I’m totally stealing the “cave” meme from Michael Lopp’s book, Managing Humans, Biting and humorous tales of a software engineering manager. Actually, he specifically calls it a “nerd cave.” In the proverbial nutshell, it is the place we go to focus on our best work.
In the best of all caves, we have everything we need to do what needs to be done, and anything more is a distraction. The determination of how much of the rest of the world is allowed past the cave entrance is a huge factor in our success. Too much and our final product is obviously seamed; too little and it is uninformed navel-gazing.
I imagine that, at the dawn of humanity, it was much the same. The cave was the place where we dragged our hard-won meat, roasted it in the fire built for that and defensive purposes at the cave mouth, sharpened our spears, drew on the walls, mated, nurtured our young, and developed useful things like language: “Hey, be careful, there’s a stalagtite over—” [Cruuuuunccchh!!!] “Never mind…” (And thus was profanity born…)
You probably already know where your cave is, but if you don’t, look for it. If you can’t find it, make it. Cherish it as the evolutionary refinement it is. And keep an eye out for stalagtites. And stalagmites—they hurt just as much when you run into them.
