itself easily to optimization, because there is a calculable minimum number of instructions to accomplish any task. But the more time you spend optimizing, the less you actually get done. And yet, we coders can't stop ourselves, which is why we blow past the first rule and need the second one! 🤣
Here's to hoping anyone who read this post and thought, "nah, there are still some things I could optimize" finds a rule #2 to slow them down.
I'm not a software engineer - hell, I can't even code. But it seems to me that when it comes to say, some websites, the complexity of some of them, especially with layers of security that are still somehow breachable, feels like cases of optimization. (Not being a software engineer, am I completely off base? Or not?)
I get how programming also lends itself to detail and minutiae, but yeah, it seems to be taken to the extreme with some.
So, when programmers talk about optimization we're usually trying to get the code as small and as fast as possible. This means focusing on one small section of an application, trying to eke out fractional performance gains while other features are still waiting to be created. As you can probably imagine, the costs start to outweigh the benefits rather quickly in that scenario! Despite knowing this, it's still an easy trap to fall into (hence rule #2). 😅
What you're talking about is a related phenomenon I'd label "feature optimization." Someone has decided to design a system trying to handle every possible scenario, spreading their effort too thin and leaving gaps in the process. They want everyone to be able to access their site--maximizing traffic--and so focus too much on optimizing compatibility rather than the important details like security (potentially blocking users with out-of-date browsers, for example).
In both cases, the problem is optimizing rather than focusing on what really matters--minimizing/refining in one instance and maximizing/diluting in the other. Both of these are driven by metrics. And both cause undue stress to the developer who would have been better off to take a breath and think about what really matters. 😉
Thanks for the reply, and again, I confess my ignorance as I’m not a programmer or even know code. I absolutely see that attention to detail is a must in what you do. My day profession is as a lecturer in academic English across three universities in the Tokyo area, and one of the jobs is as a science and technology institution while another is at the science and engineering faculty campus of another institution. (While most of my students are chem eng or ME, I have had some from IT.)
I stress to all my students that attention to detail is vital in everything they do - even in my classes - and that the cultivation of that habit is something that can transfer to their field. (If they can do it - whatever “it” is - in a second language, think of what it might have as an effect on streamlining their thinking in their first language.)
But it does seem, as you’ve pointed out, that some not only absorb that habit, but take it to the extreme.
I love these rules! Yes, I think we could all use that second rule, don't do it yet
Abso-fuckin-lutely!!!!!! Very well said!!!! Thank you for saying it!!!
Thanks for reading, Sue! We humans have to stand together against the tech oligarchs who want to exploit us and turn us into cogs for their money-making machinations!
Yes! Absolutely!!! I'm linking to your post within my upcoming post on Friday…. 😘
Cool! Thanks!
So beautifully said. I suspect that the rush so many of us feel to be productive is rooted in death-- in our own finitude. We can't escape death but we can be less greedy with our time and ironically when we do, we feel like we have more of it to enjoy. At least, I do. Life is slower and richer and happier when I'm reading Mother Goose to my daughter for the 57th time than when I'm hurriedly trying to do some New Big Thing. Of course, there's a balance in all things. But your reminder is, I think, more important than ever.
Thank you, Brenna! The absolute joys of rereading books to children!
My youngest is now 14, was just talking the other day about how she would have me read a flap book called "Rainbow Castle" to her several times a night before she went to bed. It made me tear up when she told me that she was grateful I never complained about it. (I'm sure I must have complained about it at some point, : ) but thankfully not enough to scar her.)
She told me she has some friends who told her that her parents hated reading to them, and would tell them no when it came to reading the same book.
Those parents missed out, unlike you. Your daughter's words are priceless; that's given me newfound momentum. :)
I'm on the fence at best, with one cheek, when it comes to AI, and find most of the apps for things like calorie counts and such way too much to deal with - I can see how, when it comes to work, AI can streamline and make efficient the processes of tasks where they are called for, and certainly for people with health issues, that apps for intake of certain substances make sense.
But the idea that every facet of everyday life must be algorithmized and statistically calculated, that creativity comes down to the processing and analysis of data points, makes everyday life work in itself. Being human can indeed be about being the best you can be, but most worthwhile human life lies between the extremes of calculative minutiae and undisciplined mess. What all these apps and AI calibrating amount to is a kind of cyberannuation of human life - every moment of every day, whether with work or leisure, has to be measured and analyzed in some way - so many minutes for this, so many steps for that. Life is not a virtual office with a virtual time card. Great post, Jason!
Thanks, Lee! Our essential huamness is not a problem that needs to be solved.
I'm very against AI as currently implemented, but optimistic that it could be a useful technology if it's built properly. AI should make search engines better, but the current flavor of AI has made them demonstrably worse.
I would love to have an AI that could go into my poetry spreadsheet and pull out all of the poems that meet a certain set of criteria and format them into a Word document for me. I don't want AI to try and write poetry (or anything) for me.
That would be a great thing - it could be a way for you to review and analyse where you are at your best, not out of calculation, but out of what devices, what imagery, have the most resonance, where you can gauge your growth in the medium and get a sense of where to go and, if a change in direction appears to be opening up, to take it and see where it leads to. Then you get to the human work, the one you do yourself.
Faster and better only leads to a massive burn out.
Yes!
“…some seconds are more precious than others” —my 4 am epiphany! Can I pre-order your book?
4 am epiphanies keep us alive!
Not yet. I’m still finalizing the layout, which determines the printing cost and therefore the price. But I should have all my ducks in a row in the next few days!
I totally agree with you, Jason. Optimization stems from a mix of comparison, perfectionism and trying to become what you're not. When there's sth I can either be better at doing or I need to better at doing, I become motivated to do it. But before doing so, I always ask myself: Ist das notwendig für mich zu optimieren oder nicht? (Is it necessary for me to optimise this or not?)