%1 Better#
| Field | Label |
|---|---|
| Date | 2025-05-01 |
| Time | 10:00 PM |
| Spark | Reflecting on speedups |
There is an extra benefit to making mundane tasks easier other than time saved.
At some point, routine tasks become automatic and don't seem to exhaust anymore cognitive resources than mostly mindless tasks like walking and speaking. Yet, those tasks still occupy some portion of our minds. Furthermore they can request additional resources if the complexity deviates more than what was typically encountered. Of course, after some time of a new environment we acclimate to that complexity. A hiker thinks less of the rugged terrain they step on than a city dweller. But, if that hiker were to stop hiking for a few weeks or months their effort to walk amoungst that terrain would increase.
Applying those ideas in a cognitively demanding landscape one could see how there is some merit to entirely eliminating or reducing mundanity. To acquire an aptitude in a routine task temporarily, only to forget, or to not apply in a generalizable manner those resulting abilities, does seem a waste or inefficient.
With any practical programming ability one is able to skirt some of the slowdown but is not sensible to do so for all routine tasks.
So then what tasks then are sensible? I feel that for myself the answer is that which I want to prioritize in life. Outside of family, friends, health, and career, the needs I have after are what I should focus on.
That's the big picture. In practice, surprisingly there are few widely applicable insights I've encountered in my own journey of reducing friction. Guidelines on what to improve, what to really improve and where to stop.
Lesson #1: Fail Early
It is critical, that if one is trying anything, that there is some evaluation criteria on whether it is worth doing now, worth it later in the future, and then beyond. There are some tasks for which the payoff is at the end of much investment. Others bring yields earlier. Some tasks bring marginal yields at the start and then decline in value later (think about clean up tasks after trying out some organizational system).
Everything has a cost and a benefit whose value fluctuates on different dimensions in non-linear, staggered ways. While it's not easy to predict, it is much easier to evaluate the past and see where to look next.
Lesson #2: Usage is Validation
If you find yourself regularly using your shortcut or improved process that's a great hint that something is working. Be mindful that there could be confounding external variables which influence it but most likely something about the new thing is working. Even if it's not globally optimal, the existance of a process actively followed is better than one intermidiately. Like a scientist, examine the causes and see which affordances are genuinely leading to more intentional behavior.
Lesson #3: Short Feedback Loops > Long Feedback Loops
It is easy to get emotionally invested in large projects and for those feelings to superceed practical concerns such as if it is worth continuing or if others are finding value in it. To be pigeonholed should be avoided but also be mindful that sometimes such projects are the ones that payout the most. A middle ground to reach is to create successively large subprojects that expand in function to the larger aim. This is where the concept of a MVP comes in. However, instead of one that is most fitting of the demands of a situation, it is barely that. The minimal part of mvp must be emphasized. It must be understood as barely functioning.
It must be simple too, but no simpler than needed. Sometimes this means constraining the features and interaction but this is for the better. As primary users of our own systems, especially ones to cut down on routine/mundane tasks, we must use them. Otherwise is it a project thrown in the wrong direction.
If a project is to be cancelled then the reasons why are equally as important as the reasons to continue if it were successful.
Concluding thoughts
I wouldn't list out all the ways I do this and all the tools and systems I've tried but there are a fair number. Some have sticked and others less so. While earlier in my journey I saw these speedup processes as a magical means to greater ability, and they certainly help, this is not the case. The habits of mind and the values one cultivates are far more helpful.
Though, that doesn't mean that no effort should be dedicate to cut down on inefficiency.
Secondly, new tools and systems which prior systems depend upon are always coming out. There is a lifespan to most optimizations one can try out. For me, I'm trying to dedicate my time to those that I can see myself using for a long time. I still dedicate time to those that may be short lived but I am aware of their lifespan.
It is difficult to say what tasks are worth improving but for me, I find it fun to try. In that, it isn't as bad a loss if an approach doesn't work out. It teaches me what doesn't work and I get to learn some new way of thinking. Perhaps, framing optimizations in that way, can be helpful for other trying to optimize their lives too.