In the world of software development there are many schools of thought on how to go about creating great software. Ignoring the creative side of things such as how you know if software is good, or what solution will meet what business need and so on. Even if you limit the discussion to how you go about implementing a solution once you have identified one, you will still find vastly differing opinions. We call these schools of thought methodologies because they define the method that you use to develop software.

Like all good architects, I too have a method to support my madness when implementing a new solution. My particular approach is thoroughly unique (just like everyone else I suppose ;-)

My particular brand of madness is considered relatively progressive borrowing heavily on the concepts espoused by Agile and Iterative approaches which are fundamentally Adaptive in nature.

The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.
--- Napoleon Hill

At the speed in which we are asked to deliver solutions, in an environment in which the business needs remain volatile and the resource allocation continues to be fluid, I feel the only responsible choice in methodology is one that has an adaptive component.

Are you still following a Classic approach? How's that working for you?

This past week I had great opportunities to talk with some charming gentlemen at Microsoft who are working on the next generation of Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio Team System. It was great to see them bringing more adaptive principles into the product. It bodes well for the future.

And for someone who is actively working to solve these challenges now instead of in the future it was very validating to see that our thoughts and approaches were similar. Very validating indeed.

This week was a bit like a roller coaster. It was start with a conversation when I would find myself surrounded by people smarter than myself, and each new interaction a flurry of dialog and new information. Then a break in which I would withdraw and reflect, small pieces of the puzzle snapping into place. This provided only some small solace that the structure inside my head was not completely amiss.

Being around passion and energy, and cleverness and quickness, and those with experience is always a heady experience for me. From time to time needs must that I remember the reasons for the choices, the decisions that drive me ever on. This week was one such occasion and sorely needed.

It is odd how I can find the presence of the capable so comforting when cloistered but yet not miss it when otherwise entangled. Almost like a juice that after it passes your lips reminds you clearly how much you enjoy the sweetness and how thirsty your throat had truly been.

When I find my mind a swirl I find that isolation amidst a crowd to be a fitting way to placate my mental state. So off I took myself and rode the California Screamin' Roller Coaster at Disneyland a full 10 times in a row. My own music ringing in my ears, my thoughts my own, my eyes wandering the randomness of the people vacationing.

It wasn't work, it wasn't really play. The absence of thought was great release. Still I smile.

This week finds me taking a break from my normal work to rub shoulders with others in my profession, speaking geek with a passion.

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
-Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

One thing that becomes readily apparent whenever there are this many technobabblers in the same space is the difference between those who can talk the walk and those who can only walk the walk.

It is easy to overlook how wide the disparity between these two camps can grow.

Do you ever have those moments when you realize that despite everything you've been telling yourself and all the guidelines you have in place, you have completely ended up somewhere you don't want to be?

Maybe it's a situation, or relationship, or just lost in Yonkers? Somehow, against everything you've been working for, you are faced with the inexplicable. The unavoidable, the inevitable.

Recently, I found myself explaining to someone that a process works as long as perform a certain routine morning, noon, and night. Which I meant in all seriousness, and was actually received without comment. It wasn't until my brain engaged that a realized what I was talking about.

The reality of the situation dawned on me without warning. Sort of like walking on the beach at night and the police helicopter comes hovering over and puts the spot-light on you. You can't run, you can't hide, you just stand there amidst the swirling wind, blind and helpless.

Now I didn't really believe I was getting off track before this day. Like a frog slowly boiled, the water temperature increased so slowly that by the time I realized how hot things were, I was already cooked.

Why don't my normal defenses catch this? Why is my otherwise useful rationale and reason seemingly incapable of catching these subtle deviations from the norm? I need a GPS, because my needle isn't pointing north anymore.

How do you ensure that you aren't losing your way, bit by little bit?

The project I am working on would be classified as a Large project by most accepted industry standards. Because of its size, I find myself acutely aware of the differences between small team and large team development efforts. The things you care about and the inefficiencies you can afford are vastly different between these two types of efforts.

