...make the bad man stop!

The latest facebook news bit.

These over-inflated, cash-out early, corporate valuations are just frustrating. Can we please get a little common sense and realism please? If even a fraction of these monies were put to research and development grants or micro-loan programs we'd see gi-normous economic returns as well as reduced-risk profits for the investors.

Why is it that honest idealists are always pushed out by dishonest manipulators?

Have you ever heard the term Directional Correctness or perhaps Directionally Correct? In the software business it is often used for when the concepts, functionality or usefulness of a thing is understood or apparent, even when there are details or bugs that prohibit full acceptance.

If you are building a form for the user to input data, having all the form elements and the submit button without any formatting, style, or validation would be considered Directionally Correct.

The process of building something new is often littered with the broken attempts and failed assertions. This is actually one of the driving motivations between Test Driven Development. Good designers use iterative processes to arrive at a great solution, it doesn't just magically appear. Great designers help those around them iterate also.

Have you ever looked back at the end of the day and realized you worked on the same design element the entire day? Have you ever had a user or consumer completely yank the carpet out from under you and realize that all the progress you made wasn't progress at all? A key reason this occurs is because we get too focused on the details too soon in the game. After all, the greatest engineers are perfectionists. It isn't done until it's Right. And that is what trips us up.

As engineers and designers we should foster or sense of elegance and perfection. Just not right away. We need to evolve our solutions, not magically produce them instantly. Produce something ambiguous and generic but somewhat functional. Or at least demonstrative of functionality. Get the users and consumers hand-waving in the general direction. Once you've achieved some agreement on the direction you are taking, then you can start hammering in nails and confirming details.

Besides being able to verify your work with consumers, it is important to delay details for your own benefit as well. The old Forest vs. Trees problems can impact even the most seasoned woodsman. As you implement your vision the details will reveal themselves. The gaps and holes will become obvious and you can address them with precision and prejudice. If you focus on details only after you have verified your directional correctness, they won't move or shift so you can be certain your specific solutions will serve.

It can be hard to iterate, especially with our innate desire for perfection. Iteration is like delayed gratification. You can make it perfect, it will be amazing and elegant. . .eventually.

We have been considering how Christians today subscribe to the Culture of Choice instead of walking by faith (see this post for the start of the discussion).

The first aspect we examined was in the life of Abraham. From the Scriptures we understand he was a man who was regularly addressed by Jehovah. Another aspect that comes to mind is the Parable of the Talents.

"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

-- Matthew 25:26,27

In the Parable of the Talents, we see a master giving three different servants different amounts of money before going away. When he returns, they each report their activities with the money entrusted to them. For this discussion we focus on the response to the last servant. This servant took the money and hid it. He didn't just marginalize the gift, he actually covered it up, removing even the possibility that it could be used! The response from the master is strong and direct.

In this parable we are given clear indication that along with our salvation the gifts we receive from our Savior are intended to be put to good use. That use can be a overt, risky, sacrifice. That use can be more passive and conservative. But it must always involve a commitment, a whole devotion to a potential outcome and willingness to lose everything for what we might gain our Lord.

None of the servants were given specific direction. Only the gifts. Only the talents. How they each proceeded was their own choices, their own individual commitments. And even those who were more passive and conservative were rewarded for their willingness to commit. Only the one who did nothing was cut off. That servant was waiting for his burning bush, the opportunity to get a return for his master without risk to himself.

When we are walking by sight and not faith, focused only on finding flaming fauna, we disrespect the gifts of our Father. Out of love for our Savior we should diligently search and study the Scriptures, pray for His guidance, and commit to His Will in our lives. Commitment is an activity.

Embracing change is something at which I am usually very adept.

Some might even say that is because I am responsible for most of the change that I see around me. At least on projects. But that isn't fair. I recognize as well as anyone the necessity to stabilize from time to time. To slow the pace at which change is being identified and absorbed into an organization. Many of the processes and much of the effort I exert is designed specifically to assist with the absorption of change; controlling the velocity that change impacts ongoing efforts.

