Do you have LDVS? Do I?
Jan. 21st, 2004 12:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsSo, I was doing so research for The Encompassment when I stumbled upon this term: Da Vinci Syndrome (LDVS). This is apparently a real condition not unlike attention deficit disorder.
One of an author's least favorite questions is "Where do you get your ideas?" The fact is that authors are usually drowning in ideas; we're up to our eyeballs in ideas. The same is usually true of programmers: we see so many things wrong, or lacking, or just plain broken, with the way computing is done now that we want to get in and fix it, every single last bit of it.
Da Vinci Syndrome is the habit of following ideas as they come, such that a previous project gets ignored for lack of time and attention. The excuse is that with the project partially executed, "enough of the idea" is stored there that it will be easy for the writer or developer to come back and continue where he left off. The knowledge of the idea is encapsulated for future use, if not in a form that can yet be used by others. To the LDVS sufferer, the idea can no longer become lost, and so he feels safe leaving it be and chasing down a new idea-- which is always more exciting than the spit-and-polish grunt work of finishing the current project. He'll "get back to it later." Later rarely comes.
I have LDVS, and I have it bad. I'm still trying to figure out how to get it under control, manageable so that I can finish my projects that I've already got and yet not lose the new ones as they come along.
One of an author's least favorite questions is "Where do you get your ideas?" The fact is that authors are usually drowning in ideas; we're up to our eyeballs in ideas. The same is usually true of programmers: we see so many things wrong, or lacking, or just plain broken, with the way computing is done now that we want to get in and fix it, every single last bit of it.
Da Vinci Syndrome is the habit of following ideas as they come, such that a previous project gets ignored for lack of time and attention. The excuse is that with the project partially executed, "enough of the idea" is stored there that it will be easy for the writer or developer to come back and continue where he left off. The knowledge of the idea is encapsulated for future use, if not in a form that can yet be used by others. To the LDVS sufferer, the idea can no longer become lost, and so he feels safe leaving it be and chasing down a new idea-- which is always more exciting than the spit-and-polish grunt work of finishing the current project. He'll "get back to it later." Later rarely comes.
I have LDVS, and I have it bad. I'm still trying to figure out how to get it under control, manageable so that I can finish my projects that I've already got and yet not lose the new ones as they come along.
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no subject
Date: 2004-01-21 10:13 pm (UTC)I'm quite certain I have the same syndrome. One need only look at the number of started-but-as-of-yet-unfinished crochet/cross-stitch/knitting/ceramic painting projects I have, the number of unfinished web graphics sets, the number of pending projects at work...
I suppose it's something of a relief to be able to put a name to it, other than 'scatterbrained'. =) Or "Ooooh, Shiny!" Syndrome.