Repack your backpack
Just after I’ve hit the road I feel it. Something’s on the wrong side of my laptop, poking into my back. Not painful, but gentle, not enough to stop for and open my backpack for.
In software development I’ve encountered a similar feeling plenty of times. You know you have to rearrange in order to proceed comfortably, yet by the end of the day (or week, month or year...) you didn’t improve any process but you did make the deadline. You made it home, but the ride could have felt better.
This is why I liked reading about Maxine’s journey in the Unicorn Project so much. I like to think of The Third Ideal, the Improvement of Daily Work, which I remember by the line ’to elevate the improvement of daily work over daily work itself’, as this backpack moment.
Halfway through the ride the poke becomes slightly more annoying, but I tell myself I’m almost home now. Problem solved, right? The real problem however is not this one ride. If I didn’t take the time to fix it this time, what are the odds I’ll do it next time?
That’s why you need to get off your bike right away. Riding comfortably will benefit you more in the long run. Always. Just repack that backpack.