‹ Home
Exported

FI Learning

For learning with practice. Posts are not private and could end up on Bing.
Elliot, Fallible IdeasAlan ForresterJustin MalloneAnne BderojAlisa Zinov’yevna RosenbaumMax KayeingrackeDfacexdoginternetFaroukAndy DufresnenetoJonah +4 others
Posted by Anne B ·

Project: Do some micro-projects and report on them


Goal: Get used to noticing learning-focused micro-projects that I do already. Get used to thinking about the steps I do in those projects. Reflect on projects in general.

Details:
  • What counts as a micro-project? I’ll start by aiming for projects that take less than three minutes to complete. I considered having a one minute limit, but that seems too short. I had trouble thinking of projects that would take under a minute. But I can think of more that take under three minutes. And a project that takes under three minutes is still pretty simple.
  • How should I report on the micro-projects? I considered doing the project steps listed in this Doing a Project post or writing lists of steps for each project as in this Write Down Projects post. Those seamed too difficult. So I’m going to start with something easier: write a brief, informal report on each one. It may end up that some of the informal reports contain the steps for the micro-project and/or some other elements of a formal project plan, but they don’t have to.
  • How many of this kind of micro-project should I do? It seems like at least twenty would be good, to get used to the thinking.

Evaluation: I would like to remember to evaluate this project once I’ve finished it.  

Possible next steps: Maybe do more micro-projects and use more formal reporting or planning. Maybe do slightly longer projects. Maybe make some kind of diagram of how my micro-projects are related to each other.

Questions for others: Can you see any problems with this project? Any improvements I could make to it? Any reasons I shouldn’t do it?

Comments & Events

Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #1: Find the first video about learning html in the series by Mike Dane.

(Goal: same as the title)

I wanted to do this in order to watch his html videos again from the beginning and practice the stuff this time. I watched them all before but didn’t actually do much.

Success. I found the video by going to his youtube page and searching there for “html”. Then I clicked on the one called “Introduction | HTML | Tutorial 1”. It’s here.

This took under a minute.

I didn’t do this project in order to learn something in particular. I did it for a result (finding the video I wanted to find) that would help me in a bigger learning project. However, it ended up that I got a little bit of practice in finding things on the internet, which is also something I want.
Notified 27 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #2: Find out if I can have more than one repository per account on GitHub

My goal again was to find out a particular thing. My reason for doing it was again that it fit into larger projects/goals. I want to practice with html and I want a place to put the practice files. I want to practice with html because I want to learn it. I want to learn it as part of my quest to understand computers better.

I went to my Repositories page on GitHub. I saw a button that says “New”. That looks like it’s for making new repositories. And there’s a number next to where it says Repositories. If the only option was 1, there wouldn’t be a number listed.

This project was only to find out of it was possible to make separate repositories for one account. I didn’t find out for sure by actually doing it (that was a later project) but I found out to my satisfaction at the time. Maybe I should have gone for more certainty to count the project as complete?

This project took under a minute.
Notified 27 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #3: Find out the opposite of proportional spacing

I was writing something and wanted a word or phrase that meant the opposite of “proportional spacing”. I couldn’t think of one on my own.

I searched for “what’s the opposite of proportional spacing?”. The first result on the search page showed the sentence “The opposite of proportional spacing is monospacing.” 

That looked like the answer I wanted. But I read some of the other results too, because if they all used some other term, I wanted to know that. I didn’t find anything different that was relevant to my goal.

Success. Well, this brings up a question. What if there’s some better term that I didn’t find through my search? Would the project still be a success? I want to say yes because I was satisfied with the answer I got. But I might have been more satisfied with a different outcome.
Notified 27 people
Anne B Anne B

Reflections on project plans for micro-projects

I’m thinking about this Steps to do a project post in relation to these micro-projects. 

For the micro-projects, I did have goals.

I did do the action step.

I evaluated the projects only because I was writing them up, which reminded me to consciously decide whether or not they were successful. Otherwise, I might have unconsciously evaluated them. If I wasn’t successful, I’d have either given up on that goal or thought of some other way to achieve it. It’s better to be conscious of whether you’ve succeeded at something or not. I can picture myself fudging over that and just moving on, if I’m not thinking about it.

