Okay, so I wanted to share something I tried out recently. Heard about this thing, some called it the ‘Andre Regard’ approach, maybe? Sounded like a way to handle tricky tasks, or maybe just look at things differently. Not super clear, but I figured, why not give it a whirl.
So, I decided to apply it to my workflow for a couple of days. The idea, as I understood it, was about taking a specific, careful look, a sort of focused observation before diving deep into a problem or task. Sounds simple enough, right? Almost too simple.
First day, I picked a bug report that looked nasty. Usually, I’d jump right in, start debugging, maybe throw some print statements around. But this time, I tried the ‘Andre Regard’. I just sat back. Read the report. Read it again. Looked at the related code sections. Didn’t write anything, didn’t change anything. Just looked. For maybe 15 minutes. Felt a bit weird, like I wasn’t being productive.
Then I moved on to planning a small feature. Same deal. Instead of whiteboarding immediately or writing pseudo-code, I just thought about it. Considered the different angles, potential problems. Stared at the requirements document. Again, just letting my brain mull it over with this ‘Andre Regard’ focus.
What Happened Next
Well, it was a mixed bag. On the bug fixing? That initial 15 minutes of just staring and thinking actually helped. I spotted a potential interaction I usually would have missed until much later. Saved me some headache down the line, I think.
But for the feature planning? It felt less useful. I ended up just going around in circles in my head. I needed to actually start sketching things out, writing things down to make progress. The ‘Andre Regard’ felt more like procrastination in that case.
It kind of reminded me of this one time, years ago, on a different project. We had this senior guy, Dave. He had his own ‘method’. He’d call it ‘Dave’s Deconstruction’. He’d take a requirement, print it out, and pin it to a corkboard. Then he’d just stare at it. Sometimes for a whole morning. Didn’t talk to anyone. Just stared.
- Some folks thought he was a genius, finding hidden depths.
- Others, like me sometimes, thought he was just avoiding starting the actual work.
- The results were inconsistent. Sometimes he’d come back with a brilliant insight. Other times, he’d just wasted half a day and we’d be behind schedule.
So, this ‘Andre Regard’ thing feels a bit like that. Maybe it’s useful sometimes, for certain kinds of problems, like really complex debugging where you need to see the whole picture. But for other stuff, like creative work or planning where you need to iterate, maybe not so much. It felt like it needed a specific context.
My takeaway? It’s another tool, I guess. Not a magic bullet. I tried it. It worked okay for one thing, not so great for another. I’ll probably keep doing what I normally do, mostly. But maybe, just maybe, if I’m really stuck on a weird bug, I’ll try the ‘Andre Regard’ stare again. Can’t hurt, right? Just gotta be careful it doesn’t turn into Dave’s all-morning stare-fest.
