This cartoon cracks me up, but completely captures the thought process of crawling through nasty code. To borrow heavily from that cartoon I propose a new metric: WTFAIDH / x (or What The Freak Am I Doing Here per x (where x is some period of time dependent on the situation)).

WTFAIDH / x is an indicator of the need for more learning or understanding and perhaps being a bit too far out of your league. Here are some situations where you might find yourself thinking this phrase:

  • Standing at top of a ski hill
  • Playing a sport
  • Speaking in public
  • Leading a release
  • Testing a completely unfamiliar type of product

Of course, this could also be an indicator that you have now gone beyond your safety zone and are growing as a person. 4 years ago when I started playing lacrosse I asked myself that the entire game but it occurred to me the other day that I don’t ask myself it anymore. Similarly when making long-term strategy decisions, but now I know to trust myself and the number has decreased. But wow do I still get a high number when speaking at conferences. I’m actively working on decreasing that amount though.