Starting up? Multitasking - Good Or Bad
I am a big multitasking fan myself. So, please read it out. I learnt few things the hard way so just wanted to share.
I am a programmer and a thinker (at least that is what I feel I am and that has been earning bread and butter for me so far ;). I have been into this for long and thus I was able to multitask when I was coding or designing. Recently, I started about something new and was able to quickly connect things. I was very happy and full of energy. In my usual way I started multitasking things so that I can finish them of as quickly as I can.
One month gone and started evaluating the progress. I was shocked to realize that I was half as productive as I usually would have been. I started wondering where I went wrong. Thanks to my backtracking capability I soon was able to realize that I was doing it all the wrong way. I was trying to multitask so much that I was not able to focus on any one thing.
Problems
You could be a champ of your own forte as you have lot of time training your brain for that/those thing(s) but not for every damn thing. Technology is just one aspect but there are 100 other things which you need to think about when starting up any thing. You need to get trained or say get your brain trained for those things.
When you are distributing your energy/focus then there is a context switch. Look back, how many times have you revisited the same damn concept in the field you were when initially started. How can you grasp something very new so easily now?
Better Approach (At least for me)
Strict time slots. Even if you are not able to achieve the target in the specified time STOP. Re-evaluate, whether you want to continue this task or other planned ones. You will easily be able to figure that out. Either continue this one task or bring it to a logical end and then switch over to next one.
Don't rush. If you are picking up something new which even seems easy to start with, don't push yourself. Go deeper into it. Understand the need and prioritize it. You may have to learn lot of things, do it. Do it right the first time.
Changes are inevitable, accept them. Most of us can't come up with a plan which won't change even a bit, it will. One of the reason would be you. As you will start going deeper into it and understanding your goal better you will start improving it. Which is good, but that means that you will have to work even harder. Don't go for YAGNI (You ain't gonna need it).
Go agile or iterative on your plan. Few may say that it is not DRY (Don't repeat yourself) but DRY is for mistakes. If you are not revisiting your plan and progress then you are at mistake but if you do you are not. So go DRY (Do repeat yourself) be agile.
Be a good adapter. As you will go deeper and start researching you will realize that lot of smart people have done something similar or are doing. Adapt and learn.
KISS (Keep it simple stupid - stupid is just for me). Don't over complicate things. You can't wait for ages to get the ball rolling. Get it started in the simplest way you can. Forget about technologies, approaches which others are using and use the one which suits you. You may have very different constraints, money, skills etc.
Last but not the least. Go waterfall. It seems to conflict with other points. Actually it is not. Agility is required in execution and adaptation. A roadmap/plan is required to get execution started. Invest time in plan before starting. Here you have to judge yourself. You should not plan for ages as you may not even have enough knowledge to refine your thinking but you have to think enough to start moving in right direction. You can always ask for help but again judge it properly. If you are not able to appreciate what you have thought so far, it is very likely that others who get introduced to something new just now may not. Be ready for failures if you want success so dearly. Just do it.
Co-Relation
A single core computer with less memory and with not so great firmware can't be compared to multi-core or say a super computer. That said, if that basic computer would not have existed super computer would not have either.