By Dave Winer on Tuesday, July 24, 2012 at 9:21 AM.
I like to help people get what they want done esp if I think they're doing good work. But when busy people try to get help from not-busy people, the result can be pretty awful.
Working with computers isn't conducive to a whirlwind approach. You really can't do writing, design or development work inbetween crazy-busy-life tasks. Computers don't lend themselves to that kind of thought. You often don't find the problem till you have a chance to quietly and dispassionately go through the situation, asking all kinds of questions along the way. It's been observed many times that the problem often turns out to be something dumb that you overlooked. That's exactly the kind of thing you can't see when you're whirling around.
Often the best help a friend can offer when trying to work out a technical problem is to wait until you're not busy. The bug isn't in the computer, usually -- it's in something you did, or something you aren't noticing. And the only way to fix it is to calm down and get un-busy.
