Watching the World Go By

I typically work while I eat my lunch. So, there I was, sitting at the restaurant eating lunch, working on something or another for work. As I like to do while I'm eating lunch in this way, I look up and watch...I watch people, things, and generally let my mind wander a little. I've discovered that this is an amazing thing.

You see, I remember watching Dead Poet's Society with Robin Williams. He was an English teacher, and one day, he had the entire class climb up on his desk (one at a time, of course), take a quick look around, and then jump down. The idea was to give them a different perspective on life. It's about taking the time to see what's going on around us. It's also about seeing things from a different perspective.

That's why I like to move around while I do my work. Since much of my work requires considerable thinking, it's important that I give my subconscious mind the time it needs to sort things out. And I've found that when I "wander," I'm able to see things differently. Sometimes, that makes all the difference.

Programming is a thinking-man's game. It requires deep and focused thought. And, I believe, it also requires variation, perspective, and time.

The Snowfort

This past winter, I was out in the snow playing with my kids. We were building a snowfort. My wife had come up with a great idea on how to go about it: use some small tubs to pack the snow into and up-end them as "snow bricks." So, there we were, up-ending our tubs of snow and stacking our "bricks" to make a snowfort.

Then I realized a problem: the brick idea was great, but there wasn't anything holding the bricks together. Not being a mason, I hadn't put a whole lot of thought into our structure. However, it became fairly obvious to me after we'd put up several rows of bricks that we needed some mortar. So, I switched everyone to stuffing snow in the cracks.

Once caught up with mortar, I went back to bricks. However, a couple of my kids kept at the mortar work. With so many on the mortar, the brick building was going slowly (I'm getting old). Hence, I asked my "mortar" kids to help with the bricks. They refused: it was too hard of work and they kept at the mortar work.

I got to thinking about this impasse: they didn't want to help with the bricks, but that was the whole point of the exercise, to build bricks and build the snow fort. The mortar was certainly necessary, but didn't require all the extra time they were putting into it (though the snowfort was definitely solid, given the amount of mortar they were putting in).

In building software, it's important to add the "filler" to make sure things run smoothly (the development methodology and its related practices), but if you concentrate too much on it, you lose focus on what you're doing: writing code. Writing code is hard work, but it's the fundamental aspect of producing an application. The "mortar" of software development helps to keep it together (and keeps it from falling to pieces), but there's a limit to what help it can provide.

Of course, given our poor choice of location, all the mortar in the world wasn't going to help us when the sun came out. If we'd been at the North Pole, we'd have been okay.

Fish

We bought fish. Not for dinner, but for an aquarium we got for Christmas. We bought four goldfish, thinking that those would live the longest and be the easiest to tend. They all died a couple of weeks later. We're not sure why.

We did some homework and research before we bought. We bought the starter kit aquarium. We asked the pet store people. We tried to be informed. But, sadly, we're not experts. So, they died.

One of the things that I learned from this is that not everyone has the same opinion or information on how to care for fish. The kit said one thing; the books said another; and the people at the pet store said something in between. Unfortunately for our fish, we must have listened to the wrong information (or, possibly, misinterpreted it).

Now we have dead fish, an empty aquarium, and some sad little kids.

Shhhhh. I'm Hiding

So here I am, sitting, scrunched up under a large desk (it has to be to fit my large bulk). Why am I here? Picking up a dropped pencil? Playing with my computer's various cables? Cleaning up all the dust bunnies? No. I'm hiding. Not from my boss, but from my kids. We're playing hide-n-seek.

Am I having fun trying to see how well hidden I can be? Not particularly. In fact, playing with my kids can be downright boring sometimes (of course, at other times, it's a lot of fun, so I'm not complaining about the "raising kids" thing). Ever been bored doing some work for a client? Are some programming tasks downright boring? Absolutely.

But, we do them, anyway. Why? Because, down the road, it'll make for a better product, happier client, well-adjusted kids, and a happy marriage. We do lots of things in any given day that we don't enjoy (raise your hand if you enjoy your commute!). Most of the time, we do these things for some payoff down the road (in some form or another). So, ultimately, that's a good thing, right?

Darn, they caught me. Now it's my turn to find them. I wonder how long that will take...

The Movers, They Come

I moved. That is, I physically moved myself and family from one house to another. If there's one thing I learned from that experience, it's this: don't move unless you have to. It's a pain.

In fact, I think I've heard of executives saying the same thing about building software. Hmm....

Since I'm not as young as I used to be, I decided not to move myself. This was definitely an outsourcing job, so I hired movers. The process I went through to choose who to be the lucky company was fairly obscure: I made my wife do it. And upon what criteria did she use? If she could understand them, they got the job. Actually, when you put your house up for sale, you get all sorts of advertisements from moving companies. Some of them even call you on the phone.

So, we got lots of advertisements, a few phone calls, and a lot of headache in trying to figure out who to choose. Obviously, there's the price. There was a fairly large range of hourly rates, fixed prices, etc. We had a pretty good idea of how much it *should* cost, but certainly not an exact figure. Ultimately, it came down to what I said: one of them left a message on our answering machine, and we could understand what they were saying. And they weren't too expensive.

So, my wife called them up, hired them, and we got moved. Did we make the right choice? No, unfortunately not. Was it a nightmare? Yeah, but it would have been no matter what (boxing and unboxing isn't what I call a dream come true). Should it have been better? Sure. Could it have been with a different mover? Certainly (though it could have been worse, too).

Moving is moving...you put boxes on a truck, you tape up furniture with blankets, etc. and you load/unload. It would seem to be a commodity. To a certainly extent, it is, since there are *lots* of moving companies (and many of them compete on price). However, there's a big difference between a smooth move and a nightmare (okay, mine wasn't really a nightmare...it was somewhere in between). But, as a consumer, how do you tell the difference?

There are a lot of consulting companies out there (I'm sure there are many who consider it a commodity service, since many compete on price). How do you tell the difference? When executives, managers, or whoever have to choose, how do they go about it? There are some obvious pieces to that puzzle, such as the cost (that includes dollars, but also includes other kinds of costs), and knowing what's available (it's hard to get picked when they don't know you exist). But, ultimately, what differentiates them from each other?

I've no idea. Sure, with the movers, I could have asked for references. I could have done some additional research, background investigations, asked friends, etc. Would that have made a difference? Maybe. It would certainly have helped. Would it have necessarily given the best answer? No. The moving company I hired claimed to be a different kind of moving company. How? I certainly didn't see the difference (not that I move frequently and can compare).

As individuals, we stand up and shout about how different we are. We're unique! My company is unique and different! (Does that mean it's "better?") Your company is unique and different! How and why? Is it the kind of different that I'm looking for?

Fundamentally, I don't have an answer. How *do* you tell the difference (and if I could, does it matter to me)? It's tough being a business.