idea deployment.de

There a topic that’s I’ve been observing quite a while and that’s finally worth considering in writing. Although I think that the projecting habits of every person is unique, I try to find some generic points.

Why not to

How many successful startups do we know that still have founders working as employees in other companies, do excessive consulting jobs aside or even studying at universities? Nearly none? There may be reasons:

Let me mention some things not to do. The number one thing not to do is other things. (Paul Graham)

Another reason can be if you want to get rid of a project really quickly. Spending all your time on it can accelerate your process. But there’s still the distance issue, see below:

Benefits

Working on one thing makes your mind get stuck on this topic. A mathmatician friend of mine once pointed out that’s nearly impossible to rework a math class in some days of vacation because there’ll be a lack of distance. That’s why pair programming is so popular in these years. While one developer programs the other is able to see the big picture of the task with a lot more distance.

Concerning everyday life, people have hardly just one thing that’s bugging them. Trying to go for the one solution often ends up in forgetting about other factors. Being able to work in parallel will not only take them a step further to their goals it also makes excuses obsolete (which is, in this case, probably the main benefit).

Moreover, it’s possible to plan for that parallelization. In fact, according to a german study most of their students are able to study and have a part-time job. I consider this as a much better practice than working in advance, saving money and study eventually. Anyway, most of them will face the distance problem and stick to their full-time jobs.

Distraction and scope

We know that parallelizing work is hard. It slows us down, we don’t have to argue on this one. But what about parallelizing projects? Projects often have the nature of having gaps in between actions. That is, for example waiting for the next lecture when working on the diploma/master. Working on other projects then requires a fair amount of scope. A factor that says, how much concentration you have for a specific task. There are methods to help not getting distracted by other things.

Matt Wood states another important point:

But the trick isn’t cutting out that distraction completely, it’s acknowledging it, admitting its power over you, then drawing lines and finding its proper role in your life.

Which is probably the greatest benefit we’ll get out of working in parallel. While the uni gives me inspiration, contacts and much theory, our startup shows me what we’re learning for.