I was asked this morning, “Have I been doing deep work?” I thouoght about it. I’ve been busy. I built in divide.cash in 3 hard weeks of work and countless other side quests. But deep work? I don’t think so.

How come? Deep work is fleeting with software projects.

There’s a lot to learn. If you’re not deeply familiar with your tool chain, you’ll spend time refreshing and learning how things work, where and what you need to change. This involves a lot of context switching, reading a bit of the documentation or having a chat with GPT, then trying it out and figuring out why its broken or isn’t working.

Often what I choose to implement won’t feel great when I use it. I’ll have an idea for a UI, implement it and when I try it, it doesn’t feel right. Its hard to predict what will feel good, though people with experience I suspect can do this well.

Why is it with drawing or writing its so much easier to do deep work? Comparitively these systems are closed and simple.

What is required to draw: a pencil, paper, and a subject. That’s it. There is little chance in you failing to do the brush stroke you wish to do. It might not look like the photo, but executing the movement will not be difficult. In programming, executing the movement can be difficult. If you have an intent, “I want users to be able to invite their friends with a link” it won’t be obvious how to execute it. Typing is easy enough, but what do I type and how. What vendors or providers do I need to pay for. Where will it fit in with what I’ve built already.

With drawing the feedback loop is instant. You move the pencil it shows immediately. In software, even the most optimized feedback loops are comparably slow. There’s compilers, build steps and deployment failures.

Writing is comparably simple, as far as execution. We know how to think. We know how to write. There is little that needs to be solved. It is more closely connected with expression. The gap between execution and thinking is tiny. I am not saying it is easy to write, clearly its not, but it is not difficult to execute the act of writing.

There have been times where I know what I want to build, I know how to build it, I am comfortable with all tools involved to just focus on building. But that is fleeting. It’s not bad either. As someone who loves to learn, its one of my favourite parts about technology.