unraveled also

The Rube Goldberg Complex

Note: This post has embedded videos that don’t show up in the Tumbler Dashboard for some unknown reason.

After wondering what I should write about this week (I haven’t had the time to take my own medicine) I was fortunate to see this great talk by Adam Sadowsky, which was part of the wonderful Ignite Series of talks. Sadowsky is the president of Syn Labs, which was asked by OK Go to build a Rube Goldberg machine for their next video.

As I was watching this, I immediately thought of software. If you’re unfamiliar with Rube Goldberg machines, Wikipedia describes them as “over engineered machines that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion.” A lot of software is like this. Microsoft’s Office suite is probably the exemplar of this. Sadowsky’s team was commissioned to make their machine messy and complex; a lot of software ends up messy and complex.

Sadowsky mentioned three tips for creating Rube Goldberg Machines in his talk. Unsurprisingly, if you want to create messy and complex software, this is a great way to do it.

1. Small stuff sucks.
2. Put the reliable stuff last.
3. Planning is very important.

So if these are the three tips for creating complex, messy software, can we take the inverse of these them and use them to create simple and elegant software?

1. Small stuff is awesome. Simple and elegant software is all about the small things: small feature sets, small design/development teams and small timelines.
2. Put the reliable stuff first. This one doesn’t translate directly but if you’re creating creating simple and elegant software, you need to focus on what works. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t experiment and innovate to create the best possible user experience. Innovation is often needed to simplify, but innovation should be secondary to using existing, tried and true methods.
3. Planning is not very important. As Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson state in their new book, Rework, “Planning is guessing. There are just too many factors that are out of your hands.” When your creating software, you can’t plan more than about a week in advance, so just give up the guess work and just go for it.

I couldn’t post this article without including the final OK Go video, could I? It’s pretty spectacular.

On Writing

Today ends the 7th week of Project 52, and so far I’m 4 for 6, not including this week. I did well in January and turned out a new article every week, but my motivation to write was clearly higher a month ago than it is today. As I had just started the project, I was actively and regularly thinking about it throughout the week. So when it came time to write the article it was easier and faster.

The past two weeks have been much busier than usual at work, but I feel like that’s a lame excuse. Everyone is busy. Some are just better at finding time to capture thoughts and write about them. So what are some ways that amateur writers go about their life but still find a way to write great articles at the end of the day? Because I haven’t posted anything for the past two weeks, and I’m keen to keep it from happening again over the coming year, I thought it would be fitting to explore this topic a little more this week. After thinking a little about this over the past few days, these are the top three ideas I had to improve the quantity and quality of my writing in the context of Project 52.

Pick your topic as early as possible

It’s easy to avoid the topic of your mid-term essay and wait until the last minute to write it. Many of us have been there. Similarly it’s easy to put off thinking about any essay until the deadline closes in - especially if you’re writing a series of articles which can be about anything, as is the case for Project 52. When I haven’t thought through the topic of a longer article before I start writing it, I often end up spending a lot of time nailing down the topic and determining what angle I’ll take. However, when I pick the topic early, I can spend short blocks of time thinking about the article leading up to the actual writing. So when I need to sit down and write, I have the topic and some notes — or at least some reformulated thoughts — about the topic.

Dedicate time for thinking and writing about the topic every day

Even if you pick your topic early, if you don’t set aside time to think and write about the topic — every day — you won’t have much more than an idea and blank slate when you need to do the real writing. Some writers have the uncanny ability to know what they’re going to write about and just write, planning and structuring their article in real time. While I can try to do this, it often takes me considerably more time than it would if I had some notes or some rough ideas about the the topic. Part of my plan to get back on track with with Project 52 is to reserve at least 15 minutes every day to do a short amount of research and record at least a few thoughts about the article.

When it comes time to write, just start writing

Just write. This sounds too simple, but it’s probably one of the most important writing tips that I’ve relearned since starting this project. Motivating yourself to start writing can be hard. It’s analogous to physics: it takes more energy to get something to start moving than to keep it going. But once you get going, it just flows. Or at least you have something to build your thoughts on. Don’t worry about quality the first time around; you can always revise and edit later. In other words, don’t be afraid to write a shitty first draft, an idea from Anne Lamott in her book, Bird by Bird:

Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something — anything — down on paper.

Writing isn’t easy for everyone, but it doesn’t have to be hard either. With a little bit of planning, a daily commitment to the task and an acknowledgement that just getting on with it is the best way to start, writing can be a easier and more enjoyable for everyone.