Process as a Proxy for Motivation

This is a really well-written short article, and I agree with it completely.

I just wanted to add as well that, as someone who has read quite a lot of books on self-help and productivity, there is one that makes a lot of similar points: "Triggers: Creating Behavior That Lasts--Becoming the Person You Want to Be"

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/22544758-triggers

I recommend it to anyone who agrees with this article and feels like a book-length treatment of similar ideas would be helpful to them.

I think the strongest version of this idea is that process is basically a way of spending willpower once instead of repeatedly

> Both of these examples demonstrate a process, or a decision made in advance

A decision made in advance is not a process. Unlike all the other real-world examples of committed processes in the article, premade decisions don't require discipline - the actual substitute for motivation - to execute in a meaningful way that ensures actual progress.

I think I would avocate actually against processes. Processes are nice, handy, and sage, but that assumes you have unlimited time. A baby crying and death approaching really make you rethinking useless 1-1s and meetings.

This is a good one. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter if the made decision is suboptimal. It’s better than no decision.

Opinionated linters is an example.

Sometimes you just gotta turn your brain off and move forward.

> The ‘optimal’ approach would be to check traffic, analyze the data, and shave off five minutes from my journey.

Why not letting Google Maps decide?

It hurts my soul to read of "Agile" as a fixed process consisting of arbitrary decisions like two-week sprints and 9:30 stand-ups.

Agile is "responding to change over following a plan". https://agilemanifesto.org

There's surely something to be said for bundling behaviors and triggers, but I do wish the world of software development hadn't missed the whole damn point of agile.

[flagged]

[dead]

[flagged]