Orchestrating Flow

You start a new coding project. You are building a scene. You imagine data moving around - being read from the database, resting briefly in a cache, being presented to a user. You are trying to orchestrate this elaborate ping-pong in your head. And then, you feel the urge to have a sip of something. Anything. It’s not a drink you are craving. Your brain is telling you this coding business is too hard. You pause for a sip. But you come back. 

The scene in your head is way ahead of what’s on your screen. So you start coding again. You see the scene coming to life. You don’t want to stop now. Or you will lose the scaffolding in your head. And you may never be able to build it back. So you code faster. You are present. You have tamed the monkeys in your brain.

This scene is complete. You have been sitting at the same desk for 3 hours. You didn’t notice the time. You deserve a break. Let the scene marinate in your head. Let your subconscious discover new patterns and insights. Let there be an epiphany.

So you wait for the epiphany, right? Wrong. The next day, you get your ass back to the same screen. You write new code. You delete the old code. It has served its purpose. You only needed it to get here[1].

You stare the code into submission. You are in control. The code flows. The music streams uninterrupted. The same song is on loop for the 100th time. You don’t mind. Because it’s not about the song. It is about the scene waiting to be fleshed out. 

[1] - Bird by Bird