At first glance, I don’t think I did any of the other project steps in that post: brainstorm goals, think critically about the goals, brainstorm solutions, think critically about the solutions, consider what resources I have for the project, make a diagram of the steps in the best solution, and consider ways the project might fail and what can be done to mitigate the risks. Maybe I did some of them unconsciously? It seems like a micro-project is too short to be doing all that for. Why spend 10 minutes thinking of what could go wrong and how to prevent it for a two-minute project? Maybe it’s worth deliberately practicing these things anyway on some micro-projects so it’ll be easier for big projects.

What do I think of the big idea of projects as a way to organize what we do? It seems reasonable. I want to think about this some more later, though.
Notified 27 people
Anne B Anne B
Edits above were to add numbers to the micro-projects to make it easier to refer to them later.
Notified 27 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #4: Make a second GitHub repository

I clicked on the “New” button from micro-project #2. I typed in a name for the new repository. It asked me if I wanted to create a README file. I had forgotten about those. I remembered some advice to always create one, so I chose yes.

Reflection: Should I have planned out this micro-project before doing it? Should I have looked up how to do what I wanted to do or, as I did, tried stuff and only looked things up if I got stuck? How often and how much is good to plan?
Notified 27 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #5: Put something in the README file of the repository

I remembered how to do each step:
  • Open the README file for editing.
  • Since it’s in Markdown and I was just adding one sentence, I didn’t have to do any formatting, just typing.
  • Commit the changes, using the default commit comment.

Success at my goal.

I didn’t have this project in mind until I was in the middle of micro-project #4. Is it okay to think of a new micro-project while in the middle of another project? Yes. This might happen if you stop a current project to look something up, or you think of a potentially better way to do something you’d planned to do in your project and you want to consider that. 

However, I could see getting bogged down in a project by adding too many new small projects into it as you go. 
Notified 27 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #6: See if I can remember how to make an html file and look at the website it creates

The next video I was going to watch had the title “Creating an HTML file”. I wanted to see if I could remember how to create an html file with some basic text in it, and then look at the website it creates, before watching the video again. 

This project succeeded in that I found out whether I could remember that stuff. I found out there was a lot I didn’t remember. So I’m happy with my plan to go through some html learning more carefully and thoroughly than I’ve done before.

I figured out how to do the stuff, but not from memory. I had to look some stuff up. And it took longer than micro-project time—5 to 10 minutes in total.
Notified 27 people
Anne B Anne B

Next goals

I thought of four goals that I want to do next, which could each be a goal for a micro-project.

Goal: Install Visual Studio Code on this computer (a different one than I had it on before).
Goal: Make an html file using VSC. Call it index.html. Put some basic stuff in it.
Goal: Save that file. This includes figuring out where to save it.
Goal: Upload that file to my GitHub test repository. Overwrite the index file I already have there.

I want to do more of a project plan than I have been doing on at least one of these micro-projects, to see what that’s like.
Notified 27 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #7: Install Visual Studio Code (VSC) on laptop

This time I tried making a plan before doing the project.

I realized that the steps would be different depending on whether VSC is in the App Store or not. And I couldn’t remember whether it is. So as part of pre-planning I looked that up. Is that cheating? I don’t think so. I think looking something up while planning a project is reasonable.

Goal: Same as title.

I didn’t brainstorm goals. My goal serves three purposes: practice in installing an app, practice in setting up this app (not part of this project, but I’ll have to do it in order to use the app, which I plan to do), and it gets the app onto my laptop, where I will want to use it.

I skipped brainstorming solutions and choosing a solution. I couldn’t think of other solutions for this particular goal. And solutions seem like the same as goals or the same as the steps. Maybe if my goal had been to have VSC on my laptop, another solution would have been to have someone besides me install it there.

Resources: Hmm. I can think of money, time and space. I remember the app being free, so money won’t be needed. I don’t think there will be a problem having enough space for a new app on my laptop. It didn’t take long to install the app on my desktop, probably under one minute, so I don’t expect it to take long on my laptop.

Steps:
  1. Find the website for Visual Studio Code.
    • Search for “Visual Studio Code”.
    • Pick the result that looks like the official website.
    • Click on it to go to it.
  2. Find an install button and click on it.
  3. There might be something else to do, which I expect there will be instructions about that I can follow.

I made an indented list rather than a diagram.

Risks: The only risks I could think of were pretty unlikely:
  • Loss of internet. Then I’d have to postpone the project until I had internet. That would be fine.
  • Laptop out of space. Then I could maybe delete stuff I don’t use to make room. Or if that didn’t work I could decide to buy a laptop with more space.
  • The app now costs money. Then I could decide to pay the money or I could decide to use a different code editor.
  • Not able to find the website. Then I could try a different search engine. I could try different search terms. If I still couldn’t find it, I could search for something like “why can’t I find Visual Studio Code”.

