Tuit
From Carls wiki
The smallest unit of motivation necessary to perform a desired task is called a tuit. Tuits are abstract entities and shapeless, but many people like to think of them as round, or sometimes other shapes. It's important to realize that tuits really aren't physical, and need not be exchanged or bought.
Hence, anyone claiming that tuits take up space is a liar, and anyone trying to sell you one is a charlatan. All physical tuits are fake and don't help squat to improve productivity.
It's also a widespread myth that people are sometimes completely without tuits. This is simply false; if you don't have any tuits at all, you're dead. However, it will often appear that there are few tuits around, because they are being directed at various other things.
How to handle tuits
- Keep a list. Keep it in a visible place. Remember that the list is a means, not an end in itself.
- Plan ahead. Make a meeting with yourself, show up, and do stuff.
- Start by doing the simplest thing that could possibly work. This will ensure that the first tuit is well spent.
- Extend your work stepwise. Make sure that the test/operate/test/exit loop is tight and good.
- Step back now and then, look at the big picture, and at your objectives. The way to keep the tuits flowing is to keep the task satisfying and the results close to the causes.
In short, tuits flow better when you
- focus,
- spend your time wisely,
- start simple,
- do things piecewise and
- enjoy yourself.
A few other things
- Sometimes it might help to do things in a backwards order, violating obvious dependencies. When I'm going to vacuum my room, it helps me focus if I bring the vacuum cleaner first, and then take the necessary steps to clear the floor and move things. The presence of the vacuum-cleaner in the middle of the floor helps me focus on what lies ahead, and what I need to do in order to get there. (A more programming-centric example might be to start using an API or a DSL before specifying it. That gives you more of a feel for what you need to spec.)
- A healthy JFDI view on things always helps. When you get an idea and decide between realizing it right now or some other time, you're not just choosing between getting it done now and getting it done later — if you do it now, it'll be done; if you choose to do it later, you might find yourself facing the same choice at a later point... or you might never get the same idea again. Furthermore, JFDI tells you that throwing together a quick solution from a few tuits is still better than waiting for lots of tuits, so you can do it "right" later. Be pedantic, but don't let high standards kill your initial enthusiasm.
- Make a policy on the tempo of your work. Set the bar at a reasonable minimum. I'm using A little something every day for this wiki.
Links
- Round tuit on Wikipedia
- A page purporting to explain the background of tuits. Don't believe them.
- A site selling physical tuits. Thieves.
- Why not innovate NOW? — metacool
- Fail early, fail often — metacool
