Immateriality of thought makes it difficult to estimate time needed for thinking-related/knowledge work

20 Sep, 2025

What width x height x breadth is the quality of that paragraph you are supposed to write. How many kilos would it weigh. Is it based of wood or metal.

Tbe Immateriality of thought can make it difficult to estimate the work (mainly time) involved in knowledge work.

This is probably why ‘deadlines’ end up being the external pressure/constraint that forces crystallisation of thought into something. It’s as if the “due dates” are what ends up giving some kind of form to things.

Wondering how it might look like if one didn’t really want to operate on ‘deadlines’ but still operate well. In a way that doesn’t involve creating your own micro-deadlines/due dates to keep moving. It can feel a bit disorienting - not feeling confident about when to mark something as done.

Of course, there are several principles/frameworks around this that helps you to ‘just get it done’ or ‘ship it’. I’m not in a hurry for any fixes or solutions. I’m just noticing this fact, and spending time with it.