💡 Notes from the Book Pragmatic thinking and learning 📖
Novices are very concerned about their ability to succeed; with little experience to guide them, they really don’t know whether their actions will all turn out OK. Novices don’t particularly want to learn; they just want to accomplish an immediate goal. They do not know how to respond to mistakes and so are fairly vulnerable to confusion when things go awry.
- Novices need recipes.
They want information fast. For instance, you may feel like this when you’re learning a new language or API and you find yourself scanning the documentation quickly looking for that one method signature or set of arguments. You don’t want to be bogged down with lengthy theory at this point or spoon-fed the basics yet again.
- Advanced beginners don't want the big picture
At the third stage, practitioners can now develop con- ceptual models of the problem domain and work with those models effectively. They can troubleshoot prob- lems on their own and begin to figure out how to solve novel problems—ones they haven’t faced before. They can begin to seek out and apply advice from experts and use it effectively.
- Competents can troubleshoot.
Proficient practitioners need the big picture. They will seek out and want to understand the larger concep- tual framework around this skill. They will be very frustrated by oversimplified information. Proficient practitioners make a major breakthrough on the Dreyfus model: they can self-correct. can correct previous poor task performance. They can reflect on how they’ve done and revise their approach to perform better the next time. Up until this stage, that sort of self-improvement is simply not available.
- Proficient practitioners can self-correct.
Finally, at the fifth stage, we come to the end of the line: the expert. Experts are the primary sources of knowledge and information in any field. They are the ones who con- tinually look for better methods and better ways of doing things. They have a vast body of experience that they can tap into and apply in just the right context. These are the folks who write the books, write the articles, and do the lecture circuit. These are the modern wizards.
- Experts work from intuition
Only dead fish go with the flow
If it works then its pragmatic
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.
Everything is interconnected
Always consider the context
Every good journey begins with a map
We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
try fiddling with a paper clip or some sort of tactile puzzle while stuck on a tedious conference call or while pondering a tricky problem.
Instead of trying to create and document a design or architecture directly in a commercial tool (using UML or some- thing similar), use building blocks. Toy blocks. In assorted colors. Or Lego bricks.
You want to let the R-mode lead and then switch to L-mode to “productize” it, if you will.
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Write it down in your usual form.
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Draw a picture (not UML or an official diagram; just a picture).
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What visual metaphor is appropriate?
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Describe it verbally.
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Engage in open discussion with your teammates; respond to questions and criticisms, and so on.
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Act out the roles involved. (Any physical metaphors come to mind? We’ll talk a lot about metaphors shortly.)
start with the analogic processes for connections and theories, and then use the analytic processes to validate your thinking. it’s not a one-way trip; you need to return to R-mode to keep the ideas flowing. R-mode is the source, and you want to give it free, uninhibited reign.
Write Drunk, Revise Sober
So if you aren’t pair programming, you definitely need to stop every so often and step away from the keyboard.
Use Generative metaphores to guide your design
be OK with uncertainty. Don’t force the issue; just be aware of it.
Harvest with image streaming
Harvest with free form journalising
Blogging
Harvesting by Walking, dump everything out onto paper (or into an editor buffer, if you must), and then leave it be. Don’t rehash it or go over it in your mind. Bear it in mind, as Brown suggests, but don’t focus on it. Hold it ever so lightly in your thoughts. Let the stew of facts and problems marinate and Step away from the keyboard to solve hard problems
Try to aid visual perception by using consistent typographic
The key to creativity and problem solving lies in finding different ways of looking at a problem.
Turn the problem around
Non-goal- directed playing with an idea is where you’ll make connections, see relationships, and gain insights. It helps change your viewpoint.
imagine yourself as an integral component of the problem you’re working on: suppose you are the database query or the packet on the network. When you get tired of waiting in line, what will you do? Who would you tell?
Do morning pages for at least two weeks.
Hone a quick wit. Look for connections or analogies between unrelated things.
Involve more senses when faced with a tricky problem. Whatworks best for you?
Read something different from your usual material, for example, fiction, not science fiction, and so on.
Try a different genre of movie, vacation, music, or coffee.
Order something you’ve never had at your favorite restaurant.
Turn each problem around. What can you learn from the reverse?
Deliberately vary your morning routine or other consistent habit.
Hold a design session using Lego blocks or office supplies.
Take a class or start a hobby that involves more R-mode processing. Work on it daily.
Use the buddy system: have a buddy help keep you motivated, and discuss your progress.
Think of a metaphor, or set of metaphors, that would largely describe your current project (it may be helpful to think in terms of something very tangible). Try to come up with a few jokes about it using metaphor or exaggeration.
Look at experts you know. What “quirky” habits now make more sense to you?
What words can you add to your workplace lexicon?
Remember that behavior is oftentimes more because of reaction to a context than because of fundamental personality traits.
You are part of the system. Whether it goes okay or not
Take time to examine the “crazy” outliers or those “impossible,” astronomically unlikely events.
Defer closure for as long as possible in order to make a better decision later. Resist the pressure. Know that you will reach a decision, and the matter will be settled, just not today. Be comfortable with uncertainty
Trust ink over memory; every mental read is a write
Hedge your bets with diversity.
Allow for different bugs in different people.
Act like you've evolved, breathe don't hiss
Trust intuition, but verify For example, you might feel in your gut that a particular design or algorithm is the right way to go and that other suggestions aren’t as effective. Great. Now prove it.
Unit Test Yourself
Remember that every decision is a trade-off. There ain’t no free lunches. There is always a flip side, and looking closely at the trade-offs—in detail, both positive and negative—helps make sure you’re evaluating the situation more fully.
It is by logic we prove; it is by intuition we discover.
Have SMART goals
Plan your investments in learning deliberately
Use SQ3R when reading
Explore, Invent and apply in your field - safely
See without judging then act
Trying fails, awareness cures.
Onces you make it okay to fail, you won't
Getting used to what “success” feels like is important enough that it’s worthwhile to fake it first.
Be aware.
Learn to quiet your chattering L-mode.
Deliberately work with and add to thoughts in progress, even if they aren’t “done” yet.
Be aware of just how expensive context switching can be, and avoid it in all its myriad forms.
Aesthetics make a difference, whether it’s in a user interface, the layout of your code and comments, the choices of variable names, the arrangement of your desktop, or whatever.
what lies beyond the expert? In an oddly circular way, the most sought-after thing you want to achieve after becoming an expert is...the beginner’s mind.
"In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few." -- Shunryu Suzuki-Roshi