For as much as I want to take Twitter breaks, let’s be honest: I’m not. I’m going to fall sleep with my phone clutched in my right hand and wake up shining blue light into my precious orbs first thing. So, yes, I saw you manager-types. I saw you sharing your READMEs with delight - a cheeky throwback to how you used to operate as a developer. Get it? It’s technical documentation, but instead of for an API or open-source project it’s for me.
I research productivity tools when I procrastinate.
It’s a compulsion. In the moments where I should be sitting down, highly focused, in so-called flow, I’m typing nonsense like “iOS productivity apps” or “best Markdown editor” into Google. For hours. I read the lists provided by the search engine like a catechism - in a low whisper, feverishly searching for a productivity miracle.
I’ve long been on a hunt for some kind of a productivity hack that’ll stick, some trick that’ll help me get over my own inconsistencies, striking deep into the dark heart of my idiosyncrasies.
Throughout my software engineering career, I’ve struggled with and against jargon. Intellectually, I understand jargon as a set of specialized terms meant to facilitate smooth and precise communication, particularly in a professional context. It binds groups together: it’s the secret handshake, the side-long wink, the showing that yes, you’re in the club too, you belong. Experientially? I know the ways jargon can keep you out as you feel along, grasping for knowledge in the dark.