Don't worry about design, if you listen to your code a good design will appear...Listen to the technical people. If they are complaining about the difficulty of making changes, then take such complaints seriously and give them time to fix things.
-- Martin Fowler

Sometimes large changes are required. It is natural for individual contributors to get invested in their work and become very attached to their specific deliverables or designs. To my mind, being flexible is a critical component of competence. Without adaptability, your useful as a contributor is minimized and in some cases suspect.

Going beyond the ability to handle change as someone customer-facing is the capability to influence both the speed at which change is introduced to the delivery organization and the expectations of the customers creating that change.

To be a good lead, protect the pace of change you expect from your people. To be a good consultant, manage expectations with your clients about the changes they want to introduce.

Two stories in particular come to mind when we consider how Christians today subscribe to the Culture of Choice instead of walking by faith (see this post for the start of the conversation).

The first story is about Abraham. Like many God-followers from Scripture it is easy for us to discount their faith because it seems they were given such clear direction from on high. If God provided them burning bushes, voices from clouds, bright lights, or still, small voices, it is no wonder they walked steadfastly in His Will! If I ever get stopped on the road by the Angel of the Lord wielding a flaming sword, I doubt I'll have a problem listening and taking the words to heart.

The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, 'To your offspring I will give this land'-he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.
. . .
Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and left, taking with him all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor.
. . .
Then he prayed, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
. . .
Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor.
. . .
Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful.
-- Genesis 24

This part of the story starts with God speaking to Abraham about a wife for his son. Abraham then has to send a servant, who has to make his way across the country with a caravan. There is no specific destination, just a general hand-wave of a region in which to end up. Once there, the servant has to figure out how to actually go about choosing the wife. He begins this with prayer. The critical part to draw attention to is that after praying first and then seeing the results of the prayer is he still proceeds to watch her closely.

Even given such clear direction from the Lord about a wife, notice how there was a whole host of things that had to be done for His Will to work itself out the way we interpreted it would. Some of the activities required Abraham to work through another person (the servant). It also required that Abraham have faith that God would guide the servant independently, far from home. The servant also needed faith that the options would be presented and one would be both acceptable and the clear choice.

As we examine many of the stories and parables found in Scripture, especially those that speak so definitively about His direct involvement, it is possible to see how much faith was also required. The plant erupting in flames might provide a reassurance of His Will, but by itself it is insufficient.

Consider that at any time, the servant could have totally punted. He could have just settled on the first girl he came across, or have been less diligent in testing and examining his initial choice. Abraham could have inadequately prepared the servant (ten camels!) or been less restrictive in his instructions. Each aspect of this unfolding Will required a faithful response, a full commitment from the participants. They had to give up other choices to follow His Will (no more touring the countryside with camels for the servant, Abraham had to trust the servant wouldn't squander the gold, would bring back an acceptable girl, etc.).

When you do come across a bush that's burning, how do you keep walking by faith? Considered another way, how do you figure out which direction to head when the landscape around you is devoid of any bushes, enflamed or otherwise?

So we know we can't get sucked into the trap of always trying to leave our options open. We also know our choices do matter, and we are expected to choose something. In the follow-up we'll discuss why we can't just reject all the choices completely and wait on solely on the shrubbery to ignite.

Commitment is making a choice to let go of our other choices.

In any situation it might mean other things as well, but the impact of commitment is that it closes off our options. This is what makes commitment so hard. Especially in the choice-driven culture of today.

Whether you are struggling with pursuing a relationship, your education, a job choice, or any major decision, our tendency today is keep our options open as long as possibly. We don't want to commit, we don't want to give up our choices. As Christians we overlay this sense of deliberation with the Will of God.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
-- Romans 12:2

Unfortunately, it is all too easy to use this passage as a crutch; allowing us to withhold our commitments; refrain from making choices. After all, we wouldn't want to make decisions without waiting to really know His Will, would we? And so we wait. We flip-flop and ruminate. All with the excuse that until, like Moses, we see a bright burning bush illuminating His good and perfect Will, we aren't jumping into anything.

The main issue I have with waiting for a burning bush comes back to another of message from Paul which concerned our walk (as many of his messages did, gotta luv it!).

We live by faith, not by sight.
-- II Corinthians 5:7

Aha! Herein is the crux. If we are walking by faith, we must be committed. I take this to mean that most of the time we won't be getting burning bushes to just light our way. If we were guaranteed to each get a burning bush, then where's the exercise of faith?

