Last week at Sift we hosted an internal hackathon. “No rules. Work on whatever you’re excited about” said Fred. And so I worked on two projects  – one where we built data visualizations of distributions, and the other where we built a (Harry Potter themed!) demo data generator.

I had a really good time, and delivered two mostly complete projects that members of the business team have asked for again and again. I felt more productive than I had in the three weeks prior.

Why?

Mostly because I found flow in working on the projects. Both of the projects involved me stitching together bits of code, where each stitch had an immediate satisfying effect of making a visible bit of progress. It was also, by nature of the hackathon’s constraint, neatly self-contained pieces of work. My mind had been brewing on these ideas for a couple weeks already. Getting to execute and to push something on screen was a nice change of pace.

It was a good reminder amidst all the thinking and planning work that I’ve been doing at Sift that I am at heart a maker. I had gone too long in abstract work, and I needed that hands on work to lift my spirits.

It’s also good prompt to try to figure out a rhythm where I can alternate between being hands-on and being in planning mode. I am far happier this way, and it’ll probably be good for Sift. I guess this is the whole Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule thing. I have to find a rhythm that balance the two.