A solved physics problem, a cracked puzzle, a filled-up sudoku, a working piece of code. All tangible, all finished, all obviously right or wrong.
A judgement call, a requirements document, a well-drafted email, a decision log. Not all tangible, never finished, hardly ever right or wrong.
There’s an obvious appeal I feel towards the former. A finished product with a quick feedback loop. A quick dopamine hit.
For my work, I’m expected to do the latter. Turns out, there’s no quick way to speed up the learning loop for this. And because I don’t do things that aren’t quick (might not be entirely true?), I hardly ever end up doing this.
All said and done, I need to worry more about getting better at the latter. I need to see the less-obvious value that lies in there. I need to harvest it for myself. All the while, avoiding the siren song of the build trap.
False dichotomy? Maybe. It probably excludes marketing, sciences and somesuch. If it helps me make my point, I’m good.