Find a model

\n One of the most common pieces of advice I give to mentees is to \"find a model.\" It's a stupid-simple\n technique, but can transform how you work. It will let you do things faster, better, and with more\n confidence. It's a mystery that everybody doesn't use it all the time.\n

\n The core of the technique is to find a model artifact to keep an eye on while you work on your artifact,\n which could be a coding project, a song, a painting, an email, a social media post, an essay like this\n one, etc.\n

\n The are three important benefits to this technique.\n

\n A north star\n

\n A model gives you a north star; something to shoot to; something you can visually compare your work to,\n and see what's missing; a yardstick by which you can measure how \"done\" your artifact is. Without a\n model, how do you even know what kind of thing you're making? How can you tell its shape? A model is\n like a hyper-specific template that lets you stay focused on the end goal.\n

\n There are many related principles:{\" \"}\n Backward Chaining,{\" \"}\n Top-down design,{\" \"}\n The XY Problem, and Amazon's principle to\n \"Write the Press Release First\". These all get at the idea that you don't want to lose sight of the end\n goal. Without a model, you risk getting lost in the details. Losing the forest for the trees. A model\n helps you keep the whole forest in sight, so you actually create what you set out to.\n

\n However, it's important to remember that \"Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.\" In other\n words, you shouldn't shouldn't feel compelled to stick to your model so closely. Use the parts that you\n want, and forget about the rest. A model is high up on{\" \"}\n The Ladder of Abstraction, but that doesn't mean you can't change it. If you\n realize that you chose the wrong model or that your goals have changed, excellent. Time to find a better\n model.\n

\n The fact that you have a model is what allows you to realize when you have the wrong model. Imagine\n you're a ship captain navigating by a star that you thought was the north star, but then later realized\n was just Venus. The time you wasted navigating by Venus would've been equally wasted if you were\n navigating without reference to any star. At least when you're navigating by Venus one of your fellow\n sailors can come over your shoulder and say, \"Hey captain, I think that's Venus.\" If you're navigating\n by nothing, then you're truly lost at sea.\n

\n Un-stuck-ing yourself\n

\n Another reason to have model is that it's very helpful when you get stuck. Don't know how to do\n something? See how your model does it.\n

\n For this essay I felt stuck on the first line. This essay's model is{\" \"}\n Do things that don't scale, because it's an essay\n that explains a cognitive technique. Its first sentence isn't the prettiest, but it gets the idea across\n and it's a hook: \"One of the most common types of advice we give at Y Combinator is to do things that\n don't scale.\"\n

\n Now go back and read my first line. Is it deritive? Yes. Would literally anyone have noticed if I didn't\n draw your attention to it? No. There's something profoundly true about the line oft-attributed to\n Picasso, \"Good artists borrow. Great artists steal.\" I didn't truly believe this quote until I read{\" \"}\n The Elements of Eloquence,\n wherein he shows examples of Shakespeare lifting whole sentences out of other books and plays, only\n changing a couple words.\n

\n In school, they call this behavior cheating, which is probably why this technique isn't practiced more\n often. I think it's an important lesson to unlearn. Why reinvent the wheel? Save time so you can focus\n on your unique contribution. Just be sure to give attribution and credit where it's due.\n

\n Maybe someone already did it, so you don't have to\n

\n How many times have you built something only later to realize someone else already built it? Chances are\n that if an idea occurs to you, likely it has occured to someone like you. So many people don't even take\n a second to google around before embarking on a project. Instead of wasting your time reinventing the\n wheel, see if someone already invented it. Then stop. Just use their thing.\n

\n How to find a model\n

\n One reason \"finding a model\" isn't more common is that it can be quite difficult to find a good model. I\n call that technique \"surveying the space\".\n

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