Erudite Relics of Loc Huu Ho

Original Source: FINALINT So Says Donnie Garvich

I recently inherited a web app from a dirty, nasty, stinking contractor that claimed to be a competent enough programmer to be left alone to get things done. Unfortunately, we took him at his word. Functionally, most of the web app seemed to work at first glance. However, once the client took over the reigns and actually started using it things went downhill fast. The contractor disappeared after payment (die reputation DIE!) and I was left to try and get things working properly and performing up to snuff while the client limped along with what they had been given.

I decided to document a few of the things that I found wrong along the way.  These are really just things that every good programmer should already know to avoid… but obviously some people need to be reminded (or taught).

#10 – Don’t store settings in a configuration file

When you’re writing a sizable application, things like database connections and SMTP server information will be used throughout the app.  The best way to make sure your app is entirely immune to maintenance is to redefine those little bits of information every time you need them.  So instead of putting them in the configuration file (Web.config or whatever) just leave them in your compiled code.  Whoever inherits the app will thank you for sending them on a hunt through thousands of lines of code to change which SMTP server is being used.  What’s even more fun is when the next programmer only finds 14 of the 15 places where you’ve used this code and a single instance somewhere deep in the app silently breaks hundreds of times without anyone knowing.  Sometimes it’s helpful to build the variables in inconsistently concatenated strings. The repeated and more frequent interaction between the new developer and the disgruntled client will help strengthen their relationship.  And if you don’t hook up that love connection, who will?

#9 – Don’t store variables in [any] memory scope

One of the great things about databases is they store your bits of information and allow you to access them whenever you need them.  To make sure your app is as terrible as possible, you’ll want to be sure and access the database every time you need a bit of that information.  The more common the information is that’s needed, the bigger win you’ll have by making a new database connection to get that information.  Non-sensitive user information is a great use of this prinicple.  Don’t worry about defining a user’s information, such as “isAdmin” to a variable and using it throughout the current request.  Just query the database each time you need to know anything about the user.  After all, the client paid for that database, we’d better get as much spin out of it as possible! Read the rest of this entry »

Steve Jobs, the entrepreneurial genius who co-founded the Apple Corp., is a very charismatic leader of technical people. When his group was designing Apple’s new Macintosh computer, Jobs flew a pirate flag over his building. Its purpose was to signify his team’s determination to blow the competition out of the water. Rather creative motivation.

Good leaders and managers have creative ways to motivate their employees.

Robert Waterman Jr. wrote about Chiyoshi Misawa, founder and president of Misawa Homes — the largest homebuilder in Japan. At least once every decade he “dies” to arrest the momentum of out-of-date assumptions and policies. He sends a memo to his company that formally announces “the death of your president.”

This is his way of forcing the whole company to rethink everything. When employees resist change because they are used to the old way of doing things, Misawa declares: “That was the way things were done under Mr. Misawa. He is now dead. Now, how shall we proceed?” Read the rest of this entry »

Imagine by John Lennon

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

What is productive laziness

‘Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.’ Robert Heinlein (1907 – 1988)

By advocating being a ‘lazy’ project manager I do not intend that we should all do absolutely nothing. I am not saying we should all sit around drinking coffee, reading a good book and engaging in idle gossip whilst watching the project hours go by and the non-delivered project milestones disappear over the horizon. That would obviously be plain stupid and would result in an extremely short career in project management, in fact probably a very short career full stop!

Lazy does not mean Stupid. No I really mean that we should all adopt a more focused approach to project management and to exercise our efforts where it really matters, rather than rushing around like busy, busy bees involving ourselves in unimportant, non-critical activities that others can better address, or indeed that do not need addressing at all in some cases.

Science behind the laziness – being focused Read the rest of this entry »

How Does Change Happen?
by Jennifer Corriero

How does change happen?
This is perhaps one of those eternal questions
that carries both simplicity
and depths of complexity
juxtaposed in a tension
so bright and dark that
emotions explode and identities blur.

Is your belief defined by your role
or is your role defined by your belief?

How does change happen? Read the rest of this entry »