If we are walking by faith, we must feel our way along with a general sense of what He has called us to do, and filling in the gaps as we stumble along. By faith we choose, by faith we walk, by faith we make commitments which reduce our choices.

How then can we know in what direction to stumble? By prayer and meditation, studying His word, being in the world, and serving those around us. When we are only focused on watching for a burning bush, we take our eyes of His Word, we fail to listen for His Voice.

In my follow up, I'll take this a little further.

Every product, project, or design I've ever worked on was the result of a thousand connected, convergent decisions. Everything I've ever produced or delivered was the result of grinding through the myriad of potentials, options, and choices to consciously pick out a path to follow.

This is all your app is: a collection of tiny details.
-- Wil Shipley, founder of Delicious Monster

Regardless of how complete your vision is to begin with, it is the details which will make it cohesive or disconnected and ultimately a success or a failure.

Just because you recognize that details matter doesn't mean your decisions for those details will lead you where you want to go. No more so than sloshing paint on canvas will magically lead to beautiful art. Which is not to say it can't, just that it is unlikely.

To make something elegant, or useful, or [insert ambitiously positive success criteria here], you need to concern yourself with the minutia. Without all the tiny details; if you aren't obsessed with how they impact and affect each other, mediocrity is almost assured.

Most software projects fail. The statistics are varied but a pretty fair sweeping generalization of all the research would indicate that most software projects fail.

If most of them fail, then it is logical to surmise that at any point you care to examine them, the majority will be dying. Sure, they might hang on. They might be fighting horribly and even look like they have a chance to succeed. But most of them fail. They die.

If you were out hiking in the woods and came upon a man mauled by a bear and he was shouting incomprehensibly and swearing like a sailor what would be your reaction? A helpful or trained person might run over and assess the situation. They would question and listen, they might possibly poke or prod. The answers might be meaningful or simply swearing or more realistically just Pain, Pain, Pain! The conversation would get more succinct, more direct. Answer me or I can't help you! Neither would stop to criticize poor grammar or discuss the appropriateness of language. They would listen to the content and contribute to the sharing of information. Presumably, they both want to save the dying man.

As the situation progresses, the person trying to assist the dying man would make decisions based on what they independently observe is hurting, by which movement brings the loudest screams, or by which open wound is bleeding most profusely. Because the priority of the situation demands it, they would ignore the swearing and the sweat and the blood. If the wounded soul gets out of control, they might sedate them if possible, or simply slap them to snap them back to reality and focus. Having been in similar situations, I can tell you there is shouting and flailing galore. The communication will be rough, it will be high velocity, and it will rarely be diplomatic or couched in rhetoric and hyperbole. After all, someone is dying.

If you are starting a new project, chances are it is already dying. Will you watch politely while it bleeds out? Will you bind the hands of those who can set the bones or knit the flesh? When a person with their hands in the gaping head wound says "Move!", don't demand they say Please. Remember, your project is dying.

One of the bloggers I follow pretty consistently changed up his writing style. In a recent post he had the following lines...

A commenter to one of my posts last months said "you have to be consistent". I reject that notion entirely. I am not consistent at all. I feel entirely comfortable being a raging capitalist in some circumstances and a raging socialist in other circumstances. I’d rather be right than consistent.
-- Fred Wilson

This was one of the best retorts I've heard in a while. In my many roles, I am often criticized for the speed at which my perspectives appear to change. The ability to be flexible and adapt to new information is one of my fundamental strengths, but my personal velocity can make others uncomfortable. This simple response laid out something I haven't quite been able to say.

Well done.

Yesterday I was attempting to customize my Flickr feed so that my Twitter posts would be more readable and I used Yahoo! Pipes to make it all happen.

The above buzzword-laden sentence is an example of flurry of intertwined concepts and technology that is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of my life. And I love it!

Yahoo! Pipes is very cool technology. A stunning example of driving adoption through value-added services that are intangibly monetized. (What a friggin' mouthful.) What I mean by that is that Yahoo! Is providing this service free of cost and what they are realizing is a slew of benefits that don't have direct immediate financial gains. The long-term gains of developer loyalty and driving adoption of their related services (Security, Mail, Blog, Reader, Calendar, etc.) will pay off in spades if they continue this trend.

