It happens many times when writing code that a new idea pops up. Maybe you notice something or because of some refactor new possibilities arise. Exploring an idea would derail the current work at hand. So I stash it, not into a text file or a notebook, but I create a 15min calendar event in the future.
Why calendar events
Permalink to “Why calendar events”The problem with writing something down or speaking about it, is dopamine. “You achieved something. Great! Now you can move on.” This might help you get back to the current task at hand, but it will block the exploration of this new idea. So I create a calendar event, I put it where I usually would not be focused anyways, like the start of a day, or the 30 minute gap between 2 meetings. I write some keywords as event title and that’s it. I can get back to work. I will take a look at it when the time comes.
The problem of communicating ideas too early
Permalink to “The problem of communicating ideas too early”I’ve seen this too many unfortunately. Somebody has an idea, a gut-feeling, and raises it in front of the team or the team lead. Dopamine is being released, but idea gets dismissed due to uncertainty and the take-away is that never anything gets done. If you have felt like this in the past, try the same thing, but do 15 minutes of research in the codebase, ask a few questions to the person knowing most about the architecture and the person who deals with project timeline before raising this idea publicly.
Now that you know the risks, feasibility and benefits, the chance of this idea becoming something tangible increases dramatically.
How I deal with ideas after work
Permalink to “How I deal with ideas after work”If I get an idea after work, I do the same thing, I create a new calendar event. But sometimes I cannot describe it with a few keywords. This is where I use ChatGPT to get to a state where I have 2-3 things to check. I create calendar events for these, and I attach the chat log to the event. With this I can get my mind off the problem, and sleep.