Action: At this point I stopped and did the project.

Evaluation: Success. It took under one minute. There was one extra thing to do in Step 3. I didn’t run into any problems.
Notified 28 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #8: Upload an index file that I made with Visual Studio Code to my GitHub test repository. Overwrite the index file I already have there.

Again I want to plan this project before doing it. I liked having the Why stuff that I wrote in my previous project.

Goal: Same as the title.

Why I have this goal: It’s the next step in a series of things I’m doing towards a much bigger goal of learning to make websites with html files. This project will also give me practice adding a file to GitHub and will help me get more comfortable with files.

Steps:
  1. Find the place in the GitHub repository where I want to put the file.
  2. Find the place where the file currently is.
  3. Upload the file.
  4. If it doesn’t ask me if I want to overwrite the previous index.html file, delete the old one if necessary.

Resources: I expect this will take under a minute.

Action: Again, I did the project after the planning.

Evaluation: Success. It took under a minute. I included steps 1 and 2 because one of the things I want to practice is knowing how to get to where things like files are.
Notified 28 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #9: Make a tree out of the steps from micro-project #7.

I’m in the habit of jumping into projects without conscious planning. I started to do that with this project. Then I stopped and wrote a plan.

Goal: Same as the title.

Why: I was wondering how to get a picture of a tree diagram onto a Basecamp message. This is a pre-project for trying to do that. I want a tree to practice with. Also, I might eventually want to make trees out of project steps, so this can be practice in doing that. It’s been a while since I’ve made a tree diagram, so this will get me used to doing it again.

Solution: I plan to use MindNode to make the tree, since I have it and have used it before.

Resources: I’ve set myself a limit of three minutes for these micro-projects. Now that I think about it, I see that might not be enough time for this project. If I want to try to keep it under three minutes, I will have to not mess around with the formatting too much, which I have a history of doing.

Steps:
  1. Start a new file in MindNode.
    1. Open MindNode.
    2. Go to New File.
    3. Give the file a name.
    4. Decide where to save the file and save it.
  2. Type in a title for the tree in the main node. I’ll use “Steps for micro-project #7”.
  3. Make a node for each step. For each step:
    1. Create a node.
    2. Decide how to shorten the wording from what was in the project plan.
    3. Type in the shortened wording. 
  4. Quit MindNode.
    1. Save the file.
    2. Quit.
Action.

Evaluation:
  • Success. It took just under three minutes. I had to rush to do it in under three minutes. I don’t like the colors on my tree, but I can change them later. Also, when I typed “#7” into the main node, the program did something strange. I changed it to just “7”. I’ll figure out what happened later.
  • I could have made the project shorter by writing down shortened names for each node beforehand. 
  • I could have made the project shorter by re-familiarizing myself with MindNode before I started this project.
  • I forgot to do a Risks section before I did the project, although at one point I meant to. I should have looked at a list of project steps while I was planning, since I haven’t internalized them.
Notified 28 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #10: Post a tree to Basecamp 
 
Goal: Same as the title. 
 
Problem: I don’t know how to do this. I know it’s possible because I’ve seen other people do it. 
 
Potential solutions: 
  • Ask someone else how they did it. Do what they did.
  • Take a screen shot of my tree. Try attaching it to a Basecamp message comment.
  • Try attaching a MindNode file to a Basecamp message comment.
  • Look in Basecamp Help. I tried this a little and didn’t find anything useful.
 
I’m going to try my second solution. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try one of my other solutions and/or think of another solution.
 
I see that in my solution brainstorming, I only came up with four ideas. That doesn’t seem like very many. But the one I plan to try won’t take long. So I’m not using up many resources by trying it.
 
Resources: I expect the project to take under one minute to either succeed or fail.

Steps:
  1. Take screen shot of tree. 
    1. Open MindNode. 
    2. Open the file with my tree from the previous micro-project.
    3. Take a screen shot of the tree. 
  2. Attach it as an image to a Basecamp message comment.
    1. Click on the paper clip icon to Attach. 
    2. Navigate my file system menu to the right screen shot.
    3. Click on “Choose for Upload”. 
  3. See if it worked.
    1. Click on “Add this comment” and see if my tree showed up in the posted comment.
Risks: The main risk is that it won’t work. Then I can try another solution to my goal.
 
Action: I’ll post this now and then try to post my tree in my next comment and do my evaluation there too.
 
