Notes: In Defense of Just Fucking Around

Created: Sep 25, 2020 12:15 PM Tags: Software

A philosophy of use and learning in software defined by instinctual exploration for the purposes of accomplishing tasks and/or discovering tasks one can accomplish.

It should be disclaimed that some would likely condemn this as a fundamentally counterproductive mindset with which to approach learning about software. Be warned!

Everything I have learned about computers, I have learned myself, mostly by stumbling about.

• [ ] How We Learn Software

• [ ] While this applies most of the time to software it definitely does not apply to hardware.

• [ ] Inevitable parallels with my piano improvisation.

• [ ] My experience at Diamond - namely, that one printer driver I fixed.

  • I suppose it was partially Tim's fault, in retrospect, considering that I came under the context of a "trial period," at the end of which, he said yes.
  • JFA is definitely not appropriate when one's hours are "billable." JFA does not constitute billable hours.
  • Need to look back in my work notebook for specifics.

• [ ] Important to counterargue that JFA is not always appropriate or ideal.

• [ ] It's worth reflecting on the fact that JFA is representative of enormous privilege. (See: Black Software.)

• [ ] JFA is distinct from "Move fast and break things." Largely because it does not apply to software development at all.

• [ ] How much of JFA should be attributed to my ADHD diagnoses? Others'?

• [ ] JFA does not exclude documentation. In fact, consulting documentation is more often than not necessary for detailed exploration. A refusal to acknowledge this can be crippling. (I know from personal experience.)

• [ ] "Poking around" is a valid synonym.

• [ ] Definitely not the right path to become competitive in a given video game, but is often one to enjoy it.

• [ ] KIDS REACT TO OLD COMPUTERS

Strengths

• [ ] JFA is a good way to figure out what you are capable of doing as a user with/in a given piece of software.
• [ ] JFA is a "natural" method of learning at least the essentials of how a tool operates. Some form of it is present in all software use.

Bads

• [ ] JFA is not a good philosophy from which to actually create software.
• [ ] From a personal experience: JFA certainly does not lead to progressing on one's todo list.
• [ ] JFA is not appropriate (at the very least - [ ] it's probably irresponsible) when one is billing by the hour.
• [ ] JFA is tremendously inefficient when compared with just about any other means of education, though it is completely free in strictly monetary terms.

References

• [ ] The Unlikely Rise of FL Studio, The Internet's Favorite Production Software
• [ ] - Bear ⇧
• [ ] Rediscovering the Small Web
• [ ] Learning to Learn Software: Ten Heuristics
• [ ] Learning through play - [ ] Wikipedia