Martha and I are down in Los Angeles for USC parents weekend. Today we sat in on a fun lecture titled, "The Eight Simple Things you should be certain your children have learned before we grant them their diplomas". While the lecture and this list were focused on students and parents, the 8 things also fit nicely with life after school. Here is the list of the 8 things with some random thoughts of my own.
1. "Do your homework - homework never ends". I practice this most of the time. Thank goodness for the Internet, books, and magazines. I am constantly researching, probing, and thinking. Life long learning, continuing education, and self improvement are keys to continued success. I really enjoy doing the homework in preparing for a tour, for a keynote, and for a technical presentation.
2. "Plan - nothing is ever built well without a solid foundation". So true, especially in modern programming. In the early years of computer programming there were times when we engaged in spaghetti programming. I remember programs that I wrote just to get the right answer regardless of the structure of the program. Creating a great architecture, a good foundation, and building on top of reusable class and component libraries has advanced the programming state of the art in so many wonderful ways. Planning, getting the requirements right, and creating a wonderful design will get all projects started in the right direction.
3. "Manners matter" - appearance counts, perception is everything. We should always be civil to each other. In the heat of the struggle, I know we can all lose our patience, fly off the handle. I have read blog posts that can raise my blood pressure or turn my noise gate on. It is those times when I have to try to calmly read past the flames. If we all applied our best manners to our interactions, I believe that we can accomplish more. A well written email, blog post, or newsgroup post achieves more action than flames (everytime).
4. "Words matter" - make sure to cover what you "see" and "need". Always make sure you understand your audience before writing a letter, an email, a blog post, or an article. Sometimes, when I read newsgroup posts, review quality central entries, blog posts, and read emails, I wonder what you are really thinking, who you are speaking to. Especially in newsgroup posts, it is sometimes hard to separate the emotion from the request. One good thing is that I am also a developer, so at least we can speak a common language (most of the time). We all need to work hard to use our words in effective ways. I will work harder to make each word count.
5. "Know the real question - answers are simple, it’s the questions that are hard". Knowing what questions our customers are asking, knowing what questions (and problems) you are trying to solve. Knowing what you are really asking for when you request a feature. All these are key points in driving our product strategy and vision forward.
6. "Emotion shows - and nothing is really more persuasive than emotion". We care about what we do as developers. We are not just common laborers or atomatons. It is okay to get emotional about our craft, about a platform, and about a company. It is okay to care about creating the best software that satisfies real user needs. When I am giving presentations, I try not to just ramble through. A dear professor friend of mine, Dr. Emile Attala, equated teaching to acting. You are putting on a show for the students (for the audience). Peter Coad created presentations that acted on multiple levels including the presentation, images, audience interactions, props, music, and changes of hats and clothes into his keynotes giving some of the best presentations I’ve ever attended and sessions where I learned the most.
7. "Nothing is ever that simple". Even the simplest tasks can have complications. All developers are motivated to create great software. There are at least two separate passions that drive us in our endeavors - a passion for the process and a passion for the work. I love both. And I might add a third passion - for our developer community. Simple things like writing blog posts, creating videos, explaining concepts, while on the surface can seems simple, often take a lot of actual work (and time). Building the next version of a product should have a 1+ equation. But, the world is constantly changing. Our programming platforms, languages, libraries, customers, and requirements are moving targets.
8. "At some point, you are done! Letting go is never easy, but…" At school there are deadlines. In work there are deadlines too. While we all want everything to be perfect all the time, there are times when we have to ship a product, give the software to a user. Fortunately with software, there can always be another version. Even this blog needs to be done. It is 1:18am in the morning and I have to get up in a few hours for more parents weekend activities.
Do you have more "simple things"?
{ 2 } Comments
I remind myself and also my children that if you do not want to do something you will always find an excuse for it and the converse is, if you want to do somethiing you will always find time for it.
I have a number 9… but I do not think is the less important.
"Learn to listen" sometime is not important that you say just something, we all need to listen more, and speak only when we think is important to say something.
(this only apply in case there are more than 6 people present or you will end with a room filled with silence)
may be I really did not need to post this comment also
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