Notified 28 people
Anne B Anne B

Evaluation: Success.

Reflection: You can make a project really short if you do most of the thinking ahead of time and count some stuff as prep work instead of as part of the project. Somehow this doesn't seem right. I wonder if the planning and preparation time should be counted in the project time.
Notified 28 people
Justin Mallone Justin Mallone
I've been saving my trees in a standard format (PDF) and dragging them to the composition window.
Notified 28 people
deroj deroj
I've been saving my trees in a standard format (PDF) and dragging them to the composition window.

I saw you did this and learned it from you, Justin Mallone Justin . Before doing the PDF I took a screen shot of my trees. I like the PDF alternative better than the screen shot alternative.
Justin Mallone 😀
Notified 29 people
Elliot, Fallible Ideas Elliot
Click on “Add this comment” and see if my tree showed up in the posted comment.

This incorrectly combines two conceptually-separate steps into one step with "and".  Posting a comment and doing a check are different things.

You're also doing the resources section wrong every time. I haven't read much of the rest because you explicitly chose not to try to do my suggestions and to go off in your own direction.

You don't have mastery of project steps but are trying to add in the other parts. The underlying issue is that you can't tell when your practice is right or not, so you end up practicing wrong things and trying to build on them.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
Click on “Add this comment” and see if my tree showed up in the posted comment.

This incorrectly combines two conceptually-separate steps into one step with "and".  Posting a comment and doing a check are different things.

You are correct. Thank you.

You're also doing the resources section wrong every time. I haven't read much of the rest because you explicitly chose not to try to do my suggestions and to go off in your own direction.

I thought I was doing this suggestion of yours:

Steps to do a project - FI Learning

Here are some steps for doing a project. These are somewhat ordered but there is flexibility:

  • Brainstorm goals. They should be clear enough that you can tell pretty unambiguously whether you succeeded or not. Don't just start with a single goal and never consider any alternatives.
  • Think critically about the goals. Which is best?
  • Brainstorm solutions: ways to accomplish the goals.
  • Think critically about the solutions. Look for decisive flaws with them. Which won't work, and why? You can keep brainstorming during the critical process or go back and forth between those steps.
  • Consider what resources you have available for the project and whether it will succeed within budget. Resources include time, money, tools, skills, helpers ... anything useful.
  • Organize the best solution, or best few, into small, clear steps in a diagram.
  • Consider ways the project may fail and what you can do to mitigate those risks.
  • Action: do it.
  • Evaluate whether it worked.

Suggestion:

Do some small (tiny! easy!) projects using organized, conscious, intentional steps. Get experience and refine a process that works well for you. Then try a medium project using that process.

I think that this project is following your suggestion. I'm doing tiny, easy projects using organized, conscious, intentional steps. I'm trying to get experience and refine a process that works well for me. 
Notified 29 people
Elliot, Fallible Ideas Elliot
You're being dishonest and pressuring me to spend my time going and finding quotes of what you posted here, b/c you're choosing not to remember it.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
I don’t know how to respond to that last comment. 
Notified 29 people
Justin Mallone Justin Mallone
AnneB, you could try going through your own material carefully and seeing if you can figure out the basis for Elliot's criticism regarding doing the resources section wrong
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
I thought of that. It seemed like it would be hard to find it all. I wonder if I can search Basecamp for a list of things that I've written.
Notified 29 people
Justin Mallone Justin Mallone
Yes, you can. Use the dropdowns in Find. 
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
Wait, I read your comment wrong, Justin. I did not think of going through my writing and looking for how I was doing the resources section wrong.

I'm more worried about Elliot saying I'm dishonest. I thought of going through my writing and looking for things I wrote that are dishonest.
Notified 29 people
Justin Mallone Justin Mallone
I think Elliot was making a statement about your dishonesty in a specific context - the issue of whether you are following his suggestions. I would suggest you try to focus on analyzing and dealing with that rather than looking for any example of dishonesty in your writing. I think it's easier to focus on and address one case.  Also, looking for 10 other examples of dishonesty can actually be a way of avoiding dealing with the 1 case you don't really want to deal with right now.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
Good point, Justin. I was wondering what I was looking for and once I saw what you wrote about it being about whether I’m following Elliot’s suggestions, I agreed with you. 

