<story><title>Breaking down tasks</title><url>https://jacobian.org/2024/mar/11/breaking-down-tasks/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>Scarblac</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve also done this a lot, as has everybody. My experience is that there are two problems.&lt;p&gt;One, it turns out I never ever end up doing the actual steps as I planned to. After a few I have new insights, realize I forgot something, see an easier way, I don&amp;#x27;t know -- the plan is never followed.&lt;p&gt;The other is that I &lt;i&gt;really hate&lt;/i&gt; working like this because it seems all the creative effort of thinking about how to make something is put in the first part. And then, the rest is still most of the work, but it&amp;#x27;s the &lt;i&gt;really boring&lt;/i&gt; part. It&amp;#x27;s much more fun (and therefore faster, and resulting in better work) to spread the creativity and the boredom out more equally.&lt;p&gt;The two are probably related, and it&amp;#x27;s not inconceivable that I have ADHD.</text></comment>
<story><title>Breaking down tasks</title><url>https://jacobian.org/2024/mar/11/breaking-down-tasks/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>hnaccountme</author><text>Software development cannot be managed like this. This sort of task break downs come from classic management training. The problem most people are unaware of is software development is more a creative activity than anything else. Yes there are serious technical aspects to it but since the problem is virtual and not bound by any real world limitations, like how civil engineering would be, there isn&amp;#x27;t one optimal solution. Trying to define the solution before the problem has been properly examined would only limit the final output. Most of the exploration only happens when people actually start coding.&lt;p&gt;Not having a well defined final output and time is not very relevant for software, mostly because there is no per unit cost. Most managers do not realize this is they are not from a software engineering background. A versatile product can be sold to many different customers without additional development costs.&lt;p&gt;But since most companies are managed as factories, all the processors will ultimately create a very limited product targeted at a specific customer. What the big tech companies have avoided is this .</text></comment>