I'm on vacation. I've pinned down that typically I'll still have my fridays to do fun tech stuff. But this friday is otherwise occupied so newsletter and livestream gets to be thursday activities this week. 15.00 CEST on the YouTube channel. I'll be starting a first bash at building that personal circles photo product.

Movement in the Underjord

Expect a small batch of video posts on the blog as I post my backlog. Was a bit swamped the last week before vacation so didn't post everything I recorded outside of YouTube. I also have a draft of a post that I might turn into an actual post if I have time today.

Elixir certainly has an outsized following on Hacker News. I definitely know a lot of people in the community get involved whenever an Elixir topic is up there. This time Sophie's post about Elixir adoption did a round on the front page. Having been involved in making that post happen it feels great to see it make moves. Not surprising. Sophie is fantastic.

Another post that I was involved with as part of my work with DockYard has surfaced. Patryk Bak gave his perspective on how to turn someone into an Elixir dev.

I'm really enjoying working with other writers to make these happen. I especially enjoy helping people shift gears for a bit and write about the people/culture/process side when they usually write about technical detail. I'm curious to see if this has long term impact.

No livestream last week and while we did record Teaching Elixir on Modules it turned out that the recording was .. black. No image. So we'll do that one again I expect.

Beam Radio, episode 13 is out and it is my topic and I got into Contexts. Chris Keathley (the Outlaw) says they aren't a thing. So we talked about nothing. I think he might be right. They might not be a thing.

How to be annoying by just being there

My wife noted something about me being present during the day and doing things together. It was slightly annoying. Not in any really important sense. She's happy I'll be having time off and that we'll spend more of it together. However, she is used to doing mornings with our daughter in her particular way. Their day proceeds in some particular manner and whether arduous or delightful it is routine. Habitual. Known. My presence is a wrench in the gears of this weekday machine. Another person is not just another set of hands, it is also another individual to coordinate with.

That's a thing about habit. A stable habit can often be handled on auto-pilot, whether it involves other people or not. If the other people share the habit friction will be low. My wife thankfully likes me well enough that she's happy to have me around but my participation in the morning, while it can be helpful also means that she (and I) have to navigate and establish new routines. Or switch our weekdays to a more weekend-style approach.

We can analogue this to teams, productivity and software development if we like. It is easier to establish habits on your own or within a small group. Adding more people doesn't necessarily give more productivity, especially not quickly, due to the increased coordination and collaboration required. New people can't know habits and routines and a negotiation phase starts whether you like it or not.

Me on the other hand, I still see my big friction coming, as the reality of not going to the office on weekdays sets in. I'm going to enjoy it. I'm also going to find it frustrating. I'll miss some of the alone-time, I'll miss the structure of the day and I'll miss the computer-stuff. And with some time I'll settle into the routine of not being at work. It'll be fine.

If I have a point it would be that the change itself is the hard part. That's where you feel things most acutely, that's where the disruption and discomfort happens. The change can be for the better and still feel annoying. And routine and habit are powerful things both for getting things done and stagnating.

I don't like being sensitive about my habits and plans getting disrupted but I certainly can be. And I very much grant my wife that my presence is a disruption to her routine, even when I'm helpful. So that's right now. Negotiating our way into a vacation routine. Right now there's no shape to it, mostly disorder. The shape will come.

Are you comfortable with change? What's your best routine or habit that you've established?
If you have some answers for me I'm reachable as lars@underjord.io or Twitter where I'm @lawik.

Thank you for your attention, I appreciate you reading.

- Lars Wikman