In the first post in this thread, I wrote:

How should I report on the micro-projects? I considered doing the project steps listed in this Doing a Project post or writing lists of steps for each project as in this Write Down Projects post. Those seamed too difficult. So I’m going to start with something easier: write a brief, informal report on each one. It may end up that some of the informal reports contain the steps for the micro-project and/or some other elements of a formal project plan, but they don’t have to. [minor point: I spelled “seemed” wrong.]

So I *did* go off in my own direction when I started this project thread. I was not following a suggestion made by Elliot.

Then in the middle of this project, I changed what I was doing and didn’t say I was making a change. I changed to something that Elliot had suggested, but it was something that I should have been able to guess that Elliot would not currently suggest for me, given stuff that happened after he suggested it.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
Yes, I could probably find ten or more examples of my own dishonesty in the few weeks of this Basecamp. That’s sobering. Also sobering is how long it took me to maybe see just one dishonesty. This stuff is tricky.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B

Goals

I chose to go off on my own with this project because in my previous project I tried to do a project that Elliot suggested without knowing the goal of the project, and I wasn’t happy with the results. I had been trying to please Elliot without understanding what he wanted us to get out of the project.

With this project, I was trying to do something that I knew the goal of. But then I forgot about my goal and started doing stuff that wasn’t about my goal.

My goal for this project:

Goal: Get used to noticing learning-focused micro-projects that I do already. Get used to thinking about the steps I do in those projects. Reflect on projects in general.

Now this doesn’t look like such a good goal to me. It seems vague and difficult. But it is a goal.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B

Continue?

I wonder whether to continue this project. I realize this is not a project suggested by Elliot. I want to see if I can:
  • Have a goal.
  • Keep that goal in mind.
  • At the end, evaluate whether I achieved the goal.
  • In this case, I also want to evaluate how good my goal was.

I have a hard time deciding when to finish projects and when to abandon them. My instinct is to stop doing a project when Elliot seems unhappy with what I’m doing. That’s bad both because I may be wrong about whether Elliot is unhappy with what I’m doing and because I need to be able to judge for myself whether a project is worth continuing.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
I was looking at this post, where Elliot wrote:

 > So far, no one has done several short, easy, successful projects, nor talked about why not.

I think the micro-projects here are “several short, easy, successful projects”. I want to be focusing on the micro-projects and counting them as short, easy successes instead of working on planning them, which is not easy.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
But then I’m back to the issue of whether I’m doing this project to try to make Elliot happy or for better reasons. I don’t know how to both follow Elliot’s suggestions and be in charge of my own learning.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
I decided to continue this project and try to keep my original goals for it in mind.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
I notice now that in my original post, I wrote “Goal” singular but then wrote three goals. I should have seen that discrepancy at the time.

I also notice that I wrote (emphasis added) “Get used to noticing learning-focused micro-projects that I do already.” I think I meant projects that I would do anyway, not projects that I already did on an ongoing basis. I will take it as that, even though I could be wrong about what I originally meant. There could be some dishonesty here.

Overall, I should have used more care in writing my goal(s).
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #11: Learn how to collapse and un-collapse sections of a MindNode tree.

I had the tree open that I had made in Micro-project #9. I tried right-clicking on the node at the top of the part I wanted to collapse. I chose the option “Fold Nodes”. It worked. Right-clicking on it again, I could choose “Unfold Nodes” to get that part back.

Success. This took under a minute.

Steps I did:
  1. Right-click on a node.
  2. For each choice:
    1. Decide if it has to do with collapsing nodes.
    2. If it does, click on it and don’t read the rest of the choices.
    3. If it doesn’t, move on to the next choice.
  3. Right-click on the node again.
  4. Click on the spot where the choice I clicked on before was.

This is interesting. It has a loop and an if-statement in it, like a computer program. Both seem like the kind of thing some other projects might have.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #12: Find out if there’s another way to collapse and un-collapse sections of a MindNode tree.

Yes there is. I tried the Node menu. It has a choice called Fold, which then has choices to fold or unfold nodes, unfold one level, or unfold all.

I also saw that there were keyboard shortcuts listed next to the leaf menu choices.

Success. This took under a minute. 

After this project, I played around with the menu and the keyboard shortcuts. I haven’t mastered them, but I have more familiarity with them now.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #13: Write some sub-list items for a short list.

I’ll use my “getting a glass of water” list and aim for 0-5 sub-list items for each item.
  • Go into the kitchen.
  • Get a glass from the cabinet.
  • Hold the glass under the filtered-water spigot.
  • Turn the water on.
  • When the glass is almost full, turn the water off.
I predict I’ll have a tough time doing this in under three minutes. In order to make it a small enough project, I’ll consider it a rough draft and not worry about spelling/grammar/typos. I’ll also not spend too much time thinking about whether the sub-steps are a similar level of detail or worded well. And I’ll skip the going into the kitchen step because I don’t think it’s necessary to getting a glass of water.

