Can your Toddler run a Marathon ?

Let me go out on a limb and say "probably not"…  buy why not?  Simple right… a Toddler just learned to walk and probably just started running somewhat clumsily.  It would be a totally unrealistic expectation to expect your toddler to then be able to run a "Marathon".

But often in our organizations we set these type of goals without understanding the path and dependencies required to reach the goal.. we try to go from "crawling" to "running" and forget we don't know how to "walk" or even worse we proclaim we are going to run a marathon..

Back to the example,  so what are some levels of maturity and their order for Humans:

Maturity Levels: Infant, Toddler, Child, Adolescent, Adult, Senior

Now there are also probably some dependencies and capabilities between the levels. For example, an Infant doesn't have the capability to be "Independent" they are in contrast "Dependent" their capabilities are fairly limited they eat, sleep, pee, poop and have basic communication skills (cry or silence)… anyhow so the point which I hope is obvious is that over time as the Infant "Matures" through the various levels they are "capable" of more and more. Also each level usually has dependencies around things being "mastered or accomplished" in the previous levels.

Just as we don't expect our 4 year olds to bring home an Income we shouldn't have similar unrealistic expectations in our business, technology, architectures, organization and processes.   I'm not saying don't have "bold goals" or "grand visions" (both favorites of mine personally) but my point is in order to accomplish things you have to work on understanding where you are currently at (Maturity level) and the the path and dependencies to move forward and reach success.

Although it seems obvious.. next time you have that project that just seems to never go away.. or is struggling to make progress.

Take a step back.. and make sure your not trying to run before you can walk.

The Value of Creativity and Imagination

I received a funny email from one of my co-workers with the subject “Failing a Test with Dignity” it had a bunch of images like the two below which were my favorites.

Anyhow, I found the email very amusing.. but in all seriousness it also reminded me of a belief I have.  That there is much Value in individuals who are creative, imaginative and are risk takers.  Now maybe, the students below were just trying to be “funny” in creative ways but being “funny” can also be risky.

Principles for Web App Success

A little old but still relevant:

Great talk by VC Fred Wilson on principles to create successful web applications.

The 10 Golden Principles of Successful Web Apps from Carsonified on Vimeo.

1. Speed

2. Instant Utility

3. Software is Media

4. Less is More

5. Make it Programmable

6. Make it Personal

7. RESTful

8. Discoverability

9. Clean

10. Playful

I agree with them all it is a great list I would call 5.) Platform First… but I guess “Make it programmable” is a little easier to understand.

There is a question at the end of the video about Mobile.. however, I really think that once your app is “Programmable” then the types of devices it can be consumed on is really limitless.  However, there are some Mobile qualities that could be useful like being “Location Aware” although not sure if it would qualify at a generic principle level.

The list is a good list because in my mind is primarily a combination of things that Seth Godin, Dion Hinchlffe and the guys from 37signals have said many times over.

One I would stick in there is “Play well with others” specifically in regards to Authentication, Authorization and User Data via the leverage/support of emerging/standards like OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial, FaceBook Connect etc… What do you think is missing ?

Genuinely Authentic or Genuinely Fake

I was recently reminded of an old Seth Godin post I liked entitled, ”When you stand for something” check it out.

The point of this post isn’t about how to be  Authentic and certainly it’s not about being fake.

It is about being:
Genuine: free from hypocrisy or pretense

Being genuinely fake is a choice that is perfectly alright since your not purposely deceiving.

What I dislike the most is when something tries to be and is conveyed as Authentic but is not Genuinely Authentic. This can be people, processes, strategies,  rules or products that are conveyed as authentic but clearly are not and everyone knows it.

One example would be a rule that is strictly enforced but not in all cases, but instead of being transparent as to why there are those cases folks simply pretend they don’t exist.

Shark Week - Shark Attacks

Shark Attacks are an interesting thing.. people worry about them but they really are not that common.  One of my old developers/architects use to use the saying/analogy all the time he would say that’s a “Shark Attack” meaning that’s something in the code/design folks want to worry about but really shouldn’t be until we really have to e.g. we actually have the problem.

In my experience Developers/Engineers love Shark Attacks its in our nature to think of how to solve every scenario.  Same holds true for most architects and senior technologists.  One of the things that usually falls into this category is “Scaling”… that is scaling a web site, web service etc..  I so often hear folks discuss scaling, “we need Internet scale” or “how are we going to scale” of course this is prior to even knowing whether anyone is going to visit the site or use the service.   I think the scale that wonderful modern hardware (HP of course) can provide is more than sufficient or using shared hardware is sufficient for most sites on the Internet. 

Worrying about the “Shark Attacks” of what we are going to do when we create the next “ebay, facebook, google etc” distracts from more important areas.

So I am not sure who originated the saying Shark Attack in Internet Software engineering, I thought it came from the guys at 37 Signals with their Getting Real book.  However, upon a quick search it does seem to come from them, but from a blog post back in 2006 (Fear, shark attacks, and “Will it scale?”).

Fear: It won’t scale
Truth: You’re not going to be Google overnight.

Fear: Too many bugs
Truth: As long as they don’t wipe the database, you can live with most bugs for a while.

Fear: Too few features
Truth: You can always add features later.

Fear: Never go down
Truth: Once-in-a-while downtime won’t scare people away.

Fear: It’s too simple
Truth: Simple solutions are fine if they get the job done.

Fear: They’ll copy us
Truth: It’s about the execution, not the idea.

Fear: We must sound serious
Truth: Trying to sound serious all the time makes you bland and unremarkable. It’s ok to be playful and have personality.

There are also two chapters(pages) in the Getting real book that relate to notion of shark attacks really well:

It’s a Problem When It’s a Problem
Scale Later

So next time you find yourself worrying about something, ask yourself  “is this a Shark Attack ?”.