At 11:28 PM 11/26/02 -0600, Dan Minette wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ronn! Blankenship" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2002 11:08 PM Subject: Re: Religion, the good side> At 11:01 PM 11/26/02 -0600, Dan Minette wrote: > > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: "Erik Reuter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2002 10:32 PM > >Subject: Re: Religion, the good side > > > > > > > On Tue, Nov 26, 2002 at 07:20:46PM -0600, Dan Minette wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > I'm sure we'll disagree on this, but I'll say that it would have > > > probably been finshed more quickly (in 1 year?) if they had put in more > > > hours. > > > >Good lord, an innovative technique, including coming up with a radically > >new design, building and testing hardware, all within a year? How familar > >are you will real creative invention...you know the kind of work where a > >blinding flash of insight makes everything simple. Where half an hour of > >inspired work results in more progress than a year of plodding. > > > >I've had maybe three or four of them that I've based much of my > >professional reputation on. I don't rank with these guys, but two of them > >are, between them, the techniques used by all companies making nuclear > >measurements while drilling. > > > >The creative muse is not badgered. You don't simply think day and night. > >You look at the problem, know that it is solveable, but not now, and go > >away. As one of the guys told me when he was fussed at for surfing the net > >at work, "how else can I solve a problem...if I just stare at it, I'll > >never figure it out." > > > >Right now I've got a contract where I'm payed by the job. If just work > >long hours on it, without distraction, by your thinking, I could my money > >faster. But, it doesn't work that way. Some of the work is mechanical, > >and I can do that by grinding. And, some days I do grind it out. But, the > >creative stuff requires me to do things like clean the kitchen, play golf, > >etc. in order to solve the problem. When I stop looking at the problem, > >the solution appears. > > > > > > So, management wanted them to work "properly." Productivity went way > > > > down. As one guy put it "How can I come up with a solution unless I'm > > > > distracted." > > > > > > People like to complain about management. Some people might even > > > intentionally work less to "get back at" management. But for someone > > > who truly wants to get something done and is giving it their best shot, > > > working longer is likely to get it done in fewer days > > > >Question, then. Management A ran the company, respecting how these and > >other guys worked. The company was first in market share, by a good > >margin. It was sold for a very good profit by the parent company (it was > >groomed for sale, they didn't have the global infrastructure to really > >expand the company). The corporation that bought them had a philosophy like > >yours. After 3 years, engineering productivity fell to pieces. There were > >long hours, tight schedules, no time to think. Junk was turned out. The > >corporation that bought them had their own MWD company, the 4th largest in > >the industry. Two years after combining #1 and #4, they had the #3 > >company. > > > >These guys were really great in that they got away lying about what they > >did to the management. They actually turned out good product their own > >way, by playing politics right. (They got lucky in having some folks who > >wanted the company to survive intervene with management.) They were the > >only group to turn out product that was at the forefront of the market (my > >inventions were before the buyout.) There were plenty of plodders, doing > >things your way, turning out stuff that didn't work. > > > >I respect hard work. With my own company, including non-billable hours, I > >work a good number of hours a week. But, I know that's not where I make > >the greatest impact. Its in those few minutes of inspiration. > > > > I know that most times when I sit with a computer or a blank sheet of paper > in front of me, the only thing I produce is mechanical stuff, which even I > recognize as garbage. Inspiration comes when I take a walk, when I'm in > the shower, or when I'm lying in bed half-asleep, at which time I have to > run, not walk, to the computer and type it in before the moment goes away . Ah, so you know what I mean. I'm lucky in that I can remember my blinding flashes of inspiration. Its like being told the solution to real difficult riddle. Once I see it; I can take my time writing it down. Indeed, some times I get just part, stop pushing, and wait for the rest. But, for others, the muse also gives an exponential decay function to, so if they don't do as you say, it goes away, maybe to never come back.
The problem is not that I forget, but that if something unrelated takes priority, when I get back to it the "inspired mood" is gone, whereas if I can "strike while the iron is hot", I'm likely to get something done before getting sidetracked . . .
(Obviously the preceding description was _not_ a product of inspiration, but with luck some of you will be sufficiently inspired to interpret it . . . )
--Ronn! :)
I always knew that I would see the first man on the Moon.
I never dreamed that I would see the last.
--Dr. Jerry Pournelle
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