The idea for this came from breaking down the zooming in and out described here into small pieces. “Write some sub-list items for a short list” would be one small piece.

Here I go:
  • Get a glass from the cabinet.
    • open cabinet with one hand
    • grasp glass with other hand
    • lift glass out of cabinet
  •  Hold the glass under the filtered-water spigot.
    • move the glass over to the spigot
  • Turn the water on. 
    • using the hand that’s not holding the glass, twist knob all the way to the on position
  • When the glass is almost full, turn the water off.
    • watch water level in glass as it rises 
    • when it gets to about 1-2 cm from the top, use other hand to twist the knob all the way closed
I surprised myself by doing this in just under two minutes. I think it was successful enough for a first draft. Normally I’d go over it and make improvements before posting it. After the two minutes, I spent a few seconds to fix two typos.

The last sub-step is kind of an if/then situation too: if (when) some condition is met, do some thing.

Potential projects to follow this one:
  • Maybe improve the wording or grammar.
  • Think about whether all the sub-steps belong on the same level. Think about if there are some I should add or delete.
  • Try following the steps. Maybe that'll give me ideas for improving them.
  • Make a tree diagram of this list with its sub-lists.
  • Zoom out a level from getting a glass of water and try to make a list of steps where “get a glass of water” is one of the steps.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #14: Practice side kicks

I practiced side kicks for two minutes while keeping in mind three specific things: chamber the kicking foot with toes up and bottom of the foot turned towards the other knee, lead with the blade of the foot on the kick, exhale through the mouth on the kick.

Success. I was able to keep those things in mind and do them correctly.

This is part of a larger project to practice side kicks in this way at least once a day for a while and then tapering in frequency. That in turn is part of a larger project to improve all my karate.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #15: Open eyes

I was waking up and not sure if I wanted to actually get up. I decided to do a micro-project of just opening my eyes without getting up. Then I’d decide if I wanted to do the rest of the getting up project

Consciously thinking about taking something that sounds hard and splitting it into a first step which sounds easy and then all the rest seems like it could be useful in other situations, like learning. However, it could be bad to not think too much about the rest, because maybe the rest will still be too hard and therefore it could be not worth taking that first easy step.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #16: Zoom out on a short list of steps

I had the idea to do this after micro-project #13. I wanted to zoom out on the list of steps for “Getting a glass of water” and make a list with “Get a glass of water” as one of its steps.

Get a meal:
  • Get a glass of water
  • Make a sandwich
  • Get an apple
  • Get some cookies
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #17: Zoom out on the same thing a different way

Then I wanted to make a different list with “Get a glass of water” as one of its steps.

What Sally does when she gets home from work:
  • Put work bag down.
  • Take off shoes.
  • Depending on weather, take off outerwear.
  • Change clothes.
  • Use bathroom.
  • Get a glass of water.
  • Sit down on the sofa.
  • Read social media on phone.

This one is imaginary. It might not correspond to anyone’s reality.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
Micro-project #18: Look something up in one place

I ran across the term “html element” and I wanted to know what it meant. I looked it up. The first place I went to said

An HTML element is defined by a start tag, some content, and an end tag:

and

Some HTML elements have no content (like the <br> element). These elements are called empty elements. Empty elements do not have an end tag!

That was a quick, easy micro-project. 

But then I thought, well I should really follow some other links and see if there’s more to it or a different perspective somewhere else.

There is more to it. Wiki says a lot, including 

An HTML element is a type of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) document component, one of several types of HTML nodes (there are also text nodes, comment nodes and others).[vague] HTML document is composed of a tree of simple HTML nodes, such as text nodes, and HTML elements, which add semantics and formatting to parts of document (e.g., make text bold, organize it into paragraphs, lists and tables, or embed hyperlinks and images). Each element can have HTML attributes specified. Elements can also have content, including other elements and text.

I started to feel a bit overwhelmed. Too many terms I don’t understand on that wikipedia page. Not a quick, easy micro-project any more.

Then I realized that the first part, which was quick and easy, could still be a micro-project. I still accomplished something with it. Instead of the project being “Find out what an html element is”, it could be “Find out one definition of an html element”. Then after that, I could choose whether to move on to finding out more about what html elements are.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
I notice that now I’m mostly focusing on the first part of my goal, “Get used to noticing learning-focused micro-projects that I do already.” I’m thinking maybe that should have been my only goal for this in the first place.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
Elliot wrote:

I haven't read much of the rest because you explicitly chose not to try to do my suggestions and to go off in your own direction.

This feels pressuring to me. Is it meant that way? Are you trying to get me to do your suggestions?

Notified 29 people
Justin Mallone Justin Mallone
AnneB said: "This feels pressuring to me. Is it meant that way?"

It seems like you are asking if Elliot is trying to pressure you. I think the answer is no.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
Yes, that is what I'm asking. I want to know if Elliot is trying to pressure me.
Notified 29 people
Justin Mallone Justin Mallone
FWIW I don't think trying to pressure people is consistent with Elliot's philosophy. And I definitely don't think it's how he would treat people on his learning forum.
Notified 29 people
Justin Mallone Justin Mallone
AnneB can you come up with another interpretation of the statement of Elliot's you quoted that isn't trying to be pressuring?
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
Yes, I thought of the option that it could be informational. But then there's the question of why he wouldn't read my stuff when I'm not doing his suggestions.
Notified 29 people
Justin Mallone Justin Mallone
I thought of it as not just informational but specifically trying to help you assuming you might have the goal of getting more feedback from Elliot. IOW, if you are interested in getting more feedback, Elliot is giving you some indication of how you might go about doing that.

Regarding not reading your stuff specifically when you're not trying his suggestions, maybe Elliot is particular interested in people trying his suggestions as opposed to doing their own stuff. 
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
That's possible.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
How do I tell which interpretation is correct?
Notified 29 people
Justin Mallone Justin Mallone
Well can you come up with any criticisms of any of the rival interpretations?

I've already given some indication of some criticisms I have of the Elliot is trying to pressure you theory.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
FWIW I don't think trying to pressure people is consistent with Elliot's philosophy. And I definitely don't think it's how he would treat people on his learning forum.

I am surprised that you said this. I often think Elliot is trying to pressure FI people to do certain projects or follow his advice or learn in certain ways. 

I would love to find out I'm wrong. That would make FI way more pleasant for me.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
I guess my criticism of what you said is that I've thought the opposite many times. That's not a great criticism. But on the other hand, how did you come to the conclusion that you don't think Elliot would try to pressure people?
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
I think it's important to Elliot that people try out his suggestions. Then he can see what happens when they do.

I also think he's annoyed when people (especially me) don't follow his suggestions.

Maybe I'm right about the first but not the second. 
Notified 29 people
Justin Mallone Justin Mallone
AnneB: 

I guess my criticism of what you said is that I've thought the opposite many times. That's not a great criticism. But on the other hand, how did you come to the conclusion that you don't think Elliot would try to pressure people?

Trying to pressure/manipulate/influence people is very second-handed. Elliot has written lots of criticisms of that kind of activity and goal. He's also done things like criticize segments of films for pulling people's strings, which is related. I wouldn't be super surprised if he's written more words on the general topic than Rand.

I think Elliot tries to appeal to people's reason, make good points, and offer suggestions and arguments. I think he's aware that sometimes people interpret such appeals to reason as pressuring, but that's different than saying he's trying to pressure people. People find all sorts of stuff pressuring, are emotionally complex, etc. It's a hard thing to deal with. 
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
I think it's wrong for me to just feel bad and not say anything when Elliot seems to be pressuring me or annoyed with me or something. That hasn't gone well for me over the years.

But I don't know what to do instead. If I just think to myself that he could have meant it a different way, then I still don't know which way he meant it. My social instincts tell me I'm being attacked and I don't have good reasons to tell them they're wrong, only possibilities that they could be wrong, and that's not enough to make a difference.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
Meta: I'm sort of trying for short responses in this conversation. I've succeeded in keeping to three or fewer sentences about half the time.
Notified 29 people
Justin Mallone Justin Mallone
I think it's wrong for me to just feel bad and not say anything when Elliot seems to be pressuring me or annoyed with me or something. 

I agree.

That hasn't gone well for me over the years.

But I don't know what to do instead. If I just think to myself that he could have meant it a different way, then I still don't know which way he meant it. 

I agree that merely thinking about the possibility of an alternative interpretation doesn't solve the problem. I think it should help some, though, especially if you do it consistently. Giving more thoughtful and careful consideration to the possible meanings of some statement should help with being less emotionally reactive in general.

My social instincts tell me I'm being attacked and I don't have good reasons to tell them they're wrong, only possibilities that they could be wrong, and that's not enough to make a difference.

I think that you should approach this as a problem that is amenable to rational analysis and as something you can resolve. 

One question I would ask you is whether, given Elliot's ideas and writing, it makes sense to trust your culturally normal "social instincts" as reliable indicators in the FI context. Cuz as of now, it sounds like once you have a "social instinct" reaction, you're sort of going with that unless you can rebut it. But those "social instincts" may not make sense in all contexts. If you disagree, you may think that all people must necessarily act a certain way (as in, the ways your "social instincts" are calibrated to) which is itself an idea you can think about intellectually and criticize.

Not trying to come up with a "magic bullet" argument here right now btw, just trying to give some indication of the method to use.
Notified 29 people
Elliot, Fallible Ideas Elliot
I often think Elliot is trying to pressure FI people to do certain projects or follow his advice or learn in certain ways. 

I don't try to pressure FI people. That is not my intention or goal. I find that idea horrifying. I'm aware that people often pressure themselves and each other, and I've put work into figuring out how to avoid saying things that people will (incorrectly but semi-predictably) react to with self-pressuring.

I've often invited criticism and concerns be shared. If you thought there was a problem, e.g. pressuring, you could have first considered it could be a good faith misunderstanding or a minor mistake (by either party) or something and brought up the issue so it could be discussed and resolved. What you did instead was remember a negative interpretation that you didn't allow any rebuttal to or clarifications about. You did this multiple times and built up a significant group of unsolved, unaddressed problems and negativity which has now grown large, complex and severe enough to be difficult to address. Then you brought stuff up later, tangential to another topic (which is derailing to that topic), in a vague way without quotes or specifics (making the accusations hard to respond to), and after people forgot about the original discussion and context. Many people have done this specific thing to me, and I've often asked them not to. Please don't.

PS Your claims that I'm pressuring (on purpose!) are pressuring me to respond to your accusations.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
I deleted two comments here and moved them to a new thread:

😊 Negative feelings about FI - FI Learning

I added a word near the end of the first one that I thought would make it more clear.

I want to continue this thread about micro-projects here.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B
The deleted comments are ones I just wrote now, not earlier ones.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #19: Italics in html

I watched an html video. I made a list of some of the things in it that I wanted to practice the next day. Then the next day I practiced them by putting something with each of them into my practice index.html file.

One of the these things was italics. I wrote some stuff in italics. Then I uploaded the file and checked the resulting website to see if the stuff came out in italics. It did.

Practicing each of the other things on the list could each be thought of as a separate micro-project. Together, they could make up a bigger project. 
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B

Micro-project #20: Getting line wrapping in Visual Studio Code

In doing my previous micro-project, I saw that in my longest paragraph, the line didn’t wrap. It just extended out of the window and I had to scroll sideways to see it.

So I searched for “how to get visual studio code to wrap lines”. The first result looked good so I tried its instructions. They worked. 

The project took under a minute.

This kind of micro-project seems to come up a lot for me. I wonder how to do something on the computer and I look it up and find out how to do it. Or I look up a word I read and don’t understand. These micro-projects aren’t planned. They wouldn’t have been in a list of steps for a bigger project because I wouldn’t have known they’d come up. 

I imagine that if someone makes a plan for a bigger project and then follows it, there will be smaller projects like this that will get added in when they come up and won’t be part of the pre-planning. I think this is fine. However, if you’re short on time for your main project, you might decide to skip some of these unplanned projects.
Notified 29 people
Anne B Anne B

Evaluation of this micro-project project

I started this project wanting it to have a goal. I succeeded at that. However, I forgot about my goal and my plan in the middle of the project! I started doing other stuff without consciously realizing it. Next time, I’ll try to have a goal and not forget about it.

I realized I actually had three goals instead of one. One would have been better, since I don’t have much experience having projects with goals.

The goal I think was the best was the one I ended up focusing on in the later micro-projects: “Get used to noticing learning-focused micro-projects that I do already.” This is important to me because I’ve had trouble in the past thinking about how to break things down into small enough pieces so that each piece is tiny and fast and easy. Now I’m getting used to seeing that I already successfully do many tiny, easy projects.

I’ve also thought that I wasn’t capable of doing a series of short, easy projects that add up to some bigger progress. I still don’t see very well how tiny projects fit together to make bigger projects. Maybe I’ll work on that in the future.
Notified 29 people