Elementary productivity theory
In the general case, percent of work completed is a logarithmic function of time spent.
When you start work, you get things done at a pretty good pace. Over time, you start to slow down. As the task approaches completion, you really slow down to accomplishing almost nothing.
This is a good approximation for time significantly less than the deadline. However, as the deadline approaches, the derivative increases rapidly, following the gamma function. Immediately before the deadline, work is accomplished at a nearly infinite rate.
As the deadline approaches, you work faster and faster to get it done; the last hour before the deadline is the most productive time known to man.
I have seen this pattern in almost everything I do, and I’ve been refining this theory over the past few months. I have further noticed that the pattern applies to most of the engineers I know. There are notable exceptions: some people cannot bear to leave things to the last minute, and get as much as possible done ahead of time.
These people are silly.
The next step would be harnessing my own pattern of productivity. False deadlines, drastically inflated requirements (to keep the early logarithmic rise going for a long time), and making that gamma function kick in earlier: all these will let me get more done.
October 23rd, 2006 at 5:10 pm
I see what you did there. We were talking about this over lunch on due day with OCaml.
Because I didnt know the language proper, I wasnt getting things done infinitely near the end, but it was about as fast as possible.
Gimme an assignment in C or something and we’ll start talking about infinities.. was it Rhodes who said “yeah, but that ones a bigger infinity!”
October 24th, 2006 at 8:40 am
Those people are indeed silly. One of the biggest problems though, with false deadlines, is completely convincing yourself that it really IS the deadline. I’ve tried to do that a few times (with so-so success). All it pretty much meant was I started earlier, but still finished around the same time…. the morning of. :P
Anyways, this is my reply to your reply earlier. XD I figured this would be the best place to put it.
Who’s afraid of sorority girls? Other girls. :P Their own pledgees, sometimes from what I hear at times.
I’m pretty damn sure I’m going to want to stay later than that. But it’s more about the things I’ll miss out at home that I want to be there for. And the credits I’ll take here and blahdeblah. If I go for a full year, I’ll miss… my 21st. Though actually, now that I think about it, having a 21st in japan would be pretty rockstar. XD
I don’t plan this as being the last time I visit Japan though. The other thing with this, is that then it opens up the possibility to travel abroad again, for another semester somewhere else. At least my parents would be a bit more willing to help me pay than if I spent the year in japan and then said “ohh by the way I want to spend summer in australia” :D I’m still torn over the decision though, so I’m going to talk to my mother about it. But that’s why Meiji Gakuin is the program I’m looking to take a semester through… that way, I’m there for a pretty damn long time. Meh. I don’t know though. I want to go for a year. I’m not sure what else is holding me back.
October 24th, 2006 at 9:29 am
I’m a big fan of “If you can get this portion done now, do it.” Whenever something blocks progress on a part of the project, pick up another part and move it forward. Every part of the project (subproject) needs to be completed anyway, so it’s usually productive to work on something rather than pondering or waiting for the “blocker” to unblock.
Naturally, you can’t work scatterbrained on all parts at once; you have to use common sense to avoid the delays and losses imposed by switching among subprojects.
Putting aside one subproject to work on another often reveals better designs as you flesh-out the big picture. Occasionally, you—somewhat subconsciously—solve a problem that was blocking the earlier work.