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Swimmer963 comments on The trouble with teamwork - Less Wrong
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Comments (57)
Doing it at the last minute is never going to work, is it?
Sigh. I suppose at some point I need to get over my superstition that it's somehow more efficient to finish things the night before.
Yep - it's not more efficient.
Don't forget that overconfidence bias will make you think it'll take a shorter time than it does... therefore if you estimate that you can get it done in the last week, you may find that actually it's a week and a half's work to turn in a really good job, but you now don't have the time to do that.
With more time you can review it if necessary... or just kick back and relax, knowing that everything's already done.
I don't have a lot of trouble with overconfidence bias; I base my time-to-finish-project estimates on other projects I've done in the past, and it's generally about right. If it's a kind of project I've never done before, I leave a bit more time. Also, I'm busy enough, during the school year anyway, that I'll never be able to "kick back and relax" unless I put something aside for later.
Awesome - that's a great skill to have taught yourself. You'll have to keep an eye out for black swans - but you should be able to adapt the skill to new areas of expertise as you go along.
It probably is more efficient, considering that if you start working on a project a week before it is due, the work you do will probably end up looking more like trying to work than actually working. (Insert obligatory typical mind fallacy disclaimer here.)
I worked the same way until I started doing correspondence courses. With nobody to hassle me, no classes to hand stuff in at, and no peers I had to learn to motivate myself and follow a schedule fast.
I am motivated well by deadlines as well, but its amazing how much easier schoolwork is when you actually choose when to do it. instead of cramming in a sleep deprived state for the night before, you can break it up into easier pieces when you are most alert. Hopefully these newfound skills will carry over when I start university...
I don't pull all-nighters for school. That would make me unproductive at work the next day. I don't even stay up late for school, and if I do, I consider it a failure in my time management. I'm pretty good at predicting how long it takes me to do things (planning fallacy doesn't seem to affect me much) and often that time is much shorter than the time it (seems to) take other people, and...well, why would I start a ten-page essay a month early when it takes me three solid evenings to finish it?
Then why leave it til later? three solid evenings today or thee solid evenings a week before it's due? it shouldn't matter to you... but if you do it now you'll at least know that you don't have any other matters interfering with it, and that if something suddenly comes up you can always finish it next weekend.
Whereas if you leave it to the last week... if a personal emergency comes up - there's nothing you can do, you still have to get it done anyway.
It's much better time-management to do it early.
No matter when I choose to do it, I have to give up something I pressingly want to do at the time, whether it's cooking or posting on LessWrong or sleep. Doing a project early always makes me feel like I'm giving up what I really want to be doing for no good reason, since it's not even due yet. ...And no that's not especially rational, but it's not (usually) dysfunctional either.
:) I totally know that feeling. Too many interesting things to do, too little time!
If you're interested, I recommend Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher