Ask HN: My brain refuses to think, what should I do? - <AUTHOR> I have a problem I've been experiencing for some time now. I hope someone experienced something similar and has some good advice.
I've come to a point where it's really hard to do even the easiest work. Each time I sit to code and I face the slightest "problem", I start looking for a distraction as soon as possible. I realized it today when I had to write one line of code to calculate the scale of an image.
It was really a trivial problem, I just need to figure out a couple of measures to put into a division, but since it requires 30 seconds of thinking, my brain guides my hand to the nearest distraction (i.e. the facebook/email/HN). I really have to struggle to do some work (as a side note this goes away a little when I manage to begin working, but the danger always lurks waiting for some more difficult task to distract me from).
It's not a lack of motivation. This is a project I want to work on and when I'm not at my computer I think about how to code it and I just wait to have some time to work on it. I feel motivated thinking how cool it will be and really want to do it. But as soon as I have time, like in weekends, I start wasting it in useless activities. When I force myself to sit and code, my mind surrenders at the smallest obstacle.
It looks like my brain is not used to think anymore. I can spend time reading a lot of things, but as soon as I try to actively do something, my mind refuses to do it. I think I have some sort of addiction/disorder and I can look for psychotherapy, but I wan to know if there are easier and cheaper remedies. Any advice? <comment><USER2> Questions that might illuminate if there's a problem -

When's the last time you went for a walk?

When's the last time you were in nature for a while?

When's the last time you spent a day absolutely, completely relaxing?

How's your diet?

How's your sleep?

How's your sleep schedule?

When's the last time you had a vacation?

How much inspirational media have you been through in the last week - books, movies, audio, whatever.

When's the last time you hung out around or talked on the phone with someone really inspirational?

Beyond that - changing environment can bring you out of a funk, bringing a laptop to a cafe with no internet can be a great option if you can do some work offline.

<comment><USER3> "Beyond that - changing environment can bring you out of a funk, bringing a laptop to a cafe with no internet can be a great option if you can do some work offline."

Even the best entrepreneurs have a really hard time focusing because they have so many different kinds of tasks that they can never really get into a flow state. Trying to do work as an entrepreneur while having access to the Internet is like trying to study for finals in a crack house.

<comment><AUTHOR> You are right, internet is a huge time sink. On the opposite site sometimes I need to look for something and if in that moment I do not have a connection, I use it as an excuse to stop working and procrastinate.

<comment><USER4> Yeah, your defiantly going to need a lot of resources handy to work off-line and even then you probably hit something that you need to lookup online.

I can see that given the right task though it would be beneficial, the slightly slower working pace by lack of resources could be made up by the concentration you get.

It works for me studying for exams when I can have all the course content in front of me, even then though I end up finding something interesting that I want to look up in lecture notes or something that makes no sense so I need to search for a better explanation online.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I suffer from the exact same thing from time to time and I've learned to resort to lists when I am like that.

Anything I need to do goes on a list and I reward myself with some kind of distraction only _after_ any item on the list gets completed.

Usually it's a sign that my mental batteries are running low or even past empty but some stuff still needs to get done. I find that after the third or the fourth item from the list gets completed habit takes over and I'm getting 'in to it' more and more and those molehills-turned-mountains disappear with greater ease.

Good luck combating this, it can be a real problem, especially if it persists for a longer time.

I've found that sometimes it is symptomatic of some underlying issue, something else in life that is deadlocked and needs solving first, not sure if that could be the case with you.

<comment><USER6> Lists are key. A simple text file labeled todos.txt sits in my dropbox and I have it set to open with a hot key (quicksilver, osx). I tried all types of apps for todos/project management, but the simplest is the best, for me.

<comment><USER7> I prefer using a physical notepad for my list. I really like being able to physically cross out items after I have completed them.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This exact thing started happening to me more and more frequently when I hit age 30. I tried all the standard remedies: psychological tricks, pomodoro techniques, vacations, exercise, reducing stimulants, increasing stimulants, blocking the internet, and so forth. However, in late 2008 I faced up to the fact that I simply do not care as much about programming as I once did. I also did some soul searching and realized that perhaps I never really "liked" programming. My relationship to programming has been more like an obsession or compulsion than someone pursuing a passion.

My solution is that I set a hard deadline of my 35th birthday to leave the field. I took a much higher paying programming job in the financial sector at the beginning of 2009, and moved in with roommates for the first time in 15 years, to save as much money as possible. I am lucky in that I have other talents to explore, and friends and relatives with unrelated businesses where I can always get a job in a pinch.

This might not be the right way for anyone else. However, I thought that since your symptoms are exactly the same as mine, I should share. I wish I would have figured this out for myself years sooner, as I could have saved myself a lot of frustration and unhappiness. Good luck.

</comment><comment><USER9> Take this seriously. Very seriously. What you're describing may be no more than acute stress, something that can be fixed with a proper vacation (as in "completely vacate your life" -- go on a camping trip, visit an ashram or monastery, spend some time wwoofing) and a subsequent lifestyle change to allow for periods of relaxation and enjoyment during your normal routine. Or it may be something much bigger.

As a sober alcoholic (25 years), I can tell you from my experience that the number of people who say "I think I may be addicted" without actually having a problem is statistically insignificant. Not that you necessarily have an addiction as such, but that you probably sense that you're using (whatever) in a different way than you once did. In other words, you're self-medicating -- and you want to address what it is that you're medicating. Again, that may be acute stress, and a quick fix may do the trick. ("Mental illness" includes things like acute stress, depression, anxiety and so forth, so even if you aren't heading for major psychosis, the feeling that you're going crazy is more than just a feeling. And it's a positive feedback loop -- anxiety about your anxiety is crazy-making.) If you've stepped over the line into real dependency, then it'll take a little more work, and there are a lot of solutions out there. The alternative to getting help is exemplified in the gutters and alleyways of any major city.

On the other hand, medicating aside, you are also describing what I went through during the early onset phase of Lewy Body Dementia about five or six years ago. Not fixable, not fun, a bugger to diagnose, but its progress can be slowed. I ignored the symptoms for long enough (there was always a reasonable explanation) that I now walk around like a late-stage Parkinson's sufferer, get lost on familiar streets, forget the names of the people closest to me, and soil my trousers from time to time despite receiving the best possible medical care.

Are you taking this seriously yet?

<comment><USER10> Not to downplay the serious symptoms you've described, but that's all a bit dramatic when the guy has described nothing more or less than Slashdot Syndrome.

When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.

<comment><USER9> Horses' hooves will stomp you dead just as quick if you ignore the sound. The point is: get out of it for a while, since stress is the most probable culprit. If that doesn't do the trick, then look deeper. Don't minimize real symptoms if they persist; they could indicate something really serious. And don't take idiotic advice[1] from random people on the web -- it's far better to spend an unnecessary half-hour with your head stuck in an MRI scanner and feel a bit foolish later than to wait until a real problem becomes irreversible.

[1] "Don't worry, it'll be okay" coming from someone who's never had personal contact with you counts as idiotic advice. If you don't know the before-and- after, if you haven't had a chance to notice other behavioural changes, then even considering an attempt at diagnosis is irresponsible.

<comment><USER10> _... it's far better to spend an unnecessary half-hour with your head stuck in an MRI scanner and feel a bit foolish later than to wait until a real problem becomes irreversible._

Is it? Do you have any idea what MRI sessions cost? Money for risk mitigation is limited, just as it's limited for everything else.

<comment><USER11> Personally, I have no idea what they cost but I'm interested, for a family member.

So how much is it? Reference?

(We do have a state health system here, but a doctor must send people for testing. It is generally easier to work and pay yourself, despite paying _high_ taxes for other's use of the state health system.)

<comment><USER12> NPR did a segment on how the price of MRIs varies to a crazy extent, because no one knows what they ought to cost:

[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1203992...](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120399265)

They followed it up with some comparisons to Japan:

[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1205455...](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120545569)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I have similar issues at times. One cause (for me, at least) might be anxiety -- if you are very worried about a failure or have had negative experiences with evaluation of your work, it can carry over into small tasks. Our brains can be pretty clever about avoiding stressors. Bringing your work with you at all times (e.g. always thinking about some problem) doesn't help.

Some suggestions that sometimes work for me:

Get enough sleep (though, sometimes I find that lack of sleep, to a point, can help with focus, especially if paired with loud music).

Cut down on the caffeine.

Segment your time. Specifically allocate blocks of time to do something totally unrelated to work (see a movie, read some mindless fiction, whatever you like to do for fun). Make an effort not to think about your work projects during those periods.

Exercise and/or meditate.

Train yourself to be mindful of what you are doing, so that you catch yourself when you switch from work to some distracter.

When you sit down to work, use a timer to set how long (at a minimum) you will stay on task. When you feel yourself starting to drift during that time, close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing for a minute or so, then back to work.

If all else fails, you can try psychotherapy, but shop around for a therapist who specializes in this sort of disorder (adult ADHD would be one way to classify it). The person you visit will probably try to prescribe some drug as treatment. From my experience (long ago), Ritalin really really worked as a focus-enhancer -- perhaps too well, in some ways -- though the side-effects were unpleasant enough not to want to use it for very long periods.

</comment><comment><USER14> Marijuana + Exercise.

Seriously.

I was having exactly the same issues recently, mostly the result of burning out in a giant flame from my last gig. MJ and getting off my mildly chubby ass were huge boons to productivity.

YMMV, but it's worth a shot. I'd go for something a long the lines of Sour Diesel or BC Blueberry are strains I've found to really increase concentration and focus without making one lazy or sleepy.

<comment><USER5> I'm kind of upset at the ease with which the use of Marijuana is advocated here for just about every disorder that people might suffer from.

For one it is possibly an illegal substance, second, it affects your brain in ways that would require a lot of research before you commit to it, after all, a programmers most critical resource is their brain.

Now, I know some people that function very well in spite of using significant amounts of pot, but I also know a much larger number of people that managed to turn a mediocre career in to a non-existant one because of their use of pot.

If you want to advocate the use of drugs I really don't think HN is the place to do it, if only because it is not exactly legal in most places, but most of all because you are possibly sending someone from the frying pan in to the fire and you won't be around to pick up the pieces should it go wrong.

<comment><USER15> Perhaps it is advocated for a lot of disorders because it, well, let me put it this way -- actually helps those disorders? To my knowledge, one of the reasons behind making it illegal was extensive lobbying from drug-corporations who were afraid of an easily-grown, non-addictive fun competitor.

For your second point, yeah, it's probably a good idea to research anything before you ingest/inhale/inject it. High-fructose corn syrup, I'm looking at you :)

Your example doesn't bring anything new to the table. I know people who function well in spite of playing World of Warcraft and I know people who temporarily ruined their lives playing WoW. Was it WoW's fault? Should we make WoW illegal? Should we make everything illegal because it might lead to devastating consequences?

In process of experimentation, I created two rules for myself: a) You can't blame your fuckups on the drug, even if you were under the influence. b) You don't have to mention that drug helped you, if you created something good.

<comment><USER16> Let's restate those rules of yours:

(1) You cannot blame the drug if something negative happens while you are taking the drug

(2) You can give the drug credit if something positive happens while you are taking the drug

I wonder why you come out with only positive feedback....

<comment><USER15> >I wonder why you come out with only positive feedback....

It's a mystery to me as well :)

I also like your formulation better. The main point is the first one anyway -- about blaming this or that on "I was drunk/high/whatever".

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I think you are exhausted and bored. Other people has told you what to do: force yourself to relax, to take vacations or take a break, sleep well, eat well, and exercise.

Read "The power of full engagement" Tony Swartz's. It has a very useful video on youtube.

Force yourself to use facebook or read hackernews ONLY when you had finished your work(evening-night), never when you start it(morning). Your short memory is clean after sleeping(it gets backed up in medium and long memory), and you don't want to fill it with pasive stuff but with active info. Creating something(code, making things, writing a book...) takes way more resources than consuming something(reading code, using things, reading a book or what someone has updated on facebook). You should do what is harder first.

Your work environment should be at the right temperature, if it is too hot(now the north hemisphere), your brain shuts down(so you don't generate more heat), if too cold your body wants to move(not good for programming).

Maybe you are in love, who knows.

Don't worry too much, it's normal, the only problem you face is to know consciously what your mind knows unconsciously as the origin of the problem. Once you know, it will be easy to solve.

Bye

</comment><comment><USER18> Download the documentation that you need for offline use. Yank the Ethernet cord. No Hacker News, Reddit, GMail, Facebook. If you need anything from the net, connect and yank the cord ASAP. Make it a ritual. I think we are getting addicted to the drugs similar to what we are trying to synthesize. Do tell me if it works for you.

</comment><comment><USER15> Well, then not do anything. Lay in your bed, watch shitty sitcoms, eat food, just don't do anything. It will feel unusual if you've been working for a long uninterrupted time but you need time to rest.

You remind me of a runner who just ran 10mi and is asking: "Hey, I feel tired, why is that? It seems like my legs don't really feel like moving. What should I do? Drugs? Doctors? Am I addicted to something?"

Go and rest for brain's sake. In fact, I've been doing this all Sunday -- I'm laying in my bed with a laptop, looking at the cars outside, and watching crappy sitcoms. I am forcing this lazy behavior so I can recover and have fun working tomorrow.

</comment><comment><USER19> You're burnt out, it happens, more so in the thinking oriented fields. As some of the other comments mentioned, you need a break.

Fortunately my gf forces me to take time away from work, otherwise I would be burnt out half the year.

<comment><USER5> That's the second time in a few weeks this comes up on HN, if you 'need a break' you are not burned out (yet).

Burn-out is not something you're going to solve with a break or a change of scene for a few weeks, but is a pretty serious state of mind that will probably affect your life for many years and will leave lasting scars for the remainder of it.

<comment><USER20> Can you elaborate? What do you mean by "burn-out"?

<comment><USER5> It's not just what I mean by burn-out, but more about what the accepted meaning of the term is:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout_%28psychology%29>

Edit: Thanks for the downmod, that article has a very thorough description of what burn-out really is and goes in to a lot more detail than I ever could in a comment here. If you think that linking to a wikipedia article instead of writing an essay sized entry is bad form you're more than welcome to enlighten me as to the proper procedure.

<comment><USER20> I didn't downvote you, but the OP's comment doesn't seem to me to reflect "burnout" as it is described in that Wikipedia article (e.g. the Tracy quotation "burnout is largely an organizational issue caused by long hours, little down time, and continual peer, customer, and superior surveillance"). Then again, I'm still not sure I understand either a formal technical definition, or quite what people generally mean when using the term colloquially. Seems like a broadly and fuzzily defined term.

<comment><USER5> Yes, that was exactly my point. Burn-out is a (very) serious condition that can have many consequences, including depression.

To say 'you're burned-out' and to say that 'you need a break' combined with the statement that his gf keeps him from being burned-out half the year indicates a use of the term burn-out that does a dis-service to both those that are really burned out (because someone might read this and think that his friend that is really burned out needs a break whereas in fact what he needs is a radical change of career path or professional help to avoid worse) and to those that will pick this up and think that they are burned out, when in fact all they need is a break or a change of scene.

To me the OP does not sound burned out but has reached a phase in his work where the normal tricks of the trade aren't enough to put him back on a productive path.

Compare that with the symptoms listed for burn-out in the wp article and see if you can match them up, it's a lot less fuzzy than you imply and from what I know about the subject once you are burned out you are not going to cure it easily and permanently.

<comment><USER19> There's nothing I said that conflicts with the Wikipedia article. As someone that has seen a medical professional related to burning out, I can say with confidence that some R&R coupled with a change of pace, and focus can be very helpful in shortening or delaying burn out.

Next time I'll make sure to include elaboration, just in case someone misinterprets my brief statements with an official definition.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Sitting next to another person while I tried to write my rationality book increased my productivity by at least 400%.

</comment><comment><USER22> Sleep on time .. atleast 7 hours of sleep.

Exercise ... Either early morning or early evening. To quote Frank Costanza, I feel vigorous after working out.

Try to use natural light vs. Artificial light.

Meditate. If you're losing focus, switch off the lights, lower the blinds and look at the flame of a burning candle for a few minutes and try to keep a blank mind. Haven't done this for a while but did help me reduce stress.

</comment><comment><USER23> You have this problem: <http://xkcd.com/477/>

I know I have it sometimes. I think sometimes we just get in this bad habit of letting our mind escape to easier things. I'd say just redirect that traffic, turn off the internet or something and just force yourself back into a working habit.

</comment><comment><USER24> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique>

Worked wonders for me.

<comment><USER25> Thanks for the link. I do a less formal version of this sometimes. If I've got so much to do that I can't do anything, I make a list of everything then start doing as little as 30 seconds on each thing and cycle through them till something gets traction.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Try writing your code by hand for the next two hours.

</comment><comment> CO-OP The same thing is happening to me. It is the Reddit disease and I have it big time. Read 'Is Google Making us Stupid' ([http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is- googl...](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google- making-us-stupid/6868/)) for some good perspective.

Essentially, the human brain will adapt to the environmental situations it finds itself in. They find cab drivers (obviously) have more highly developed spatial recognition than the rest of us, for instance.

In my case, for about 2 years I have been doing most of my reading on Reddit. Most articles were small - 30 seconds to a minute of reading at most. Then I would swing to another. As such, my brain structure has adapted to this situation, but it is terribly ineffective at tackling tasks which require constant attention (my essay marks have been steadily going down).

So I've decided to go into rehab. Taking a holiday in mid-August for about 3 months, and I have bought/downloaded a huge amount of very very heady reading material (including the crem-da-la-crem of heady mind fuck material - Heidegger's Being and Time) which I intend to use to rewire my brain.

<comment><USER27> I really want to know... what else is on this reading list?

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> You need a vacation, and you need to cancel a huge number of things in your life that you "need to do".

</comment><comment><USER29> Smoke weed. Or, if you've been smoking weed, don't smoke weed.

</comment><comment><USER30> I went through this for a few weeks before I realized the cause. For me it was social media and news sites -- especially FB, twitter, mashable, reddit, and to some extent HN. These sites are carefully designed to make you ADD, so that you keep coming back for more, like a drug addiction. Call me cynical but basically, they are machines designed to numb and enslave the masses (possibly excluding HN).

If you are spending more than 5-10 mins/day on these sites, IMO it's a problem -- that is time you could be using to create something, rather than consuming meaningless social media updates from people you probably don't really care about. It's sad to see that even very talented developers, scientists, and otherwise-rational people are geting sucked into this bullshit.

Join a gym, hang out with friends IRL, travel -- basically, go offline for a while until you find your center again.

I realize the irony of posting this as an HN comment. But at least I'm on my way to the gym.

</comment><comment><USER31> Here's yet another idea:

Your mind and body need to be in balance. I believe this is the essence of the solution.

One factor that I believe is amiss is their speed. It appears that your mind is thinking quicker than your body is acting, and this is causing your discomfort.

There are of course two remedies, and they can both be administered:

1\. Speed up your body.

As many here have suggested, anything that increases what you do will be a good thing. Exercise, work, chores, personal errands, etc.

2\. Slow down your mind.

Realise that your body is not functioning at the speed that your mind thinks and simply accept it. Your mind will naturally slow down and you will begin to appreciate your task, the present moment, and your life. This will release your body from the paralysis as it now becomes possible, and even enjoyable, to do that which your mind is currently thinking.

</comment><comment><USER32> Go for a long walk in the park. Stop coding for a few days. Isolate yourself from tech in general for a while. Let yourself reset.

</comment><comment><USER33> From time to time I suffer the same issue. I look back hours later and get angry at myself for 'wasting' so much time. There are a few things you can do to help you out that others have mentioned. However this works for me the best:

I edit my hosts file (Windows: /Windows/System32/drivers/etc/hosts, Mac: /etc/hosts) to look something similar to:

127.0.0.1 news.ycombinator.com

127.0.0.1 techcrunch.com www.techcrunch.com

127.0.0.1 reddit.com www.reddit.com

etc.

Alternatively you can use other tools to block traffic. RescueTime (<http://www.rescuetime.com/)is> an awesome tool as well.

<comment><USER34> I wrote a small PHP command-line tool for turning on/off these host file entries. It's fairly simple, but I've found it to be extremely useful in killing off stray checks of favorite websites, which inevitably end in larger blocks of misspent time. <http://github.com/killsaw/Timeguard>

<comment><USER5> Make it a command line utility only for turning those entries on, but make it as hard as it could be to remove them again.

<comment><USER34> I considered this while writing it, but figured there's a fine line one must walk with a utility like this. If it's too annoying to disable, you won't use it.

Typically once I flip it on, I forget about it, until I actually try to check a site that's been blocked. I find that being unable to load a site or loading a local webserver hosted file injects just enough time to realize I should be doing something else.

Previously I wasn't in the "trick yourself" camp, but having used this for a while, I definitely am. Used in conjunction with the Pomodoro Technique, it's a really solid way to keep oneself on track.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> I'm guessing that this is not a disorder, because if it is, then we all have it.

Every programmer has trouble sitting down to code at certain times.

You say that when you are not at your computer you think about how to code it. Why not keep a paper notebook with you and write down how you think you are going to code it? Or keep a laptop with you and boot it up and start coding when you get excited thinking about it?

Later on, when you want to jump start your programming process, read through the notebook and let yourself get into the mental state you were in when you were excited about it. (Also, unplug the internet).

In my experience, coding isn't as easy as 'making' yourself code (unless you are typing boilerplate or doing copy/paste coding).

You have to either take advantage of the times that you are excited and want to code, or you have to coax yourself into that mental state.

It is just like creative writing. Most good writers do _not_ sit at a desk with a blank piece of paper and just start writing. They make notebooks and journals and they write down ideas as they come. Later when they do have to write, they have all of these cues to start the creative process.

For me, at least, this is roughly equivalent to "writer's block," so you may want to read some literature on that.

(first off of google: <http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/block.html>)

</comment><comment><USER36> Just wanted to add one more voice to the "how's your sleep?" chorus. Sleep is so important to being able to focus.

One thing to check if you think you're putting in enough sleep time but are still groggy and have focus issues, is that you may potentially have obstructive sleep apnea. Have you been told you snore? Do you have a thick neck (17'' or larger dress shirt size)?

From personal experience, getting a _real_ you full night's sleep makes a huge difference in ability to focus and get work done.

<comment><USER37> I feel like this almost everyday and my girl friend tells me snore terribly. I also fit the thick neck description. Where do you get something checked out like this cheaply?

<comment><USER36> Cheaply? It all depends on your medical insurance situation. A full-on sleep study is a big deal, a full night in a (cozy) hospital room, hooked up to wires monitoring brain activity, oxygen saturation, etc.

What I did was describe my symptoms to my family doc, and he referred me to a sleep medicine specialist. That's what I would suggest you do.

If you happen to be in the Seattle area, the sleep medicine folks at Swedish are great.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> I'm guessing you are working LOTS of hours. This adds up when thinking is involved in your work[like with programming]. You are most definitely bured out. I'm almost certain. What you've described is a pretty decent description. Being burnt out is a very strange thing. Even though it may not sound quite right... trust me, that is the case... this is the best description of what is going on with your brain- as others have pointed out. It's strange that the term "burned out" is used so widely- yet most people don't recognize what it is or what it's like to experience being burned out. Even first hand (obviously) people most likely may not be able to recognize what exactly is going on.. may take a few weeks or so to realize something is really really wrong and depression could even start to set in at that point if you don't catch it quickly. B-complex vitamins and fish oils can help repair your brain from this type of subconscious distress... BUT the real answer is like minimum 1 week vacation RIGHT NOW. You may want to change your long term routines as well and just make time for lots of non-computer-related things.

</comment><comment><USER39> I'll say it: You should do drugs.

You're describing a brain problem. It might be caused by poor diet, sleep, life perspective, etc. But whatever the cause, it's a problem in your brain; and it's probably fixable with drugs.

If you feel you have an ADHD problem (which is what it sounds like), there's a variety of pills that can correct your symptoms. This quiz is fairly accurate in terms of diagnosis (really, self-answered questions are one of the few indicators available to psychs for ADHD): <http://psychcentral.com/addquiz.htm>

If you think you're too stressed, there's pills for that too.

I've also read that marijuana is helpful (counter-intuitive as it may seem) for reducing both ADHD and anxiety symptoms; so depending on your local laws, you might want to consider that.

My point is that lifestyle improvements are good, and I'd certainly advocate them, but don't rule out the possibility of using chemicals to your advantage. It's 2010 and we have that technology now.

<comment><USER17> I think this is a very bad advise. Don't use drugs EVER.

Drugs never fix problems. The only hide them. if your body is telling you something, you should fix the root of the problem, not remove the symptoms.

Whatever a drug does(stimulant, depressant...)the body will balance it giving the opposite effect over time(the roller coaster effect).This means instability of everything from mood to chemicals on your blood. Not to mention the body getting used to it, needing each time more and more to cause the same effect and getting addicted.

<comment><USER40> I think this is a very bad advise. Drugs can sometimes be good.

For the last 3 years (since a long relationship ended) I was in a bad funk, getting very little done and having a baseline that was a bit depressed, with occasional moments of manic happiness/productiveness.

A few months ago, a new friend told me that I just _had_ to try mushrooms. It was a spiritual, life-changing event. I have since done them 3 more times, and LSD once.

 _Good_ drugs (and I guess I basically mean psychedelics when I say that) can teach you a different way of thinking, one which you continue long after your use of the drugs. My life is orders of magnitude better than it was six months ago. I'm enjoying the little things, and figuring out how what I'm doing fits into the big picture of how I'd like to live my life.

I really cannot get onboard with the advice to not use drugs "EVER". Even from an anti-drug standpoint, it's very hard to argue against using pain-killing drugs for the week following a surgery. Drugs have their purposes, and as long as you don't let them take over your life, they can be quite positive.

<comment><USER5> People have been telling me I just have to try alcohol or drugs or smoking for about as long as I can remember, and in spite of the fact that it really seems to be life-changing for them I'm fairly happy with the one I've got and I'd hate to trade with those that are advising me like that.

Pain killing versus drugs in the street sense of the word is a bad comparison, 'drugs' are a tool to be used when needed and appropriate, self medication of hallucinogens or depressants can cause all kinds of problems down the road, especially if your personality is not too disciplined.

Indeed, drugs have their purpose, and to tell a person whose life circumstances are otherwise unknown to start using them is in general as bad an advise as you could possibly give.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> Most likely you have given your brain the task to do so. You have given your brain the task to care about a lot of things without letting go.

The best things to start with that I know and have done:

1\. Make a list of things that cost you energy. Mark the three most importan. Solve them or let them go.

2\. Free your brain from your todo list. It has better things to do. Apply the book "Getting things done" to give your brain peace from the things you haven't done yet.

3\. Use a countdown timer to work 50 minutes on one task. Make a 10 minutes rest and then do the same thing with a completely different task. What this does to you is NOT to urge you to get something done. What it does is giving you complete freedom not to care about anything else for 50 minutes. (I know a similar method with 25 minutes. I prefer 50. It is no accident that it is exacly half the time. Do 25 or 50 but nothing between.)

Feel free to combine this methods ad lib.

Gerd, brain hacker, hypnotist, NLP master

</comment><comment><USER42> Welcome to Short Attention Span Theater. You must read email, but write as little as possible. Remove yourself from all email newsletters. Swear off facebook, twitter, HN and all other distractions for at least two weeks. When you discover you didn't actually miss anything, you'll be on the road to recovery.

</comment><comment><USER43> I have the same problem (exactly) with another problem: If I start coding (or working on some projects of mine) I just don't stop work until something stops me (like dinner, extremely exhausted->sleep, a friend calling for coffee...)

I think the real problem is "How to get into that mode". It's simple:

\- Be ready: Sleep well. Eat, Water or Coffee should be near your desk.

\- Close all distractions. If you do web development, use another browser to navigate or block websites with rescuetime ;)

\- Start with something simple. Much more simpler than coding. A to do list. Don't start with coding it's hard. Start with your to do list and get into the thinking mode that you used to get it when off-computer

\- You start thinking, opening folders, testing, write a line of code.... and woups already 5 hours spent and you didn't notice it :)

Hope it's not Dementia, but a check is cheap (whatever it costs)

</comment><comment><USER44> Maybe you want yourself to be interested in this particular project, but you might really not be interested in it. Sometimes you can't force interest, and it's often tough to focus when you aren't interested. I've felt what you're feeling before. I realized that my problem was that I just was not into the project - I just could not bring myself to focus on coding because I didn't _really want to_. This is fine though. As an adult, hey, sometimes you don't have to do things you don't want to do. You can have ice cream and beer for dinner; you can pick some other side project, or nothing, to spend your time on.

</comment><comment><USER45> I've also suffered from the same problem. I'm very interested in my project and motivated to do it but some days I just can't. I've found one thing that can change my day from zero productivity to 100% is a todo list. I just write down on a piece of paper some tasks I want to get done that day and usually I've crossed them all out by lunch time. Of course then you'll procrastinate from writing todo lists but that's another issue.

If you try todo lists, exercise, motivational books, etc. and still can't seem to focus on something you should be able to focus on, go talk to your doctor.

</comment><comment><USER46> If you use a mac check out <http://macfreedom.com/> or <http://anti- social.cc/> I use freedom every time I have work in front of me that I want solid time to complete and I can't trust myself not to get distracted down some rabbit hole. It sounds stupid at first but two things it does for you over just unplugging from the network is that 1) you can still communicate with your local network/VPN and 2) you can't get back online without restarting your machine.

</comment><comment><USER47> I recommend reading the book <http://www.amazon.com/Courage-Create-Rollo- May/dp/0393311066>

He offers the thesis that creating something new is likely to be fraught with anxiety. Understanding that this is the case may in fact decrease this anxiety. One of the symptoms of this anxiety is an avoidance.

So perhaps think of it this way: as you sit down to do something new, and feel the distraction, this can mean you are getting into the creative mode.

</comment><comment><USER48> From my experience, it means you need a break or a vacation. Get in a totally different environment for a few weeks days and do not bring anything related to work.

If it is not possible at this time, you may buy time using a trick I have used in the past. Dedicate a part of your day to working (ex: afternoon) and dedicate another part of the days to something else entirely and in a different environment (spend the morning playing sport, walking, exploring the neighborhood, anything out of your work environment and off the computer).

</comment><comment><USER49> Perhaps you are habituated to the distractions (if so find a way to block them, like killing your router for an hour). Another possibility is you are procrastinating to put off dealing with the stress of success or failure of your project. If you are having general trouble thinking there should be tons of other symptoms (and run don't walk to a doctor). Over all it is up to you to consider some alternatives explanations and come up with a counter strategy.

</comment><comment><USER50> This usually happens to me when the task at hand is not challenging enough. Try and develop some genuine interest in what you are doing and everything will just flow.

</comment><comment><USER51> This happens to me when I hit burnout. I've solved it lately by using Toggl (<http://toggl.com>) to track what time I'm spending where. It's a lot easier to NOT tab over to reddit/HN if I look over and see myself "on the clock" for a given project.

I keep time tracking for time spent on distractions, as well, and after a few days of that number being bigger than I'd like, I started paring it down pretty dramatically.

Hope that helps!

</comment><comment><USER52> Too much time surfing the web?

<http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/05/ff_nicholas_carr/all/1>

[http://tkcollier.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/acquired- attention...](http://tkcollier.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/acquired-attention- deficit-disorder/)

Also relevant: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=956493>

<comment><USER53> I see what you did there!

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> Perhaps do the parts of the task that do not require thinking and that will lead to the thinking part of the process.

Perhaps write out a detailed description of the task (even if its a small task) without a commitment to tackle it. That might concretize it for you.

A recent article on procrastination referenced on HN summarizes the ideal process as thinking in concrete terms to get started and then visualizing the wider ramifications as you are moving forward.

</comment><comment><USER54> I have had this for quite a while now, and I cant be burnt out or anything because I´m just 16. And its not just on coding, but anything, really. Even gaming.

</comment><comment><USER55> "I think I have some sort of addiction/disorder and I can look for psychotherapy, but I wan to know if there are easier and cheaper remedies."

I'd highly recommend seeing a doctor of some kind. This isn't necessarily something that's all in your head. What you're describing could be the symptoms of any number of physical or mental disorders, many of which need a doctor's attention.

Don't be afraid to seek help. It could very well change your life.

</comment><comment><USER56> If you're getting enough sleep and don't have any other psychological disorders, e.g., depression, etc., most likely it's burnout. A serious lifestyle change should help (e.g., spend 6 to 12 months travelling through Europe, work as a logger in the Canadian wilderness, join the Peace Corps) but, alas, not all of us have the luxury of doing that. Perhaps also just finding a less stressful job might help.

</comment><comment><USER57> Instead of asking HN, ask a doctor. What you're describing sounds like the textbook symptoms of ADHD. Numerous studies have shown psychotherapy to be ineffective for ADHD compared to medication therapies, which have remarkably high success rates (much more so than, say, antidepressants do for depression) and relatively good side effect profiles.

</comment><comment><USER58> "But as soon as I have time, like in weekends, I start wasting it in useless activities."

Are you familiar with the concept of a duty cycle?

</comment><comment><USER59> you a drinker? I find that if I was out partying the night before, my mind just likes to do brainless and mindless tasks like watching tv, surfing reddit, etc.

That's why I try to limit it these days. I wouldn't have a problem writing documentation, but actually creating productive code is a chore in and of itself during those days.

</comment><comment><USER60> When I'm having trouble getting started I like to reread Joel Spolsky's "Fire and Motion" post with this quote: "Maybe this is the key to productivity: Just getting started"

<http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000339.html>

</comment><comment><USER61> You probably just have programmers block. Give in to your distractions for an entire day or two. You'll get so sick of them that you may want to go back to programming. Going to a cafe to work is also a really good idea. Have done a lot of work in them. We all go through these problems.

</comment><comment><USER62> _I think I have some sort of addiction/disorder and I can look for psychotherapy, but I wan to know if there are easier and cheaper remedies._

The loss of productivity from what sounds like ADD will be a lot more expensive than the cost of consultation and medication.

</comment><comment><USER63> If I find that if I'm not concentrating or get easily distracted I just do something fun for a while. Soon I'm refreshed and I can start working seriously. Maybe you can take a break, go away on a weekend or watch a movie to refresh your mind?

</comment><comment><USER64> Obligatory Time Management For System Administrators (and programmers) reference: <http://www.tomontime.com>

I've read through the comments and think this book would apply well to many of your situations.

</comment><comment><USER65> I'm on Reddit all the time, but never on HN. I just visit occasionally (just now created an account to post this). I'm so happy I found this post (until it gets lost in my sea of bookmarks and I don't get to try any of the solutions).

</comment><comment><USER66> We're happier when busy, but our instinct is for idleness:

[http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2010/07/were-happier...](http://bps- research-digest.blogspot.com/2010/07/were-happier-when-busy-but-our- instinct.html)

</comment><comment><USER67> I've noticed that since I've been using internet - circa 1997-1998 right after I was out of the army (Bulgarian's army).

Too much distraction - even news.yc is one for me and TCE (thechaosengine)

</comment><comment><USER68> Short advice: Sounds like burn out. Take a vacation, get a hobby, find a girl to make out with. If that doesn't work, get checked for adult onset attention deficit disorder.

</comment><comment><USER69> You might try this:

<http://contextualpsychology.org/act_for_the_public>

</comment><comment><USER70> Read a book called "The power of full engagement" by Tony Schwartz and Jim Loehr. Its a life-changing book.

</comment><comment><USER71> Set up your router to block certain sites during certain hours so that you are forced to work.

</comment><comment><USER72> Try Rescuetime's focus time. Warning: it is a little broken on Mac with Chrome.

</comment><comment><USER73> When I find myself doing stupid distraction stuff, I generally go take a nap.

</comment><comment><USER74> yes yes yes this is me too :( i dont find code/work to be enough interesting to _need_ to do them, and since i have no fixed deadlines i end up researching/reading a lot and producing almost nothing.

</comment><comment><USER75> Read "Pragmatic Thinking & Learning" by Andy Hunt.

</comment><comment><USER76> go to a place where there are many trees, what you need is a break of what distracts you.

</comment><comment><USER77> Modafinil

<comment><USER78> Or provigil. But I don't suggest either as longterm solutions unless you get psychiatric confirmation that medication is necessary.

</comment></comment><comment><USER79> I highly recommend learning meditation. I meditate once a day for 15 minutes and it's worked wonders for my ability to feel well and focused.

Personally I learned a cheaper and less cult like variation of transcendental meditation, because it requires little training, time, or even effort.

A day without meditation for me now is worse than a day without sleeping.

<comment><USER80> Hello, could you please elaborate a bit on the meditation technique? What exactly do you do? Thank you so much for answering. I've been trying to learn TM but all the courses cost a fortune..

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm getting interested in meditation too and I'm starting with this:

<http://www.mro.org/zmm/teachings/meditation.php>

<comment><USER80> Hello, thank you for sharing this!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER81> The past month I've been hitting the gym in my building whenever my brain doesn't want to work, and clear my mind completely. I'll put on the noise canceling headphones, find some good 100 -> 120bpm music, and get lost in it while pedaling as fast as I can for 30 minutes, then a shower and a snack and some coffee seems to be a good way to really put me back on track for a few hours.

</comment><comment><USER82> Sound as if your mind is in another place. Your mind is on vacation and you want to get it to work again. Unfortunately it refuses to do so and you are in this situation.

Speak with your mind as with a friend and try to convince it that today is not a holiday. You need to order your life, to have a plan for the future, that will give you the strength for today.

</comment><comment><USER83> Sleep more!

This happens to me when I don't get enough sleep for a while.</comment>


Ask HN: choosing your software stack.  - <AUTHOR>

Assuming you and your buddies are serious about a web start up, you are the CTO type and you feel you are proficient in Lisp and a host of other languages.  Assume the rest of the gang knows Java. Do you insis on Lisp, or go along with the majority? Would you worry about future hires? <comment><USER2> Go java, write your stuff in Clojure, document the jars well :)

Of course, as CTO, you probably won't have a lot of time to write code, so JAVA is still the right choice, and you have to write less (developer) docs.

</comment><comment><USER3> pick the language that will get results faster. that sounds like java.

at this point, future hires do not matter. do not worry about them.</comment>


Are we a product of nature or nurture? - <AUTHOR> If you think it is split, then at what percentage? <comment><USER2> 70% nature. 30% nurture.</comment>


The languages describe emotions differently - <AUTHOR> https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/what-is-love-actually-the-worlds-languages-describe-emotions-very-differently/ar-BBYciZP <comment><AUTHOR> > But just as later work has suggested that different cultures do not always > categorize color in the same ways, there's a growing understanding that even > those supposedly "primary" emotions (love, hate, anger, fear, sadness, > happiness) may hold their own meanings and nuances in different cultures > that aren't directly translatable.</comment>


YouTube Channels Crippled By Copyright Claims - <AUTHOR> http://kotaku.com/youtube-channels-crippled-by-copyright-claims-1480717110 <comment><USER2> In some cases the Game companies have legit concerns. If you stream a video of you playing Dance Dance Revolution with audio captured of Britney Spears entire song, you basically just posted a song to the web, likely at CD quality (if you did your capture correctly).

A capture of a Lord of the Rings game would include the soundtrack from the movie, a similar problem to above.

Then you have the voice overs, Call Of Duty had Ice T, Or Ice Cube, or Vanilla Ice (I forget which one) give you inspiring advice through out the matches, based on if you are winning or losing. Likely the franchise doesn't have a license to give you to include that in your video.

If you are running ads on the content, and Battle Field X was in front of your glitch video it is hard to argue that you were evangelizing the Call Of Duty games, so CoD has little reason to pony up for the license either.

</comment><comment><USER3> Google has been warned plenty of times about this. They just don't care. They're instead making it ever easier to file mass bogus takedowns to more and more channels at once to appease Big Content.</comment>


The Ultimate Question of Programming, Refactoring, and Everything - <AUTHOR> http://www.viva64.com/en/b/0391/ <comment><USER2> Larger than 0 does not mean 1 :)</comment>


Why does tech seem to have many political problems? - <AUTHOR> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2018/08/tech-many-political-problems.html <comment><USER2> Although they are caused by tech, these are all regional problems, not tech problems. Tech regions are characterized by economic migration and gender imbalance. Lifetime stable social structures like multi-generational families do not exist for all but the wealthiest, which results in social isolation, mental health problems, and alternative tribal identities.

In general, the person who gets angry about politics on either side is not a happy person. They need help personally, not politically. They need a sense of belonging that isn't dependent on their beliefs or their clothes or their job or their money or their virtue signaling or their friends, because all those things can and will change. The thing that works for the vast majority of people is called a permanent monogamous family, despite however flawed that concept may be. I have tried and failed to find anything better.</comment>


German digital bank N26 is facing outcry from its staff over management - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/13/german-digital-bank-n26-faces-outcry-from-staff-over-management.html <comment><USER2> I'm there. Management sent an email to all employees a week after the process was initiated about how the works council was against all their values, and they have an amazing idea for modern employee representation - one they only hired an external lawyer to present after the employees asked for a works council.

Only a couple days ago, after having the invite in their hands for 10 days did they start complaining about health and safety. Something they were never concerned with when it came to actually working (packed meeting rooms, mandating customer service agents return to work in the office).

Its a shame, because there is a lot of cool work to do here, and really talented people to work with. It seems to just be a top level management problem.

<comment><USER3> Help me out, I'm a long user of n26, I've found bugs in the app - still in production - but can never escalate them to developers. Interactions with support is as easy as interacting with a different life form, independent of the problem the solution is always to unpair your device, reinstall the app.

<comment><USER4> Sounds like the workers have effectively unionized against the customers.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> The N26 management apparently is doing everything to block this, which is a criminal act by German law. They not only filed several injuctions against the meeting (citing concerns about hygiene standards), but also called for an official meetings with all employees at exactly the time the soon to be Work Council held its meeting today. Now someone called the police to the meeting:

[https://twitter.com/worker291/status/1294210928234373120?s=2...](https://twitter.com/worker291/status/1294210928234373120?s=21)

Continuously updated article in German:

[https://financefwd.com/de/n26-betriebsratswahl- versammlung/](https://financefwd.com/de/n26-betriebsratswahl-versammlung/)

<comment><USER5> Most likely they got one of those law firms specialized in "cleaning" works councils. There are a couple ones.

<comment><USER6> _> There are a couple ones._

Name and shame seems appropriate here, no?.

<comment><USER5> I posted an example in another thread, beyond that I am not willing to test how good is my legal insurance.

<comment><USER6> That's what throwaways are for ;)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I used to be a happy N26 customer. But now I'm going out of my way to tell everyone not to use them. Two years ago I ordered the "metal" account (I think that was the name) since I was traveling a lot. Last year, I forgot to cancel it until I got an email saying it renewed.

It's not a huge amount, €5 a month. But I don't use it anymore so that's wasted money and I decided to cancel it. Under EU law, I have two weeks to cancel a subscription if I decide I don't want it, including an auto-renewing subscription. I've cancelled subscriptions this way with companies before and never had any comments beyond "yes, we'll cancel that for you immediately".

Not so N26. I said I want to cancel (within 2 days), they said I'd have to pay the full year. I sent them the EU law saying that I have two weeks to cancel, and they immediately, and in very threatening terms, said if I don't pay it all they'll send my account to a debt collection agency (this is now the 4th message in the conversation, and my first ever conversation with support after three years as a happy customer).

I immediately withdrew all money from the account and emailed support instructing them to close the account, referencing that support conversation and the law saying that they can't charge me for the year's subscription.

Well, they did close my account, and they did send the rest of the subscription charge to a collection agency who have sent me a few messages (that I've ignored).

Oh, and the cherry on top. They emailed me back to say that my attempt to cancel the subscription was not valid because I didn't use the word "revoke". Apparently this would have all been fine if I said I want to "revoke the subscription" but my account goes to a collection agency because I said " cancel my subscription" instead which is completele BS.

Pretty terrible experience. In short, don't use N26.

<comment><USER8> Uff! I moved to Germany last year and i almost got an account with them... for thor's beard!!! I' glad i opened an account at bunq.

<comment><USER9> Bunq is the cat's whiskers.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> > N26's co-founders Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal have argued for an > alternative, saying they believe the traditional German works council > excludes international employees

This is patently false. I work at a medium-sized startup in Berlin, which is very international, with many of my colleagues speaking little German. We have recently created a Works Council (with support from the management) - and the council includes non-german speakers. It is certainly more work, as the work of the council involves a lot of german law - so training and documents need to be translated - however it is possible, and we have nothing even close to the resources of N26.

<comment><USER11> I think they meant "international employees" as in "employees of non-german N26 Subsidiaries", not "non-german speaking employees of german-N26 entities".

Which, of course, is also a laughably bad argument, since there's nothing that prevents N26 from voluntarily granting those employees similar protections they'd enjoy if they were employed in Germany.

<comment><USER12> > there's nothing that prevents N26 from voluntarily granting those employees > similar protections they'd enjoy if they were employed in Germany.

That sounds like a two-tier system to me. Inside-Germany employees having a say (backed by formal power) on their priorities; outside-Germany employees having no say.

A works council, like a union, does not always act unambiguously in the interests of all the employees. It's not that clear cut, because issues are complicated. What is good for some employees is bad for others.

If N26 decided to grant outside-Germany employees similar protections as inside-Germany, _would the outside-Germany employees have an equal say and equal right to vote on what they want,_ or would only the inside-Germany employees actually be represented because the formal process is limited to just them?

<comment><USER13> It would be possible to structure codetermination in a legally binding way that employees no matter where in the world have the exact same rights (barring laws in other countries restricting such a thing). As that goes beyond what German law requires most companies would probably not agree to that but it clearly shows how hollow the statements of management in this case are.

(It should be noted that the relevant German law considers "Betriebe" and "Betriebsteile" as the unit where employees are represented, so each individual location of a company is usually considered separate and employees at one location have almost no say regarding employees in other locations. In that way, the lawmakers had the same thought process as you)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> > N26 has filed another restraining order to prevent today's Electoral Board > Selection for N26 GmbH, this time against the union ver.di. As such, IG > Metall has stepped in to chair today's meeting. It will take place at the > same venue, with the time delayed so people can make it.

\-- [https://twitter.com/worker291/status/1294183659583369216](https://twitter.com/worker291/status/1294183659583369216)

ver.di and IG Metall are Germanys two biggest unions.

<comment><USER15> My goodness, this is detrimental for their image ...

<comment><USER16> Does this ever end well for the company? These moves should make it extremely clear to the employees how much they need a works council.

<comment><USER17> I don't know about Germany. But using every dirty tactic in the book seems to have worked well for Walmart in the US.

<comment><USER18> It's interesting you mention Walmart. Walmart has failed spectacularly in trying to enter the German market. Their treatment of employees probably was a factor but probably not the most important one though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> > N26 has filed another restraining order to prevent today's Electoral Board > Selection for N26 GmbH, this time against the union ver.di. As such, IG > Metall has stepped in to chair today's meeting. It will take place at the > same venue, with the time delayed so people can make it.

[https://twitter.com/worker291/status/1294183659583369216?s=2...](https://twitter.com/worker291/status/1294183659583369216?s=21)

<comment><USER20> That's beyond stupid. It's fintech. Always on the brink of being regulated to death, a highly sensitive area. They need every inch of goodwill from politics and the public they can get. Fighting against worker unionization is already highly unpopular in Germany and will cost them a bunch of customers, and will cause them to lose political favor. Now adding ver.di (one of the strongest unions) to their enemies, what are they thinking? Do they have no clue how politically connected and powerful those unions are? They are now completely branded as untrustworthy and stupid.

Also completely invalidates their defense for the first restraining order, citing health risks. That was covered the moment ver.di took over the organization of the meeting.

<comment><USER19> [https://twitter.com/worker291/status/1294210928234373120?s=2...](https://twitter.com/worker291/status/1294210928234373120?s=2..).

> UPDATE: Someone has called the police to check the safety measures of the > meeting. They found no issue and have left the premises.

<comment><USER20> If N26 did that it backfired. If someone of the council did that, smart move. Further proof that the meeting was properly done.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> At least here in NL the Works Council is mandatory _By law_ if you have more than 50 employees. I suppose the laws in Germany are similar. and I also suppose N26 has more than 50 employeees ;)

A healthy organization should have one, in my opinion. Management being against it is an unhealthy sign.

Just so you have some context. a Works Council has the following rights:

Right to discuss: they will have a bi-yearly meeting with the employer, who will report to the employees the financial situation of the company

Right to give advise: (This is the one startups find scary). When a company wants to do an investment round or any action that has economical or organisational impact, they _must_ ask for advice from the Works Council. The employer _must_ take their advice into account. If he does not, there is a cool-down period of a month before the decisions comes into place. Within that month the employees can take the employer to court in Amsterdam to block the action. This basically means employees have the right to block investment rounds through court. The burden of proof is on the employee that this is not in interest of the company.

Right to vote: The WC has the right to vote on certain decisions regarding reduction of working hours or work conditions. Here the onus is turned around compared to the right to advise. The WC makes the decision, and the _employer_ has the right to countersue. This basically means the employees have the right to force the employer to court if they want to do a firing round. The employer's task is to prove in court that the firing round is needed by law.

<comment><USER22> Worker Councils seem to have broadly similar but slightly different rights and responsibilities in Germany.

They are never mandatory, however employees do have the right to form one if there are at least five employees who are eligible to vote (18+) and if at least three of those can be elected (>6 months with the company, broadly speaking no one in an important management role).

At least three employees have to take the initiative and call for an election and that can often be quite scary, to be honest. Because appalling rhetoric like here from N26 is not uncommon when that happens. Often these employers also try to (even pre-emptively) form their own unofficial employee council (like is the case here), however that has to be seen with a heavy dose of skepticism, since ultimate power of how such unofficial councils function and whether they can exist at all still rests with the employer. Unlike the Worker Councils they are not protected by the law.

Worker councils cannot be abolished by the employers, their rights cannot be taken away by the employer. The employer has not control over them. That's their power.

That doesn't really change that I'm currently still too scared to actually form one at the company I work for, even though I would very much like for it to exist. It still feels like painting a target on your back, even though Germany does not have at-will employment and you certainly cannot be fired or blocked or even just so much as reprimanded for wanting a form a Worker Council.

<comment><USER23> It is painting a target, as you said. at least with many employers. also being part of a works council can massively hinder your career, even if officially there are protections in place against such things.

but being a works council member myself I can assure you that even the best employers can have very subtle ways. Works council members from different companies talk and some stories are outright scary.

<comment><USER24> > It is painting a target, as you said. at least with many employers. also > being part of a works council can massively hinder your career, even if > officially there are protections in place against such things.

In the company I work for some join the (Dutch) Works Council just to get ahead in their career. They often join until they're promoted. It's a huge international shipping company.

<comment><USER23> Wow. Never heard of that in Germany. Seems that in the Netherlands the works council has a different standing.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> If a startup refuses a worker's council this way _and_ someone already tries to establish it, that's a good sign to look for employment somewhere else.

<comment><USER26> In the article the N26 management is quoted:

"The alternative to the Works Council should have a representation of employees who are not only based in Germany, but also all other countries, including Brazil and the United States" and

"That said, if the N26 team feels that they want to organize the feedback culture in Germany differently via a works council, N26 will of course respect and support this, as well as any step in the formation of an electoral board."

The article says the initial dissent from the management was due to Covid19 concerns and inclusion of international employees. It may well be that N26 is just trying to safe face, but if we take the statements as honest, they at least give the impression that the management is not in principle against a worker's council.

<comment><USER13> That's a very carefully worded statement to avoid giving evidence on a silver platter of the crime in § 119 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 BetrVG

 _The following offences shall be punishable by a term of imprisonment not exceeding one year or a fine, or both:_

 _1\. interfering with an election to the works council, the youth and trainee delegation, the ship's committee, the fleet works council or the representative bodies of the employees referred to in section 3 (1), clause 1 to 3 or 5, or influencing such elections by inflicting or threatening reprisals or granting or promising incentives_

Their actions speak different words

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> Seems like a good thread to ask then: What other digital bank options are there that are primarily EU based? N26 was the only one I found.

I keep seeing things like Monzo, Monese, Revolut but they're all UK based. Don't think they'd be too impacted by Brexit but nevertheless I'm looking for an EU-first solution.

<comment><USER28> All the so called 'neo banks' are still in their infancy which is good reason to avoid them at all costs. I'm waiting until these startups mature (and they are startups).

<comment><USER29> In the UK, anyone with the banking license Monzo has is protected by the insurance mandate which was put in place after the collapse of Northern Rock. The service from Monzo is substantially better than any other British bank, so it's a risk I'm willing to take.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> Any recommendations for digital banks that _aren 't_ terrible to their employees? The biggest/best ones I know of are N26 and Revolut and both are kinda similar in this context.

<comment><USER31> In the UK, Starling is worth a shot, although Monzo is constantly being mentioned as a good bank in my circles.

<comment><USER32> I live in the UK and also recommend Monzo. They have a good app but the thing that stood out most to me was the correct use of emoji in their terms and conditions. It is definitely a modern bank.

<comment><USER33> > was the correct use of emoji in their terms and conditions

That seems like a _highly_ dubious way to evaluate a bank.

<comment><USER34> Link for the lazy: [https://monzo.com/legal/terms-and- conditions/](https://monzo.com/legal/terms-and-conditions/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> _The alternative to the Works Council should have a representation of employees who are not only based in Germany, but also all other countries, including Brazil and the United States_

I find it hard to believe these councils don't have the ability to account for international employees, is this a specifically "outside the EU" issue since the examples given are in the Americas, and not any of the neighboring countries they surely have employees in?

<comment><USER23> Actually they could include non German employees in their works agreements. But none the less these binding agreements are, as far as I am aware, only binding for German work contracts. So even if these protections were written down, that wouldn't protect the international colleagues.as long as they are not employed in a German legal entity.

Our works council for example isn't able to represent our Czech colleagues.

<comment><USER36> German law doesn't require equal rights for employees in foreign offices, but doesn't forbid it either. N26 can just create a binding company policy ("Betriebsvereinbarung") extending German-equivalent rights to foreign offices' workers. There are some slight complications regarding voting quora (you still need to obey majorities in Germany separately if the foreigners don't agree), but those are rare.

Source: My employer has something like this.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Discussion at Reddit: [https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/i8vjyd/comment/g1d...](https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/i8vjyd/comment/g1d7gr7)

</comment><comment><USER37> Anyone here from N26 who can comment on what it's like working for them?

<comment><USER38> Yes, I am a Software Engineer working out of the Berlin office(now working from home). It's a shit show. The situation seems to be escalating. Wishing this was over one way or another.

EDIT: sorry, I misread the question. As a software engineer I am comfortable-- the work is interesting and engaging. I think it's mostly the customer support staff who are disgruntled

<comment><USER3> Help me out, I'm a long user of n26, I've found bugs in the app - still in production - but can never escalate them to developers. Interactions with support is as easy as interacting with a different life form, independent of the problem the solution is always to unpair your device, reinstall the app.

<comment><USER38> Well can you share the support ticket number if you ever get one? I can escalate those

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> Does anyone know of something like N26 but for Asian countries?

</comment><comment><USER40> I don't understand what's happening but N26 name for a banking app is ridiculous.

</comment><comment><USER41> As a German I will never work at a company with a workers council again. I considered n26 for my next place, but I have no interest in the shit hole that's a workers council.

<comment><USER42> Would appreciate if you would expand on this. How does the employee experience differ when a worker's council is in place?

</comment></comment><comment><USER43> I can totally understand why management is against this. German bureaucracy is a nightmare. I can't imagine anything good coming from a "workers council".

</comment><comment><USER44> Overall pretty exaggerated. N26 is against a worker's council, but they are not preventing the employees to form one, and will accept their decision.

<comment><USER45> Obviously they try to prevent the formation of a worker's council as much as possible. If they did anything more, managers would face jail, as it is punished quite hard to prevent the formation of a worker's council in Germany.

<comment><USER5> While you are correct, there are some law firms that help making it into a reality, naturally that isn't mentioned publicly.

There are some Betriebsrat trainings where this kind of issues gets talked about, and what are the legal means to counter-attack them.</comment></comment></comment>


Voice in the Wilderness: On Douglas Copeland - <AUTHOR> http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2017/05/douglas_coupland_s_bit_rot_shows_what_happens_to_a_voice_of_a_generation.html <comment><USER2> _" Not surprisingly, everything in Bit Rot has the half-baked texture of a Facebook post ("I sometimes wonder what selfies would look like in North Korea"), because nearly everything that Coupland has ever written settles at about that level. Fortunately for him, Thought Catalog wasn't around to compete with him in 1991."_

OUCH! I have to admit I LOVED Generation X when it came out. I just recently read it again for the first time since the 90s and I must admit, it has _not_ aged well for me.

I reread Microserfs too, and that wasn't so bad. Seems like a great read for the HN crowd.

</comment><comment><USER3> "shampoo planet" these days and he foresaw it. Amazing author. BTW he has a very inspiring column at FT

[https://www.ft.com/stream/authorsId/Q0ItMjI1YTIzZQ==-QXV0aG9...](https://www.ft.com/stream/authorsId/Q0ItMjI1YTIzZQ==-QXV0aG9ycw==)

</comment><comment><USER4> I read _Generation X_ when it came out, and certainly enjoyed it. As a couple more years went past, it's age-based politics began to wear thin.

There were people my own age whom I disagreed with, politically and culturally. And there were boomers whose accomplishments and risk-taking I had to admire, even though culturally we came from different places.

Ultimately, that was the lesson I took away: that age-based cultural/political affinity is really quite empty. A dead end and a distraction.

<comment><USER5> Well there is some truth in that generations face different common challenges (different wars, levels of tech, economies, etc), and examining how a given "culture" reacts as a whole to these changes is potentially useful.

The issue is when people focus on one specific, relatively visible response and extrapolate it to the entire culture. I know boomers who are cartoonishly entitled and millennials who work 60 hour weeks without complaint.

That said there are some consistent general trends. Computer use drops drastically in the older demographics, for example.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I loved DC in "Gen X" and "Microserfs", and I have been purchasing his books then on, but they have been going downhill. "Girlfriend in a Coma" was pretty good. "JPod" and "Gum Thief" were from unremarkable to pretty bad, and "Generation A" the first one I abandoned. So I'm not buying any more.

</comment><comment><USER7> The Guardian ran an entertaining no-holds-barred review of his book "Worst. Person. Ever." when it came out 4 years ago: [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/25/worst- person-e...](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/25/worst-person-ever- douglas-coupland-review)

</comment><comment><USER8> Haven't read anything else by him, but JPod wasn't bad. It wasn't great but it was at least pretty funny and not that political. Maybe stay away from Gen X and give JPod a try.

</comment><comment><USER9> microserfs was amazing. It's a slice of time. Worth reading for a perspective.

</comment><comment><USER10> Microserfs was basically the "Silicon Valley" of its day. I haven't read it since it came out, I wonder if it holds up.

Mods: headline has the author's name misspelled. It's "Coupland".

</comment><comment><USER11> copeland??

<comment><USER12> Not to be confused with Stuart Coupland (drummer for the Puh-leeeze)</comment></comment>


The FreeBSD Foundation Is Soliciting Project Proposals - <AUTHOR> http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?p=214834

<comment><USER2> Ok, I want to _fund_ a project, not propose it. How do I do that?

If someone makes a project that is basically "work with Amazon and FreeBSD to make FreeBSD a first class citizen on EC2" I would totally put money into that, and moreso, would use my deep contacts at Amazon to help make the project a reality.

From what I understand, the technical part of the project is basically making the kernel and the hypervisor play nice.

<comment><USER3> I have a strong feeling that if you simply took the initiative and asked the foundation, you would get what you want. Of course, per-project funding on a wide scale gets into a sticky situation where the foundation no longer can make its own choices and do the right things instead of the popular things.

<comment><USER2> > Of course, per-project funding on a wide scale gets into a sticky situation > where the foundation no longer can make its own choices and do the right > things instead of the popular things.

That's why I haven't asked the foundation directly. :) When I made my annual donation to them this year I expressed my desire to see FreeBSD on EC2, but I don't want to start dictating what they should be doing.

<comment><USER4> There's honestly no harm in discussing it. FreeBSD/Xen is already of interest to base committers, there's existing work done.

If those committers are interested in furthering it via funding -- something you can only establish by talking to the foundation et al -- then everyone wins! :)

<comment><USER2> Ok, you've convinced me.

How do I "talk to the foundation"? ie. What's the best way to bring this up with them.

<comment><USER4> I'd start with:

board [at] freebsdfoundation.org

and/or

cperciva [at] FreeBSD.org

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Make managing FreeBSD not suck?

<comment><USER4> Perhaps you could constructively expand on this?

For the most part, I find managing FreeBSD to be painless, with one glaring exception I'll get to in a minute. I really love that the base system and the 3rd party packages are iterated separately -- I can have a stable base OS, while also running modern software.

The problem is the ports system. Building your own software is a nice option to have, but it's usually just a waste of everyone's time, and it tends to fail in annoying, new, and magical ways.

Fortunately, we have <https://wiki.freebsd.org/pkgng> coming down the pipeline, which solves the problem (finally).

On top of the hassle of _using_ ports, writing ports is a huge hassle of battling archaic crap. Rather than using destroot, like every other package manager from the past 15 years, FreeBSD requires the package maintainer to manually list out each file that will be installed on the target system, and will fail to properly clean up ports if those file lists are incorrect.

That said, it's not all that much worse than what's necessary to produce a debian/ubuntu package -- it just could be better.

<comment><USER5> I'd be happy to.

I'm old and grumpy and I just want my computers to work. Even though I did spend a lot of years hacking more than a dozen different UNIX flavors, it is close to 15 years since I found the easter-egg hunt of upgrading he OS even vaguely satisfying.

About a decade ago I discovered Ubuntu. I had just gotten a new ThinkPad and I needed to install Linux on it. I started the install and went back to hacking. At the end of the day I checked in my code and I remembered that oh fuck I'm installing Linux and now it is time to fight with X11 for the rest of the day in order to get a vaguely acceptable X11 setup. Better call my wife and say that I'd be spending the rest of the evening at the office swearing at my computer and using the competition's search engine to look for "X11" and "ThinkPad".

Except that didn't happen. I touched the keyboard and there was the X11 login screen. Just like that. Wow.

And Ubuntu just kept getting better over the next years. Until it reached a point where upgrading it was just a matter of running a few commands and reboot. Neat.

Of course, some time in 2006 I developed a serious case of suspend-envy and I ditched Ubuntu for OSX and a MacBook Pro. Imagine that: just being able to slap your laptop closed, carry it off somewhere, open it and it would just work. Without me having to spend about one man-week per year trying to make my laptop not self-destruct by burning its way through my backpack.

Funny that: me growing tired of constantly having to manage the operating system and fiddle around with the kernel to make my computer stay out of my way while I am programming.

It took me a good 6 months to get used to all the annoying aspects of using a Mac to develop software. But you know what: I got to spend more time programming and less dicking around with the OS so I was happy.

Of course, in 2008 I got the crazy idea that I wanted to store all my photos on a computer that had a decent filesystem. FreeBSD had ZFS, so while I wasn't overly fond of FreeBSD, I thought ZFS was worth the hassle. The downside is that FreeBSD, while a good basic OS, never quite grew up. It is still a pain in the ass to manage because it is no different from back in the 1990s when I made a living setting up SunOS machines for the math and chemistry department at my local university. Or dicking around with Ultrix at the mechanics dept. Upgrading the OS back then was like performing brain surgery. You needed notes and you needed to remember all the weird-ass quirks and pitfalls.

The other day I realized that my storage server is running an old version of FreeBSD and could do with an upgrade. Only I've forgotten the procedure and when reading up on it I realized that ... boy this sucks ass.

What is mostly annoying is that people think this is okay. It is like having to listen to people who think that the Model T Ford was the pinnacle of automotive usability: <http://www.modelt.ca/drive-fs.html>

This is 2013. Excuse me if I don't find manually upgrading operating systems amusing.

<comment><USER6> # freebsd-update upgrade -r 9.1-RELEASE

... wait while the new release is downloaded ...

# freebsd-update install

... watch the new kernel get installed ...

# shutdown -r now

... wait while the box reboots ...

# freebsd-update install

... watch the new world get installed

And you're done.

<comment><USER5> right:

      # freebsd-update upgrade -r 9.1-RELEASE
      Looking up update.FreeBSD.org mirrors... 3 mirrors found.
      Fetching public key from update5.freebsd.org... failed.
      Fetching public key from update3.freebsd.org... failed.
      Fetching public key from update4.freebsd.org... failed.
      No mirrors remaining, giving up.

<comment><USER6> Which version of FreeBSD are you running? Usually people get that because freebsd-update cannot fetch metadata for the release they're running.

<comment><USER5> 7.2-STABLE

<comment><USER6> That's the problem then -- you need to be running a release. The argument being that if you can get yourself _to_ -STABLE, you're obviously comfortable with source upgrades.

<comment><USER7> That's certainly fair, although the error message gives no indication of that and appears to be a problem with the FreeBSD-update infrastructure.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> It should be mentioned that this article is from 2007.

<comment><USER9> It is not! "March 27th, 2013, 16:10"

The "Join Date" of the user is 2007

<comment><USER8> Doh. Sorry, my mistake.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Choices for Start Blogging - <AUTHOR>

I'm going to start doing some startup blogging and there seems to be basically three main choices for blogging:
1. Hosted solution - I'm thinking posterous here. 2. Installed open source solution - eg Wordpress. 3. Static page generation.
I'm somewhat interested in what the effect on SEO and traffic will be for the differing options.  For example, will it be easier to drive traffic to something like posterous?  Do many people use their email system to signup to blogs, can you get traffic cross-pollination from being listed on there?
How good are search engines at indexing content on Wordpress and dynamic blogging sites such as posterous?  Is there any disadvantage over dumping out static pages from a script?
Thanks for any advice on the matter. <comment><USER3> What kind of programming languages/stack are you more familiar with? Usually, Wordpress should really fit all your blogging needs. It's easy and has a lot of SEO tools to go with it.

But as I am not at all comfortable with Wordpress' issues that surfaced a while back: upgrade, security etc., so I plan to use one of the Django blog platform. But that means I'm not blogging at all, but worrying more about how to have the blog installed.

There seems to always be a trade off. But one thing is for sure, you should choose to install Wordpress or any chosen bloggin platform on your domain rather than having it redirect to another domain... like blogger, wordpress.com etc.

Good luck and good writing.

</comment><comment><USER4> WordPress is likely to be the best option for a blog. There are cases where it won't be, but more often that not it is. It's great because it's easy to setup and get going very quickly. However, you still have the option to customize as much as you want, when you want. It can also grow as your needs change - <USER2> won't be stuck with "just a blog" if you need the site to do more later on. It's great from an SEO perspective, and there are a vast number of plugins available, many of them excellent quality.

</comment><comment><USER5> as someone who's brought a niche blog into the mainstream (in my niche at least), just use something like WordPress. If you're already worrying about SEO, you're losing. your focus should be nothing beyond generating great content and getting readers.

i stared on Blogger, then moved to WP hosted on a dedicated host, and its never been a regret. focus on the content. if you're talking about writing scripts, you should probably be coding instead of blogging. good CMS systems exist already so don't reinvent the wheel.

</comment><comment><USER6> Enki (<http://www.enkiblog.com/>) is a pretty good free, customizable and lightweight blog if you're into Ruby on Rails.

</comment><comment><USER7> Wordpress has been great for us despite a few hiccups — but those are mostly on our end, not really because of the software.

</comment><comment><USER8> 4\. Code your own solution, making it lightweight and suited to your needs.</comment>


Blasphemy: The Case Against Ruby on Rails - <AUTHOR> http://alterlabs.com/articles/blasphemy-the-case-against-ruby-on-rails/ <comment><USER3> Bah. Pretty well written article but it's just another "don't like Rails because it's a fad" type deals. I did agree with the part about Rails being ultra-suitable for one type of project (business apps against a relationship DB) and that you run into trouble if you go too far away from it. But that doesn't mean at all that Rails isn't cool as can be.

I'm finishing off a consulting project now with Rails and everybody's happy. For my startup though we're staying with Python and the much lower level Pylons.

</comment><comment><USER4> I'm not sure what sort of case the author intends to make here. If he's saying Rails isn't the best fit for all possible projects, that's blindingly obvious. If he's saying you should think twice before using Rails when it _is_ a good fit, most of his arguments don't apply.

The one I do think needs some confronting is the "no throat to choke" argument. It's just silly: if you research any sufficiently popular tool, you'll find out what areas it falls short in. If you aren't able to work around the problem as easily as you thought, you'll end up with delays and bugs. With a vendor supported product, you can choke your vendor rep until he helps you solve your problem. This usually takes as long or longer than fixing it yourself, and the result is the same: your project is still late and buggy.

</comment><comment><USER5> Rails has some serious problems, but the article does not address any of them. I would be glad to explain them for $175/hr.

</comment><comment><USER6> i don't think the author was coming at this from a techie's perspective, but from the perspective of a manager/leader who has to make a technology choice. That being said, given the framework, Its hard to separte Rails "the technology" from Rails "the movement" -- which does, i hate to say, have more than its fair share of knucklehead programmers; the key difference between a knucklehead java programmer and a knucklehead Ruby/Rails programmer is that the former can be found out much more readily (more peeps are familiar with java) than the latter. Therefore, people can/are/will be taken advantage of during a craze ...

<comment><USER7> "i don't think the author was coming at this from a techie's perspective, but from the perspective of a manager/leader who has to make a technology choice."

Yes a non-technical manager in a large corporation... that makes perfect sense to post this on ycombinator...

"given the framework, Its hard to separte Rails "the technology" from Rails "the movement" "

Umm only if you're not technical or too lazy to really study it (making half assed assumptions instead)... I really don't mind good critiques of rails (slow, lacking standard functionality, ...), but come on - this has got to be one of the most stupid article posted

" the key difference between a knucklehead java programmer and a knucklehead Ruby/Rails programmer is that the former can be found out much more readily (more peeps are familiar with java) than the latter."

(being a former java programmer) no offense but can you actually back this up with real numbers/case studies instead of pulling it out of your ass - <USER2> the author did?

<comment><USER6> chaos, you make good points re: separation of technology/movement and immaturity/inexperience/posing of Rails developers .. i can't site a case study, but having to re-write a few supposedly "Rails" apps myself, i can tell you - at least anecdotally -- that there is some truth to the poser Rubyist observation ..

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> He has a point. Rails works for startups and for departmental level stuff. Some larger, well-funded startups are also using it, but not without Java for the complex back-end processing. Good post. Good find.

<comment><USER7> I disagree. This is one of the most stupid critiques of rails that I've seen and I just dont think people who voted this story up actually read the article.

Don't get me wrong there are good critiques of rails like from Bryan of likebetter or Django's creator, but this one is just near retarded.

A lot of the author's points you can find in other languages as well (such as pretenders in java or 'x' language), and most of it is just criticizing for either its popularity with startups or lack of enterprise adoption.

I just don't think the author has enough knowledge of either rails or ruby to really comment on it. (Ruby is a clean way of fast prototyping and it can scale if you replace the inefficient bottlenecks with inline C, ...)

<comment><USER8> "if you replace ... with inline C.." I think that's part of the author's point Java/Groovy/Grails offer a richer set of tools, now that Ruby/Rails .. don't get me wrong, I love Rails and am an avid proponent, but it is true that many have consumed the coolaid/channelled DHH and have been a little blinded by its capabilities .. not a bad article. Dude has also got an article supporting Rails as a choice .. both posts seem to come at it from a relatively "non- techie" perspective -- more from the Mgr view ...

<comment><USER7> "I think that's part of the author's point Java/Groovy/Grails offer a richer set of tools, now that Ruby/Rails"

Unfortunately he didn't say that in the article.

"Dude has also got an article supporting Rails as a choice"

I hate to be mean, but I hope it doesn't suck as hard as this article ala "rails is great because everyone in a startup is using it"

"both posts seem to come at it from a relatively non-techie perspective -- more from the Mgr view "

geared towards PHBs in a large stale corporation? Again I really fail to see the point of this post on ycombinator

Oh yeah something I forgot to mention - in terms of overcoming a rails app's inefficiencies/problems with scalability, there's also this magical thing called web services (REST, SOAP); you know a rails app could talk to a java or C based app on another server...</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Introducing Guesstimate, a Spreadsheet for Things That Aren't Certain - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/guesstimate-blog/introducing-guesstimate-a-spreadsheet-for-things-that-aren-t-certain-2fa54aa9340#.vmkj4wuuq <comment><USER2> Looks really cool!</comment>