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Subject:RE: How to fend off a tech writer From:Rosemary J Horner <rhorner -at- quellos -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 10 May 2002 10:15:43 -0700
Bruce Byfield wrote:
>>Second, for all the mystique about "the zone," there is no evidence that
work produced in this state is any better or worse than work produced in
other mental states.<<
I'm not sure anyone said the work was _better_ when in "the zone" (but it's
always possible that I missed something). I do believe, though, that people
in general are _more productive_ when they can concentrate on one task for
an uninterrupted period.
That goes for a lot of things; current examples from my non-work life
include doing Math homework, designing my web site, making clothes... If I
get interrupted by a phone call, say, or a cat demanding attention, it takes
me a few minutes to sit back down and remember where I was at--what formula
or theorem I was using or was going to use, how many images I've done and
how many are left to do, which pieces of fabric in which pile should be sewn
together next. The more complex the task, the more there is to remember. I
can well believe that it would take 15 minutes to gather all the pieces of
code and variables and their relationships back into short-term memory. And
during that 15 minutes, nothing is being produced, of any quality.
I think the biggest point about "the zone" is just that you produce more
work in the same amount of time than if you have a lot of interruptions. It
probably isn't better or worse, but there's more of it.
At least in my experience...
Rosemary
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