When people write “more dakka,” do they simply meaning that we need to try harder and/or try more things? I’ve seen this in two or three pieces of writing on the EA Forum, but I’ve never seen a clear explanation. Apparently “dakka” is slang from a sci-fi video game/tabletop RPG? Is this useless in-group terminology, or does this actually have value?
As best I can tell, “more dakka” is a reference to this quote. Can anyone point me to a more clear or authoritative explanation?
We know the solution. Our bullets work. We just need more. We need More (and better) (metaphorical) Dakka – rather than firing the standard number of metaphorical bullets, we need to fire more, absurdly more, whatever it takes until the enemy keels over dead.
So if you’re doing something, and it isn’t working well enough, here’s a dozen ways to generate more dakka, and how each could apply if you’re a) exercising, or b) learning new mathematics.
A Dozen Ways
Do it again.
Instead of doing one set of repetitions of the exercise, do two.
If you read the chapter once, read it again.
Use more.
If you were lifting 10 pounds, lift 15.
If you were doing easy problems, do harder ones.
Do more repetitions.
Instead of 10 repetitions, do 15.
If you did 10 problems on the material, do 15.
Increase intensity.
Do your 15 repetitions in 2 minutes instead of 3.
If you were skimming or reading quickly, read more slowly.
Schedule it.
Exercise at a specific time on specific days. Put it on your calendar, and set reminders.
Make sure you have time scheduled for learning the material and doing problems.
Do it regularly.
Make sure you exercise twice a week, and don’t skip.
Make sure you review what you did previously, on a regular basis.
Do it for a longer period.
Keep exercising for another month.
Go through another textbook, or find more problem sets to work through.
Add types.
In addition to push-ups, do bench presses, chest flyers, and use resistance bands.
In addition to the problem sets, do the chapter review exercises, and work through the problems in the chapter on your own.
Expand the repertoire.
Instead of just push–ups, do incline push ups, loaded push-ups, and diamond push-ups.
Find (or invent!) additional problem types; try to prove things with other methods, find different counter-examples or show why a relaxed assumption means the result no longer holds, find pre-written solutions and see if you can guess next steps before reading them.
Add variety.
Do leg exercises instead of just chest exercises. Do cardio, balance, and flexibility training, not just muscle building.
Do adjacent types of mathematics, explore complex analysis, functional analysis, and/or harmonic analysis.
Add feedback.
Get an exercise coach to tell you how to do it better.
Get someone to grade your work and tell you what you’re doing wrong, or how else to learn the material.
Add people.
Have the whole team exercise. Find a group, gym, or exercise class.
Collaborate with others in solving problems. Take a course instead of self-teaching. Get others to learn with you, or teach someone else to solidify your understanding.
I think the examples you give are actually contrary to the useful message of “more dakka.”
Yours suggest “if something doesn’t work, try more of it,” which in general is poor advice. Sometimes it’s true that you need more of something before you hit a threshold that generates results. But most of the time, negative results are informative and should guide you to change your approach.
More dakka is about when something does work, but doesn’t solve the problem entirely, or is easy to drop off rather than continue. It’s a useful concept trying to correct for an observed tendency to ignore only-somewhat-positive results.
Example: “bright lights seemed to help a bit, but my seasonal depression is still lingering.” More dakka: “have you tried even brighter lights?”
Example: “we brainstormed ten ideas and got some that seemed workable, but they still have issues.” More dakka: “Try listing a 100 ideas before committing to a so-so one from the first ten.”
@Joseph “dakka” is just an onomatopoeic term for the sound of a machine gun (“dakka dakka dakka”), and the phrase comes from the TV tropes entry. The fanciful names there are useful for fun, reference-based humor (and I use them a lot in my persona life!), but I do think porting them over to EA-jargon is probably net negative for clarity/professionalism.
When people write “more dakka,” do they simply meaning that we need to try harder and/or try more things? I’ve seen this in two or three pieces of writing on the EA Forum, but I’ve never seen a clear explanation. Apparently “dakka” is slang from a sci-fi video game/tabletop RPG? Is this useless in-group terminology, or does this actually have value?
As best I can tell, “more dakka” is a reference to this quote. Can anyone point me to a more clear or authoritative explanation?
The LW tag is useful here: it says More Dakka is “the technique of throwing more resources at a problem to see if you get better results”.
I like David Manheim’s A Dozen Ways to Get More Dakka; copying it over to reduce the friction of link-clicking:
Thank you. Both the links to the tag on LessWrong and the dozen examples are helpful. I appreciate it.
More dakka is to pour more firepower onto a problem. Two examples:
Example: “bright lights don’t help my seasonal depression”. More dakka: “have you tried even brighter lights?”
Example: we brainstormed ten ideas, none of them seem good. More dakka: “Try listing a 100 ideas”
I think the examples you give are actually contrary to the useful message of “more dakka.”
Yours suggest “if something doesn’t work, try more of it,” which in general is poor advice. Sometimes it’s true that you need more of something before you hit a threshold that generates results. But most of the time, negative results are informative and should guide you to change your approach.
More dakka is about when something does work, but doesn’t solve the problem entirely, or is easy to drop off rather than continue. It’s a useful concept trying to correct for an observed tendency to ignore only-somewhat-positive results.
Example: “bright lights seemed to help a bit, but my seasonal depression is still lingering.” More dakka: “have you tried even brighter lights?”
Example: “we brainstormed ten ideas and got some that seemed workable, but they still have issues.” More dakka: “Try listing a 100 ideas before committing to a so-so one from the first ten.”
@Joseph “dakka” is just an onomatopoeic term for the sound of a machine gun (“dakka dakka dakka”), and the phrase comes from the TV tropes entry. The fanciful names there are useful for fun, reference-based humor (and I use them a lot in my persona life!), but I do think porting them over to EA-jargon is probably net negative for clarity/professionalism.
Not that it’s super important, but TVTropes didn’t invent the phrase (nor do they claim they did), it’s from Warhammer 40,000.