Thalassicus
Bytes and Nibblers
Newsweek: The Science of Making Decisions
This is a rather interesting article I came across, that might give some insight into how the brain works when making decisions or doing creative tasks. Over the span of years of my job as a programmer and modding as a hobby, I gradually realized I work best at creative tasks (like modding) right after coming back to it from an extended break. Mechanical tasks aren't an issue, but anywhere we need to make decisions, or come up with novel new ideas, this seems to apply.
Until now I didn't realize there might actually be an underlying reason for that. I thought it was just my own personal preferences in how to get work done. However, I've seen articles in several magazines now (Newsweek, Scientific American, etc) that indicate it's likely simple information overload. The brain generally places importance on tidbits of information equally, no matter how relevant those tidbits might be, and it favors the most recent data. As we try and take more and more information into our thought process, the brain isn't capable of filtering out the important information from the unimportant, and actually loses good decision-making capability. I've experienced the extreme described in the article quite often, especially when programming. Coding requires keeping a lot of complex ideas in the mind at once. As I try to wrap my head around some huge algorithm, if I go too far it feels like everything just shuts down.
It's not easy to apply in the workplace, but for a hobby it's definitely achievable to do an on-again, off-again style. For example, when working on my old Warcraft 3 map I discovered I was most productive for the first week or so after not working on it in a while. Eventually my ideas ran out, I moved onto other things, then came back a few months later and had tons of great new ideas.
When an on/off style isn't an option, while working at one creative project for an extended period of time, I've found it helps a lot to switch between different "categories" of tasks that require different skills. For a few weeks I might go on a Lua coding spree, then the next few weeks do lots of balancing work with data edits, while another week I might work on the user interface.
Anyway, hopefully some of these insights from the article, or my own thoughts on the subject, might help when you're working on your own mods!
This is a rather interesting article I came across, that might give some insight into how the brain works when making decisions or doing creative tasks. Over the span of years of my job as a programmer and modding as a hobby, I gradually realized I work best at creative tasks (like modding) right after coming back to it from an extended break. Mechanical tasks aren't an issue, but anywhere we need to make decisions, or come up with novel new ideas, this seems to apply.
Until now I didn't realize there might actually be an underlying reason for that. I thought it was just my own personal preferences in how to get work done. However, I've seen articles in several magazines now (Newsweek, Scientific American, etc) that indicate it's likely simple information overload. The brain generally places importance on tidbits of information equally, no matter how relevant those tidbits might be, and it favors the most recent data. As we try and take more and more information into our thought process, the brain isn't capable of filtering out the important information from the unimportant, and actually loses good decision-making capability. I've experienced the extreme described in the article quite often, especially when programming. Coding requires keeping a lot of complex ideas in the mind at once. As I try to wrap my head around some huge algorithm, if I go too far it feels like everything just shuts down.
It's not easy to apply in the workplace, but for a hobby it's definitely achievable to do an on-again, off-again style. For example, when working on my old Warcraft 3 map I discovered I was most productive for the first week or so after not working on it in a while. Eventually my ideas ran out, I moved onto other things, then came back a few months later and had tons of great new ideas.
When an on/off style isn't an option, while working at one creative project for an extended period of time, I've found it helps a lot to switch between different "categories" of tasks that require different skills. For a few weeks I might go on a Lua coding spree, then the next few weeks do lots of balancing work with data edits, while another week I might work on the user interface.
Anyway, hopefully some of these insights from the article, or my own thoughts on the subject, might help when you're working on your own mods!
