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Reaping the Benefits of Ritual and Routine

Arthur Doler
January 12, 2024

Reaping the Benefits of Ritual and Routine

Software is as close as humans are ever going to come to actual magic. You type arcane incantations using cryptic symbols, crafting messages incomprehensible to most mortals and communicating them to vast, unknowable systems, to be executed blindly by idiot machine gods who follow our instructions to the very character. We're an elite class of human, chosen through intense courses of secluded study, or simply by the winds of chance, to engage with this symbolic and mystic realm. But while we're comparing ourselves to wizards, witches, and sorcerers, we're actually leaving one of their most powerful tools on the table: rituals.

Let's learn what our brain does when we do an activity repeatedly, with other humans, or simply by ourselves. You'll learn the difference between a ritual and a routine, you'll discover why ritual practices are an important part of being a group, and you'll get an overview of when, where, and how to employ these powerful tools. You'll complete your magical arsenal, and you'll never look at a retrospective the same way again.

Arthur Doler

January 12, 2024
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  1. @arthurdoler Arthur Doler Resources: Boring details about me are at

    https://arthurdoler.com REAPING THE BENEFITS OF RITUAL AND ROUTINE
  2. @arthurdoler THE MELANESIANS WEREN’T – AND AREN’T – STUPID. No

    more or less than any other group of humans, on average, anyhow.
  3. @arthurdoler This slide is cursed & I hate it the

    most of any slide I’ve ever made
  4. @arthurdoler WE AS A SPECIES ARE EXTREMELY FOND OF HABITS

    AND ROUTINES To keep you off my mind / Ooh ooh ooh ooh / Ooh ooh ooh ooh 🎵
  5. @arthurdoler AND WE FIND PROVEN BENEFITS FROM PERFORMING SEEMINGLY IRRATIONAL

    RITUALS Turn around thrice widdershins, salute the sun
  6. @arthurdoler Routine & Habits Making Use of Routine & Habits

    Rituals What Ritual Implies about the Modern Software Process Making Use of Ritual at Home Making Use of Ritual at Work Strap in, this one’s gonna get weird.
  7. @arthurdoler A thing you perform… A thing you perform… There’s

    not very firm language around this stuff. ROUTINE HABIT Frequently Regularly, in the same context Possibly automatically Subconsciously & automatically In service of a concrete goal In service of a concrete goal
  8. @arthurdoler IF WE’RE OVERWHELMED WITH THE IMMEDIATE, WE CANNOT BE

    SUCCESSFUL LONG-TERM And boy howdy is the immediate loud.
  9. @arthurdoler IF WE’RE NOT THINKING OF OTHERS & OUR RELATIONSHIPS,

    WE CANNOT BE GOOD PARTNERS/FAMILY/FRIENDS Getting outside your own skull can take some work
  10. @arthurdoler •Lesson 1: Small habits make a big difference •Lesson

    2: Forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead. •Lesson 3: Build identity-based habits Yes, I’m basically assigning you homework. Deal with it
  11. @arthurdoler RITUALS ARE OFTEN CHARACTERIZED BY THREE OTHER RS. “You

    will be haunted,” resumed the Ghost, “By three Rs!”
  12. @arthurdoler DOES ANYONE PLAY SPORTS, OR WATCH SPORTS CONSISTENTLY? Or

    even watch sports religiously, if you will…
  13. @arthurdoler RITUALS BIND US TOGETHER AS A GROUP! No, this

    isn’t the Tajfel Minimal Group Paradigm Experiments yet again
  14. @arthurdoler WHAT RITUALS DO YOU THINK WE HAVE IN MODERN

    SOFTWARE? There’s really no wrong answers here
  15. @arthurdoler WE NEED TO BEGIN RELISHING THE THINGS WE DO

    TOGETHER Or mustarding, take your pick.
  16. @arthurdoler THE OUTCOME OF OUR INTERACTIONS IS MORE THAN JUST

    THE DELIVERABLES WE PRODUCE… Especially given the lack of non-work social spaces anymore …ESPECIALLY VIRTUALLY
  17. @arthurdoler OUR JOB IS NOT TO WRITE CODE, OR TO

    TEST, OR TO DESIGN, OR TO MANAGE A PRODUCT. OUR JOB IS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS. We just tend to do that with code.
  18. @arthurdoler YOU CAN MIX RIGID RITUALS WITH FLEXIBLE & OUTCOME-FOCUSED

    PROCESSES You have to play with the boundaries to find the right balance
  19. @arthurdoler HABITS AND ROUTINES ALLOW US TO BE EFFECTIVE IN

    OUR USE OF BRAIN POWER I certainly need all of it I can get
  20. @arthurdoler RITUALS CAN GLUE US TOGETHER… There’s value in the

    valueless! …ESPECIALLY THE POINTLESS ONES
  21. @arthurdoler BUT CONTEXT AND SINCERITY MATTER. A LOT. Trying to

    force someone to do this is going to end poorly.
  22. @arthurdoler START SMALL! •Birthdays! •Work anniversaries! •Holidays or other cultural

    celebrations! •New hire ceremonies! Fill the everyday with special import