During the early years of Windows there was the Win32 War. Some people thought 16-bit processing was better, others wanted 32-bit. Apple as a platform or Windows or OS2 or ? It became apparent that the way to win platform adoption was by having the most applications for that platform. You get the most applications by making it as easy as possible for developers to create those applications. This is the same today when the "platform" is a service you want used, and the "developer" is a consumer who points and clicks and publishes feeds.

The thing I found most intriguing about the Yahoo! Pipes offering is how easy they've made it to leverage all the outstanding work that others have created. Not only is there a massive wealth of capabilities directly in the tool, but the ability to clone other Pipes means the learning curve and information sharing is ridiculously easy. Whoever is running the show over there needs a serious raise, and a bigger budget. More of this and better press would put Yahoo! as a platform much more seriously in the running.

Friday was a tough day but the crew are the Hilton Garden Inn in Redding, California did a great job making it tolerable.

When you hit crunch time on a project, the stress increase has the wonderful effect of showcasing the individual contributions which aren't always apparent. Strengths and weaknesses are illuminated most when risk (and therefore stress) is highest.

You may have heard others talk about stress as a way to weed out those who can't cut it. To identify those people with weaknesses and therefore cull them. Increasing stress works both ways, you can spot both weaknesses and strengths this way. The difference between smart people and lazy people is what they do with this information.

Surely, you can remove people based on their weaknesses, but is that really the best way to get top performers. Not in my experience, and I'm not the only one. A whole slew of authors are writing about this balance between strength and weakness. For example, Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham, or Teach With Your Strengths by Rosanne Liesveld , Jo Ann Miller , and Jennifer Robison.

Historically, the path to improvement has always been through building up your weak areas, not downplaying them (or better yet, avoiding them entirely!). We give people feedback on the areas they aren't performing, ostensibly so they'll get better.

When was the last time you got a review or feedback that focused on what you did well and only glossed over how you could improve? We have been obsessed with it, and therefore churn out contributors who try and be well-rounded or generic, living in constant fear their weaknesses will be exposed. Because of this close-mindedness, they are never able to pour themselves headlong into their strengths. Like a fly buzzing around, they are constantly distracted by their weaknesses, so they never put full force into their punches.

This is most definitely not how I give feedback. If I'm going to spend energy and time to think about and communicate my analysis of someone else, it is going to be practical. We will celebrate your accomplishments and spend time talking about how you can use the things you do well to really knock peoples socks off and be smashingly successful. Then maybe if you have really pissed someone off or are offensively negligent in some area, we'll mention how you can either avoid those situations, or how to minimize the damage when they happen. There is no sense trying to make a surgical scalpel into a hammer.

For my own performance, the same rules apply. Certainly I am critical of my failures and short-comings, but only as they distract from my ability to perform with my strengths to their maximum potential. Rather then dwell on not being a white guy with shiny, gleaming, perfect teeth, bushy hair, a perfect handshake and who looks at home in a suit, I play my geeky, straight-shooter, mushroom-like role to the hilt. And then I bring a white guy with full hair, a nice tie, and a firm handshake to the meeting. He talks his white-guy talk and does the secret handshakes so I can focus on the important details necessary for us to actually deliver.

No one can do it all. Recognize what you can do really well and then avoid or compensate for the rest.

Do you ever have one of those weeks?

I'm having one of those weeks. No matter how good my intentions, no matter how true my heart, it feels like the world is just set against me. This is not how I want to feel. Being at odds with those around me is not where I want to live. If I've given my heart to Him, why am I holding on to it so tightly? If I'm not living for myself, why am I so invested in MY life?

I wanna set the world on fire
Until it’s burning bright for You
It’s everything that I desire
Can I be the one You use?

