Completing tasks by time-boxing at several fixed intervals Especially in computer programming, I find that you really can take as much time as is given. You often can see people spending weeks on something that could be done in under an hour. The scope seems to grow with the amount of time you have, and the difficulty in asking for more time. Sunk costs also factor into requesting more time - if you have already spend a long time on something, its easier to get more time. *The idea is to perform a task and produce a demo-able deliverable as quickly as you can in 30 mins. Then 1 hour. Then a day. Then a week.* The idea is to force people to explore the fastest possible solution first. I think this can help: - analysis paralysis - you have to pick your library/framework/technology/approach super fast. There is so much choice and this can help force a quick decision and accelerate the learning by doing rather than by reading. - motivation - you feel the rush of a deadline in the first day...instead of the "I wish I had more time" feeling just before the deadline. - "it couldn't be that simple" - sometimes things can be really simple...especially if you step outside of your existing tech stack / process. There might be a library out there that does everything for you...but you embarked on a roll-your-own approach that has taken you months. This forces you to explore the quickest modern solution that you might have disregarded. I haven't tried it yet, but was interested if anyone has tried something similar. |