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Comment by kelseyfrog | Hacker News Reader

I've heard this reported, but it's hard to imagine it. The biggest bottleneck for me has always been hammock time[1].

1. https://github.com/matthiasn/talk-transcripts/blob/master/Hi...

Yes, but once you have the solution crystalized in your head do you not feel some frustration in not getting it implemented as soon as possible?

I often found myself impatient in getting something I knew would work to actually work, and it was always due to the tiresome fractal of complexities that any non-trivial task involves, like looking up an API or working around the quirks of some dependency.

On a related note, this is also why I find AI-assisted coding so efficient: I have the code visualized in my head to a decent level of detail, and so reviewing the AI's output is a breeze; it's like doing a semantic diff of what I had visualized and what it produced, and so any issues are glaring and easy to spot.

I simply type it out equanimously. The attachment to speed is neither here nor there. It will end up on the screen in due time.

I think you're talking about the flow state, which makes sense. I've said it before there was an aspect to programming that was almost meditative, that zone where ideas flow easily into code. I do miss that experience. (I also suspect the lack of it contributes to the burnout reported by heavy AI coders.)

Unfortunately, most modern software development is atrocious, full of distractions and incidental complexity and tangential issues that are not conducive to staying in the flow. Latent bugs and dependency quirks and environment issues that force you into some irrelevant sidequest were the most frustrating. Like, this video is the prefect analogy for modern software development: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0

I do NOT miss that experience and I'm glad to let the agents take care of it.

Sure, if I had enough time.

But I have more software I want to write than I have time, between my day job, my kids and family, chores, other hobbies, etc.

I had so many projects I wanted to do, but when I thought about all of the work that went into each one, I realized I didn't have time to do them and they were pushed to the back burner.

These last few months I have been able to get to so many of those back burner projects because I don't need nearly as much time anymore.

> Yes, but once you have the solution crystalized in your head do you not feel some frustration in not getting it implemented as soon as possible?

For me, honestly, no. Once i have the solution i have the solution. The only people that care about how fast it gets published are the project managers at work, certainly not me.

And besides, writing it all out and confirming it all along the way seems helpful to me, it ensures i understood everything correctly and sometimes inspires new ideas as well

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