I, I am small but
You, You are big enough
I, I am weak but
You, You are strong enough to
Take my dreams
Come and give them wings
Lord with You
There’s nothing I can not do
Nothing I cannot do

I wanna feed the hungry children
And reach across the farthest land
And tell the broken there is healing
And mercy in the Father’s hands

My hands my feet
My everything
My life, my love
Lord, use me

I wanna set the world on fire
I wanna set the world on fire, yeah

I’m gonna set the world on fire
Set the world on fire
-- Set The World On Fire by Britt Nicole

I first heard this song driving through the German countryside. The mountains were enormous and the low clouds were so picturesque. The song had been on my iPod for quite some time and when it came up in the playlist, I was looking down on this little Bavarian town and thinking how peaceful and isolated it looked. This little old lady was sweeping her porch and I remember thinking, "I wonder how much the world intrudes here." It was a fantastically closed-minded thing to think, I wasn't really serious. She probably gets better bandwidth than I do, volunteers at an Aids clinic, sponsors Ethiopian children, and organizes Free Tibet rallies in her spare time. But at that moment, I think I was projecting my desire to set down my arrogantly self-proclaimed drive to Save The World. Just for a moment to pretend I didn't care. That I could shut myself away in a little town in the high mountains where keeping my porch clean and gossiping about the neighbors is the stressful part of my day. And then, just as is His nature, this song plays through my headphones, precisely speaking the encouragement I needed. Pulling me back to my Calling, my friends, my life.

I've been playing this song every morning as I brush my teeth, at the beginning of every mile I run, and after every quiet time of every day since that morning in Germany.

My smile reaches to my eyes now. Thanks Britt.

This past week or so I've been focused on supporting some friends who lost a loved one. As I reviewed conversations in my mind each day preparing for the challenges that the morrow would bring, I found that a recurring theme presented itself. Oddly enough it was more evidently in the older than the younger. They questioned if there was more that could be done. More prayer. More faith. More [insert your religious ritual or tradition here].

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'
"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "
And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"
-- Luke 18:1-8

In our world of weights and measures, blame and finger-pointing it is so very, very easy to view our Lords justice in a similar fashion. Then by extension we treat our relationship with Him with the same lopsided scales we use in our relationships with others.

There is no requisite number of prayers, there is no magic measure of faith, there is no transaction that can be constructed, no matter how ambiguously that will influence the will of our Father. People aren't saved because we prayed 400 times instead of 399. Prayer is not a hand grenade or a game of horse-shoes. It is not a game, not a purchase, not a currency.

At least one point for this parable is to show us that our God who IS just is so vastly different then our human measures. The judge in the parable is wicked; he only helps the widow to shut her up! My Father hears every utterance of my mind, each time, every time, regardless of the atrocious weakness of my faith.

All this is not to discourage our devotion to prayer. Absolutely not! At the conclusion of the parable we are reminded that the Son of Man will come and will then determine if He finds faith on earth. One of the greatest expressions of our faith is prayer. This is why we are commanded to always pray and not give up. When the Lord returns he will find us praying without ceasing.

More than just diligent obedience it is worth remembering that prayer is one of the most tangible ways our faith is exercised. It is our conversation with our Lord, the way we build our relationship with our Father. Not as a currency, not for a transaction or to bring influence. Simply because there is no place we'd rather be than conversing with our Savior, especially in those moments of hurting.

After spending a week or so in Munich at Oktoberfest listening to amazing people having fascinating conversations about nothing much at all, I realized something significant: Accents are hot.

The problem with accents being so attractive is the irrational way we respond to them. For some reason we are just predisposed to believe that someone with an English or French accent is sophisticated and classy. Or smart and sexy, or whatever. It's just hot.

In reality, there is no reason to assume any amount of additional intelligence or class just because of their verbal mannerisms. The guys from Britain sit around with their hands in their pants watching cricket, just the same as the guys from Jersey sit around watching baseball with their hands in their pants.

And while a girl might have a totally suave Italian voice, it isn't going to do her much good in a crowded nightclub unless she's got a great pair of . . . er . . . let's just say "other assets".

Let's face it, you can speak with the coolest accent in the world and still be dumber than a bag of hammers. Even so, you'll still see people perking up like they're listening to lottery numbers every time some French accent reaches their ears.

During my travels, I've learned one other way to help combat the unfair advantage imposed by a cool accent. Get drunk. When you are both slurring and sloshing and happy, nobody can understand anybody and you'll still have a great time. It might not help you ward off the coolness factor completely but it might buy you some breathing room to get collect your wits. And if not, it gives you a great excuse for why you did what with whomever when you face your friends the next day.