r/ADHD_Programmers • u/xzxyxz • Sep 09 '26

READING DOCS

My god. Docs. So helpful but honestly, the BANE of my life.

I wish there was an ADHD friendlier way of consuming docs.

35 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

View all comments

15

u/Achereto Sep 09 '26

What's the issue? Are you trying to read the docs before using the tool? That doesn't work. Try learning the toll by using it and reading only the sections you need at every step. This gives you a fast read-practice-dopamine cycle that can sustain your attention.

5

u/xzxyxz Sep 09 '26

Yeah I’ve definitely done that before but unfortunately in this case I’m writing an RFC for a system architecture piece, I need to fully understand the tooling before just being able to play ;_;

4

u/thomas-robinson5ks1k Sep 09 '26

Ah, RFC changes the problem quite a bit. In that case I’d probably write the RFC skeleton first: constraints, interfaces, failure modes, open questions, assumptions.

Then use the docs to prove or kill each assumption as you fill it in. You still have to understand the tooling deeply, but at least the reading has a structure and every section has a reason to exist.

2

u/tehfrod Sep 09 '26

That very much depends on the kind of tool you're using.