The Eric Wroolie Blog

Overpass Experiences

New Years Resolutions

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I’m a big believer in New Year’s Resolutions.  Having said that, I hadn’t really thought of any.  Sure, there’s the resolutions that could be carried over from last years—all that diet and exercise stuff—but nothing new.

At this time of year, I feel self-conscious about running. Tomorrow morning will the the worst.  The sidewalks and pavements are always packed with runners on the first of Jan.  Since my long career in running has not done much to reduce my weight (imagine if I didn’t run!), I always look like a novice when I’m out there.  I look like a New Year’s runner.  But still, there’s nothing wrong with being someone out on a run because they made a resolution.  Good for them!  They probably feel self-conscious too, but they do it anyway.

This time of year, if you talk about resolutions, 3 or 4 people say the same thing– “My resolution this year is to not make any resolutions!”  Hah!  Get’s me every time!  How clever.

The problem I always had with resolutions is that I fear being mocked if I don’t carry them out.  I felt the same way when I started running or earlier this year when I started going to the gym.  I felt that if I start, I could never stop because that would be failure somehow. 

If I go for a run on 1 January, for example, I feel as if I have to run every day after that.  If I start going to the gym, I need to go for years.  But the truth is, this kind of fear stopped me from doing lots of things.  If I go to the gym once, it’s one time more than never going.  If I see it as something I need to do today rather than a commitment to something for the rest of my life, it makes it much easier to handle. 

My most famous resolution with my family is the time I decided I would become a vegetarian.  It lasted 7 days.  But that burger on January 7th was fantastic!

My parents quick smoking on New Years when I was a kid.  They never took it up again.  Resolutions are not always broken.

There’s nothing magical about a New Year’s resolution—it just gives you an excuse to make a goal.  An it’s easier to tell people how long you’ve been keeping it up.

I’ll spend today thinking of a good resolution.  It seems a waste of a calendar change if I can’t come up with one.

Happy New Year and I wish you a wonderful 2010.

Complexity of software projects

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A good article was posted yesterday by the ComputerWorld Website saying that the leading cause of software project failures is the complexity of the applications.  The article quotes software architect Roger Sessions:

“Our goal should be to design the least complex architecture possible that solves the business problem”

I’ve been part of many projects that were mired in complexity.  They usually over-run or we end up with a sub-par system that awaits a never-to-happen refactoring and revision.

MiG-21MF Cockpit
Creative Commons License photo credit: Kecko

It’s easy to brainstorm a project and add feature-after-feature until you produced a project plan which stretches over months or years.  It’s easy to design an interface that looks like a cockpit dashboard with lots of functionality that you will probably never use, but looks impressive in the way it fills the screen.  “Wouldn’t it be great if this interfaces with every other system we have?  Wouldn’t it be great if we could use that new transactional system that’s really hot right now?  Wouldn’t it be great if . . .”

I’ve been guilty of this in the past—but I’ve been burned so many times that I tend to err on the side of simplicity (but I don’t always get final say in architectural decisions).

Over the past few years there has been a move to simpler architectures, simpler interfaces, and quicker release cycles.

Scrum is an agile methodology that stresses frequent releases over many iterations.  So, at the end of each 2-3 week iteration, you have working software—regardless of whether you release it to the public or hold until the next iteration.  It’s a methodology that resonates with a lot of people who have worked on failed projects in the past.  I became Scrum Master certified a few years ago, and it changed my whole view of how projects should run—but it is not easy to convince business owners to go this way.

37 Signals released a fantastic e-book called “Getting Real” which they stress that building software is more important that talking about building software.  They have released one of my favourite on-line apps ever with Basecamp.  It is quick, easy, and has a simple interface.  They refuse to clutter it every bit of functionality anyone asks for.

Interfaces in general are getting more simple to use—and not just for products like Basecamp.  10 years ago, you had apps that tried to fill your entire browser with things to do, but now you see more and more that are intuitive and easy to use.  Compare Yahoo! (with a browser window you couldn’t find any blank space on) with Google (a textbox and a button—no manual needed).

The software that has a better chance of reaching “finished” is the software that keeps the architecture simple, keeps the interface simple, and releases frequently.

Here’s the link to the ComputerWorld article:  http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/345994/The_No._1_Cause_of_IT_Failure_Complexity

The Future of Work

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There is a very big company in the outsourcing industry called oDesk.  I learned about them a few years ago when I was looking at outsource projects back then.  I’ve used them a bit and they have a fantastic product. 

They put a video out on Youtube recently called the Future of Work. It’s very good.  Here it is if you haven’t seen it:

The link is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8Yt4wxSblc

For the past few years, you could definitely see the tide turning.  Maybe there will soon be a world where the majority of people don’t have work which makes them put on a suit and commute for hours every day.  I’m glad that other companies believe that and are working towards it.