I don't know Tom Preston-Werner etc. so this comment is based upon the OP's post and the twitter feed and what I have just read.<p>Judging by the timing of the tweets it seems that TPW got into a manic episode and fixed a problem. While we have all done things like this from time to time I don't see it as an example of "how doers do".<p>"Doers" should be firing on all cylinders all the time taking on things that can't be fixed in a binge. And if they can be fixed in a hour or two it shouldn't take a manic episode to get the energy to fix them.
It is amazing how today's technology favours the doers who inspires us with their actions. Almost anyone in the world can see and learn from their actions, thanks to technology.<p>Decades ago leadership meant using powerful and inspiring words to <i>move</i> people into action. This led us to believe that people who could "communicate" well were natural leaders. Personally, I prefer "doers" to "talkers" as an inspirational model.
> go out there and do something worthwhile and stop regaling your heroes for their ability to shut up and ship.<p>Reminds me of a Buddhist saying that if you meet the Buddha on the road, you should kill him. Kill being used in the sense of remain detached, not physically kill.
I like how he summarizes the post he links to as “go out there and do something worthwhile and stop regaling your heroes for their ability to shut up and ship”, and then totally fails to take the point to heart, by writing a gushing piece about TPW and his “ability to shut up and ship”. Obnoxious.
It's good to have this kind of drive, but writing replacements for existing tools/libraries because they're flawed, while fun, can be an incredible distraction from the end goal of shipping your product. I know this from experience. It's a balancing act: sometimes it's worth it, but often you'll spend more time writing the replacement than you'd spend using the bad tool.<p>Tom Preston-Werner is also incredibly lucky that he can write a spec and overnight a half-dozen implementations crop up. I wish that worked for me!
No really ... how do doers do? I got married recently and have a full time job on weekdays. It has been an immense challenge to find time to work on personal projects now that I am no longer single. I've known some weight lifters who wake up early or go to bed very late in order to get in their workouts (I've had some success with this but have gotten overwhelmed after a few days). Any HNers have tips on how to live the hacker life while maintaining marital bliss?
This seems like he's really just diverting to a more fun project as a way to procrastinate and still feel productive. His Jekyll project will still have those pull requests and issues to weed through at the end of the day :)