Mak KolybabiSep 28, 2025
JA Westenberg
The real productivity hack is accepting that most tasks aren't worth optimizing and just doing them badly
Sep 28, 2025 at 7:31amTypefully
Show threadGiulio Cesare SolaroliSep 28, 2025
@Daojoan or just accept that in order to throughly understand a task you want to optimize, you need to perform it at least 10 times sloppily.
And most of the time you never get to the fourth iteration.
Show threadChristian GebhardSep 28, 2025

@Daojoan Frustratingly true…and then this comes to mind

By XKCD: https://xkcd.com/1205

Show threadDavid SmithSep 28, 2025

@basepair @Daojoan one of the befuddling things about software performance is how this plays out with *very* skewed numbers.

I recently spent about an hour to save about 2.7 nanoseconds each on a task that runs, conservatively, at least a trillion times per day. Even at the low end of the estimate the math works out!

Show threadacmSep 28, 2025
@basepair this might be the only XKCD cartoon I can remember that I am entirely unsure I can parse! (don't really want help, just remarking the challenge.)
Show threadHasan AliSep 28, 2025
@Daojoan This is the framing that stops me from procrastinating "boring" tasks every time
Show threadPope Bob the UnsaneSep 28, 2025
@Daojoan most tasks aren't worth doing. LOL ;) #Slack
Show threadBen AvelingSep 28, 2025
@Daojoan Yes, no. You often don't know which tasks are worth optimising.
Therefore, each time you do a task, try to remove just a little friction. If it turns out you don't do the task often, no great time wasted. If it turns out you do end up doing the task often, it ends up optimised.
The easiest way to remove friction is to keep notes, record what you do, turn those notes into instructions to your future self, optimise those instructions, put them in a script, improve that script.
Show threadacmSep 28, 2025
@BenAveling that's way too much effort, given what % of the time things don't recur. I wait until I Keep Seeing something...
Show threadDror BedrackSep 28, 2025
@Daojoan "not perfect " is not necessarily "bad"
Show threadMegatronicThronBanksSep 28, 2025
@Daojoan Not all jobs are worth doing properly.
Show threadConfused Middle Aged DadSep 28, 2025
@Daojoan bad and inefficient execution maybe, but I would argue for making sure many tasks are done well. Effectiveness over efficiency. Far too much my work seems to be associated with fixing the work that someone did 'super efficiently' by stripping out some of the long term value add parts of the job. This is stuff like correctly labelling and filing so we can find things in the future, and be sure what they applied to, otherwise work needs to be repeated
Show threadSomeVeganCheeseIsOkSep 28, 2025
@Daojoan NO.
Show threadJA WestenbergSep 28, 2025
@SomeVeganCheeseIsOk YES.
Show threadSomeVeganCheeseIsOkSep 28, 2025
@Daojoan NEVER!
Show threadSomeVeganCheeseIsOkSep 28, 2025
@Daojoan o hai burnout what you doin here
Show threadMercurius GoldsteinSep 28, 2025

@Daojoan

Karaoke is both an exemplar and counter-example of this ethos.

Show threadDarryl RammSep 28, 2025

@Daojoan @timbray

The real productivity hack is not doing tasks that really don't need to be done. 🤷‍♂️

Show threadJohn Faithfull 🌍🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🧡✊🏻✊🏿Sep 28, 2025
@Daojoan 😁 but spot on.
Show thread0xFFFF_FFFFSep 28, 2025
@Daojoan productivity is a construct
Show threadAlbert CardonaSep 28, 2025

@Daojoan

From Donald Knuth:

“My mother is amazing to watch because she doesn't do anything efficiently, really: She puts about three times as much energy as necessary into everything she does. But she never spends any time wondering what to do next or how to optimize anything; she just keeps working. Her strategy, slightly simplified, is, "See something that needs to be done and do it." All day long. And at the end of the day, she's accomplished a huge amount.”

https://shuvomoy.github.io/blogs/posts/Knuth-on-work-habits-and-problem-solving-and-happiness/

Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness

Show threadAlfie KohnSep 28, 2025

@Daojoan

This is certainly true of tasks that are a waste of time in the first place. The more interesting insight is that it's also true of tasks with intrinsic value. G.K. Chesterton said: "If a thing is worth doing at all, it's worth doing badly."

Show threadBrandon RohrerSep 28, 2025
@Daojoan related:
as a wise mentor once told me “anything not worth doing is not worth doing well”
Show threadWade McGillisSep 28, 2025
@Daojoan can't
Show threadCrunchySep 28, 2025
@Daojoan Once I heard that "anything worth doing is worth doing poorly," and that stuck with me
Show threadacmSep 28, 2025
@Daojoan THANK YOU!
Show threadCoryndon LuxmooreSep 28, 2025
@Daojoan the best use I have of AI so far is doing tasks faster where mediocre is the bar
Show threadChertRidgeSep 28, 2025
@Daojoan Better is the enemy of Good Enough.
Show threadMikeZilla Minus OneSep 28, 2025

@Daojoan

I believe no task in normal daily existence is worth doing 100%

87% is enough

Show threadJA WestenbergSep 28, 2025
@MikeyMcFilms hard agree
Show threadMikeZilla Minus OneSep 29, 2025
@Daojoan 👍👍