There are only some rare occurrences that have been common across all projects – right from my graduation project to the big corporate ones. One of those is that all of them have at least one night of marathon programming. It was one project where I did not get the luxury of that one night and it hit me like a rock how much I relied on this one night every project. I had started to inadvertently include it in my estimates, my project plans and even in my timesheets. Knowing it consciously has probably made me a bit uncomfortable, but glad too.
The discomfort is trying to find answers why it had become a must for me. And I do have some hints and observations, no answers. The night puts me on an island, isolates me and my programming from other worries of the project and life. The programmer in me awakens that night and commands over everyone else. It seems to be a time dedicated only to programming, with plans only for programming and no disturbances ending up in increasing the productivity and decreasing the time to deliver. Every problem gets a luxury of unlimited time that night, and that probably lightens the burden of completing it within a deadline and lets me focus more on the problem. There seems to be more clarity in thinking. Everything seems more possible, crossing boundaries seems less of an effort and the approach is much more optimisitc.
I am glad because I realize that the entrepreneur in me, the consultant in me, the analyst in me, the project manager in me rely heavily on the programmer in me. And I need to give a dedicated time to him, and be the boss some time. This night lets me do that. In some projects there have been more nights, but I need at least one every project. I wonder if I will end up making it an explicit part of my process.
This has really been a flying thought and there has been some wandering around too. It is more of a feeling that made me happy about myself as a programmer. So please bear with me if you think this was frivolous or ridiculous. However, if you do find yourself smiling or nodding or not shaking your head wildly or not tearing your hair apart, do share your experience here. Do you need anything like this?