Lately, I got a chance to see the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness". In the movie the lead character is trying to become a stock broker and during his internship he has to perform cold-call sales. During one scene the narration explains that in the pursuit of success the character did things to improve his efficiency that others wouldn't. He wouldn't hang up the phone between calls so he could have more time calling. 8 minutes in a day. He wouldn't drink water so that he didn't have to use the restroom during the day. These are the types of things I really identified with.

Now of course, these are very extreme examples but the point is how little inefficiencies really add up. When you are a team of 10 everyone being 10% inefficient is really only about 1 additional body. On a short project you will likely be able to swallow that with some extra hours and extra effort by the existing team. When you have 100 people, the cascade effect from rework and lost time would magnify to a cost equivalent to more than 15 people! And this is even on a short project. As timelines get longer, the magnification is even more impactful.

In software development, optimism is a disease; feedback is the cure.
-- Kent Beck

The ways to counteract this impact from inefficiencies generally require more upfront work to codify engineering processes, checklists, review expectations, and so forth. You need to spend more time lay down the guidance on how the work will be delivered, how teams will get along, etc. When you laying out this guidance the processes will require more oversight, more documentation, and more tracking steps. It will generally require a much heavier footprint then equivalent processes used by smaller teams.

To put it another way, you will spend more time tracking what is being done because you simply must catch issues early and the cost to let things get off track is significantly higher.

Needless to say, I'm getting better at laying processes like that down in written form, but there is much more that could be done. Do you have experiences like this? I'd love to hear how you are handling this issue.

A friend of mine came with me and we visited an amusement park over the weekend.

This particular friend isn't the most adventurous, which is okay. His gifts are definitely in other areas and I respect his acute awareness of his own boundaries. Most of the time.

Unfortunately my normal deviousness came out (can you even say that?). With much seduction and smooth talk we sweetly marched him onto a ride that he really didn't want to go on. It just happens to be one of my most favorite rides in the world and one I've never known anyone to regret riding. For some reason my bossy butt decided it would be okay to circumvent his own inner checkpoint and coerce him to participate. Which he did admirably.

Going in I knew he might never forgive me and still I proceeded. What on earth was going on in my head that I felt such a deep need to give him this experience I love so much when it would hold no such value for him?

Afterwards I asked him if he was glad he did it and he said Yes. But I'm not sure how heartfelt it was. He was smiling and proud of himself but very wary. Sometimes saving us from ourselves is good. Sometimes not. I wish I was better at knowing when. I think most of my friends wish I did too.

Needless to say, he earned my respect and has a great story to tell. Of course, I'll never be able to talk him onto another ride again. Which is okay, because he did the best one of them all.

I am such a hypocrite.

On the one hand, I strive for consistency and transparency in my walk. On the other hand, I flake out and take the lazy lane with remarkable alacrity.

It just seems to me that you shouldn't be able to hold up standards and faith and then so willingly succumb to numbness when you cease to strive. Sometimes all it takes is a random conversation you bring on to pass the time that leaves you muddled, unmanned, unmade.

They believe in nothing,
We believe in One Thing.
-- Fire by The Supertones

It isn't that I don't know that I should be striving, it is more than I find ways to talk myself out of it without even realizing it. My fear of being judged by some men causes me to let down others. I back down from situations where backbone is required. My callow cowardice comes to light every time I choose form over function, appearances over outcome.

At one time I would have held my ground and been thought difficult, uncouth, unkempt, or even rude. But I would have said the needful, averted the disaster, and ultimately delivered. Not today though. Now I hold my tongue and watch the ships slowly sink. Now I play the negligent Nero as the flames rise and my desire to remain polite and politick binds me to inactivity.

More and more I act like those I once proclaimed as wrong. They "Don't Get It." was common in my vocabulary. The proverbial They were always selling out success for short-term gain, and I snickered at them. Today I find myself on the brink of that same shortcoming. Fear freezing my insides, I smile instead of speak. Astride the fence, I see both pastures and realize the grass grows green on either ground. The only difference is that one you rent at exorbitant rates and other you own free and clear. Why do I even consider leaving the land of free? Perhaps I find that price too high?

You can deliver messages with care and kindness but if you cannot make the hard decisions, hold fast to accountability, and push forward one and only one agenda, you will fail. There is more to being a Leader than Management. Sometimes to deliver you will not be well-liked, this I've known from much time past. Now I am learning that being well-liked generally means you compromised if you delivered at all.

