Why My Daughter Will Study Computer Science

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​Let's say you've got a great idea. How do you make something of it? Chances are, that idea is a few words on a page, or a vague concept with a lot of promise. It needs refining, and clarifying, and improvement. It probably needs some feedback, and it definitely needs money. In short, it needs a lot of work.

The best way to get all of that done is through prototyping. This isn't a new idea (look for 20.5M+ Google hits), but it's surprisingly hard to do. Our ideas are precious, and we want to shelter them and improve them until they're ready to face the harsh light of reality and the cold critiques of our peers. Unfortunately, it turns out that this is exactly the wrong way to go about doing it. Innovators might do well abide to by the slogan "prototype early and often."

The intuition is that physical prototypes simultaneously reveal the weaknesses and gaps in our thinking while also effectively communicating the idea to others for feedback and extension. Building on that, it's no surprise that the most effective prototyping is quick and dirty; the drawers at Stanford's design school are brimming with post-it notes, pipe cleaners, and modeling clay. The emphasis is to convey the idea simply and inexpensively, but not for the reason you might expect.

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You Should Go Home Early Today

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I've been told we're in the middle of "the most important five day weekend of the year", but for the millions of us that are back at work this morning that won't ring very true. And for the millions more who, like me, don't have an office to be in but rather just the omnipresent crush of work to be done, that will sound decidedly unfair. Life is busy. Crazy busy. Tim Kreider, author of We Learn Nothing, had a great NYTimes Op-Ed on that subject earlier this week. "Busyness," he wrote, "serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day." And these hectic schedules are often self-imposed. We aren't combat medics or case detectives; we're students and consultants and coders and volunteers and athletes and a million other things, all voluntarily and often simultaneously. As a result, we're busy. Crazy busy.

And the funny thing is, we don't necessarily even want to be, but we see people around us working themselves to the bone so we assume that we should be too. We're engaged in some sort of sisyphean arms race, keeping busy to stay busy. Who among us wasn't a little bit jealous when France mandated a 35-hour work week? I find myself enjoying the occasional headcold, just because it forces me to slow down for a day.

And that's admittedly pretty crazy. The effects of stress on the human body and mental health are well documented, running the gamut from headaches to heart problems to depression. At the same time, stress doesn't do much for our creative lives either. As I discusssed in an earlier post, creativity takes time, focus, and freedom. We aren't as creative under pressure, or in hectic, distracting environments. The space and quietness that idleness provide, as Kreider suggests, are a necessary condition for the "wild summer lightening stikes of inspiration."

As we get busier, we get more done, even though we know that doing so may not make us any happier. I wonder how being so busy affects our ability to create, to creatively explore, and to find beauty in the world. Maybe today would be a good day to take the afternoon off.