>>> Surprise, this is the process of writing.
>>
>> No, a successful writing process eventually involves *solving* the
>> ordering problem.
>
> Then you need practice, with people to help you.  With a little practice
> and guidance, even YOU could learn how to do this. ;-)

Well, here's to hoping.

>> You're obviously way better at this than I am.
>
> I've had practice.  Lots of it.  And I used to completely suck at it.

OK.

>> There are plenty of problems which *actually are* NP-complete, but it
>> doesn't stop people solving them on a regular basis.
>
> Now you're getting the idea.  You don't *have* to be perfect, you don't
> even really *have* to be nearly perfect.  You have to get to "good
> enough" to meet the requirements.

Perhaps I'm just too much of a perfectionist then.

>> I tried drawing a mindmap for Haskell. (When I eventually found a tool
>> that can actually draw them!) What I discovered is that everything is a
>> prerequisite for everything else!>_<  Looking at the dense tangle of
>> intimately related topics, it's difficult to see where to start.
>
> Then that's not actually a mindmap.

Well, OK, I don't know what the precise term is, but I drew a chart of 
all the topics I wanted to talk about and which ones are interrelated. 
You know what? *EVERYTHING* is interrelated! >_<

> I use View Your Mind (vym), and it
> works very well.  You don't have to completely map all the
> interdependencies.  You have to just categorize each item once into the
> most logical bucket you've created.
>
> So, for example, I'm working on a project to justify the integration of
> an internal system with an external system.  In the mindmap I created for
> this project, I created 3 top-level "buckets" - Phase 1, Phase 2, and
> General.  The project is anticipated to be a 2-phase project, so that's
> what those two buckets are for.  The third bucket is a bucket for things
> I need to remember that aren't actually part of either phase - things to
> watch out for, that sort of thing.
>
> Then under General (for example), I created buckets for things like
> "Customer" and "Partner", and listed the things that would be benefits to
> each of those.  Is there overlap?  Sure, and some of those benefits fall
> under specific phases - but in this case, if it fell under Phase 1 or
> Phase 2, then it didn't go under General because it was already
> classified as an action to be done as part of implementation.

OK. Well maybe I'll try again with something slightly less insane...

>>>> I don't know anybody who is this patient.
>>>
>>> We're right here.
>>
>> Most people will only read something once - if you're lucky.
>
> Well, I'm offering.  How many iterations of your CV did we look at here
> and provide feedback on?  But even then, one review with feedback is
> nothing to sneeze at.

True enough I guess.

>> Not if you suck at research...
>
> Then you need to learn to ask for help.  Nobody is born knowing how to do
> research - everyone has to learn it.  It can be learned, and even those
> who are experts at it learn more each time they research a topic.

I still remember the "research training" we did at university. This 
consisted of knowing where the library keep the various documents they 
hold. No indication of how you figure out what documents exist or which 
ones might be useful or...

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