[HN Gopher] Ask HN: How to deal with memory/cognition slowing do...
___________________________________________________________________
Ask HN: How to deal with memory/cognition slowing down as an
engineering leader?
I work in engineering management. In recent years I've noticed my
memory has become a bit worse, and I'm feeling generally less sharp
cognitively than I once was. I don't think this is anything
pathological; it's not that severe - I think it's largely due to a
combination of ageing and a chronic lack of sleep during this time.
Due to this, I'm finding myself in situations where my memory just
fails me, in discussions where I really need to be on top of the
details. And, while I've never been great at making decisions
quickly, nowadays it's taking longer than ever. Given some more
time, I still have the knowledge and judgement to be make good
decisions. But it is affecting how I do my job, and (I believe) how
people perceive me in my role. I wonder if anyone else here has
experience with problems like this, and if so, whether anyone has
any advice on things that could help. For example, I'm finding I
need to take much more detailed notes. Tips along these lines would
be welcome.
Author : cogthrow
Score : 17 points
Date : 2024-06-23 19:31 UTC (3 hours ago)
| DamonHD wrote:
| You may be overthinking / part imagining it: self-calibration is
| hard.
|
| And in any case experience is as useful as raw ability in getting
| things done.
|
| I'm now ancient (late 50s) and recently had to step away from my
| start-up as CTO since we sold the IPR, but instead I am doing a
| part-time PhD (just had my first paper published) and may become
| a fractional CTO for a friend's business. For the last I won't be
| racing the tech staff on coding speed or code performance, but I
| think that decades of delivering such stuff can help them do it
| and get credit for it.
| sirspacey wrote:
| Sleep is the key. Repeated lack of sleep has an extreme impact on
| cognition and memory retrieval.
|
| A few things that have helped me:
|
| #1 sleep in a completely dark room. A specialist MD shared this
| insight with me and it changed my life. I also use an eye mask
| and white noise machine.
|
| #2 use a call recording tool on your internal meetings that can
| summarize notes. Being able to go back "in time" to a call often
| has enabled me to reload the entire interaction just watching a
| few min of the call.
|
| #3 rely on your team. As a leader you get the benefit of the
| doubt that you are covering a lot, so I've made a ritual of just
| asking people to restate our last interaction and where they are
| at now with any updates. Again, simple thing but helps trigger my
| memory
|
| Good luck!
| hnthrowaway0328 wrote:
| I agree. Sleep dictates everything else. It's so difficult to
| get a good night of sleep, though. There are too many impacting
| factors. And wearing masks/earphones are usually uncomfortable.
| beardyw wrote:
| Delegate more.
|
| People mostly like to take responsibility. For decisions, let
| someone else offer up the potential solutions. Make someone else
| your memory. Its a very important part of management because it
| develops you and them. For technical people it is hard because we
| see the detail as the part we like most. Let someone else enjoy
| it.
|
| PS. You can't delegate responsibility! That's abdication.
| helph67 wrote:
| "You are more likely to remember something if you read it out
| loud, a study has found"
| https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171201090940.h...
|
| "It turns out, any walk outdoors has the potential to unlock our
| brains" https://lithub.com/on-the-link-between-great-thinking-
| and-ob...
|
| "Older adults who consumed cranberries frequently as part of
| their diet saw improvements in episodic memory, neural function,
| and brain perfusion" https://neurosciencenews.com/cranberries-
| memory-dementia-206...
| jujube3 wrote:
| Probably implement more processes and paradigms. 2 scrum meetings
| a day rather than one. Extend the meetings out to 1 hour each to
| make sure the point really gets across.
| technofiend wrote:
| If you are male check your testosterone levels; lowered T can
| allegedly cause a decline in cognition. Here's a link to an NIH
| citation rather than any woo woo sources, but still up to you to
| decide. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8591394/
| hnthrowaway0328 wrote:
| Did you have a child birth? This event was the biggest source of
| my fading interest in programming and fading health.
|
| Regardless, I'd recommend taking more notes and set up 15 mins
| before and after work to go over them. I'd also recommend using a
| paper notebook in supplement of an electronic one as you can
| spontaneously put down some notes on paper.
| lulznews wrote:
| Time for a promotion!
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-06-23 23:01 UTC)