They always told me come to Middle. Find that spot between Productive and Polite and it will be Perfect. To which I now say Pppfftttpppttt. The Middle costs more. If you are going to be Polite, recognize your irrelevance. If you are going to be Productive, accept you will be outcast. It is better to be tolerated out of respect, than desired out of shallowness that disappears in stress.

No more Middle for me.

My friend taught me a lesson yesterday. Generally speaking this is nothing new. Each day I am constantly learning and relearning lessons retold by those I respect. This is one such friend but this was not the same such lesson.

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
-- Matthew 6:6

It is no secret that I'm not the most empathetic person in the world. But as time passes, wounds heal, and faith matures, I find I've become more so with each day. As I watch my friend calmly handle those challenges life throws with grace and composure my desire to pray was physical and immediate.

In truth, I think I get that from my father who is a prayer warrior of indomitable resolve. In no way would I compare my meager measure with his full treasure but if through vicinity and not vocation some small smatter of him no doubt has rubbed off on me.

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
-- Luke 18:1

Like my father, when faced with trials of my own my first response is to pray. When faced with a friend under fire, the visceral reaction attempts to vomit from my lips without restraint, "Can we pray?"

Unfortunately, in the workplace and other certain social settings, it is important to exercise restraint; to recognize that sometimes remaining circumspect is the most effective use of my life as His reflection.

How do I reconcile my faith system that asserts the most effective support I can proffer is to pray, with the world view rooted only in words and actions? Once again, I learn how powerless I must become when all I can offer is prayer to a world that doesn't value it.

At least I have prayer to console my heavy heart. What despair must be felt by one without faith?

Thanks to everyone who called and wrote and participated in shenanigans this weekend.

Good times, pictures to follow.

Now back to work.

This week, like a sentence of mine, has been really full.

It has been really good to connect back with people I care about; to engage in the business of living a little. My workouts have been (almost) daily, my meditations intense, my recreation relaxing.

It's not what we eat but what we digest that makes us strong; not what we gain but what we save that makes us rich; not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned; and not what we profess but what we practice that gives us integrity.
--Francis Bacon

In honesty, not much has changed except the faces and the focus. And yet somehow everything has changed.

Soon I'll get to head back to Seattle and meet up with old friends and share my work in a professional circle. Before then will come the weekend and some cavorting with compatriots. A game of Nertz is just what I need to restore me again. Anyone know a decent place to socialize in Orange County?

By the way, if you have the stomach for it, check out Blades of Glory. Very funny. Very, very, wrong.

Someone I mentor recently sent me a list of questions from a class he was taking. The class is all about entrepreneurialism and so forth. One question in particular really stuck out to me as I was writing his responses. It matched well with my devotion for the day.

What is one key word you would give me to live by in the future?

My answer for what it is worth was "Care". You have to really care about your place in the world. Understanding how you fit, what is your purpose, what you bring to relationships, how you will spend your time. All of these are rooted in your ability, your desire, to Care.

I was reading in Mark, the parable of the rich young ruler. He came to Jesus and prostrated himself. He asked simply what he needed to do to accomplish his goal: Eternal Life. As it is written, "Jesus, looking at him, loved him."

The ruler wasn't aligning what he was doing with what he cared about. His world view wasn't matching his desires. He thought his end goal was one thing, but really it wasn't. All around me I see evidence of this, even in my own life. It is a normal, trivial thing for us to delude ourselves about our motivations. We lie to no one as easy as ourselves.

There is a certain type of jellyfish found in the Mediterranean that feeds on tiny snails. What is interesting is that the jellyfish cannot digest these snails because of their protective shells. After the jellyfish eats the snails the diner become the dinner. The snails attach themselves to the inside of the jellyfish and begins to eat. Eventually the jellyfish is consumed by what it once consumed.

This simply story in nature is found over and over in our world today. We get swallowed up pursuing money, fame, or power. We get on the treadmill of doing the things we hate, supposedly for the things we love; never realizing our needs our already met.

If we are clear in our Care, then we'll be able to break the cycle of selfishness. Our motivations won't be delusions, but tangible and attainable.