Tobby Hagler

I suffer from Obsessive/Compulsive behavior, and I'm in a technology-oriented industry. The Web is one of the few industries where OCD is just as much a blessing as it is a curse. But I sometimes find myself distracted by the technology I'm working with and loose track of the thing I really wanted to do in the first place.

The Good of OCD

I can spend hours debugging. I actually reach a certain point where I don't care about anything else but solving the problem. I'll look at something from different angles, and I'll try every trick I know to solve it. If it means learning a new language in order to debug a script, then so be it. If it means losing a night of sleep until something is fixed, then the morning coffee will just taste that much sweeter (well, more bitter -- straight black is best, baby).

I'll code something until it's right. Not working, but right. If I have any spare time (and there's been plenty of times when I didn't), I'll refactor and rewrite from scratch until it's right. I don't care if it's a web template, a Drupal module, or a Perl script that will keep my media library in order; I'll stay focused until it's done right.

The Bad of OCD

The problem with OCD is that I can't control what I obsess about. I'll find myself so consumed with the process, that the thing itself loses meaning.

For instance, this blog.

I've had plenty of things I wanted to blog about, but not having a content management system installed, I would find myself having to first install some web software in order to post a blog in it. I have spent countless hours installing CMSes like Wordpress and Drupal, looking to get the platform I wanted most. Most recently, I spent a night installing, removing, and reinstalling Drupal.

But after hours of setting it up, adding modules I think I might need at some point, and setting up all my database and file system backup scripts, I've found that I've lost the original train of thought that led to me wanting to blog in the first place.

The ADD

And that's where the ADD comes in. OCD for me is like a shiny object that I pass that grabs my attention. Something stirs in me that I want to do, and the resulting task list, rather than the goal, becomes the obsession.

I cant count the number of times that I've started on something, only to find myself obsessing over some piece of technology that's ultimately unimportant (except to my own obsessive-compulsions); resulting in a complete abandonment of the initial thing I wanted to do in the first place.