Raible Designs

An enjoyable workday

Yesterday I had a one-day contract to teach a JSP class at a company in Boulder. I got up early and drove to Boulder, where the company is located. I left early because our Internet Access has been down (no MapQuest) and I needed to figure out where the heck the company was. The strange thing was that I really, really enjoyed my drive to work. Today I enjoyed my drive as well, but not nearly as much. What I noticed was that yesterday I was more alert of my surroundings. Granted, the Flatirons are pretty spectacular (as illustrated by my mophotos). However, the difference was that I was not contemplating my day. Today, I noticed I was planning my whole day on the drive. I gotta get those WebTests written (including reading all my apps links from my menu-config.xml file) ... I need to write more tests for the JSPs and all our actions ... damn, I'm only going to get in 9 hours today - how am I gonna get 40 in by tomorrow night ... etc. Yesterday, it was just - cool, I'm going to teach a class, should be fun.

What am I trying to get at with this rambling? I'm trying to say that some jobs are more finite, and therefore more enjoyable. When I did construction work in college, it was awesome because we'd always start cleaning up a 1/2 hour before 5 o'clock. With programming, I start to say "Oh shit, I gotta get going" at 4:55, and I don't leave until 5:30. With teaching, it was an 8:30 - 4:30 gig - a nice finite day. I found this to be incredibly enjoyable - just the thought of being done with no worries at 4:30. Today, if I don't get everything done by the time I leave, I'll think about it all the way home.

Is it just me, or does being a passionate programmer kinda suck? I know there's programmers out there that are much better about this - 5:00 means 5:00 and they don't think about anything after they leave the office. I need to find a balance, a way to shut it off when I leave, and to not think about it until I get here. By the way, the courseware for the class never showed up yesterday, so it was cancelled before it started - but I had that no-anxiety feeling for most of the day. Wierd.

Pictures from the Great American Beer Festival

Last weekend, I volunteered to serve up 1 oz. beers at the Great American Beer Festival. It was a great time, and I highly recommend it. I was fortunate enough to be serving beers from the Brooklyn Brewery, which won both a gold and a silver medal. Here are some pics from the event.

My Trip to Nebraska on September 20th-21st

On the Golf Course

Cletus's new house (and future wife?).

The life of a software developer

I've officially worked 31 of the last 37 hours. Ugh. There was 3 hours last night that I got to drive home and have dinner with Julie and Abbie. This was followed by a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. code-producing extravaganza, followed by 2 hours of sleep, and time enough to commute to work this morning. And I'm still pounding the keyboard...

Update: Finally tally ~ 33 of 39, I think that's a record. Let's hope I don't fall asleep on the way home!

Quote of the Day

From the door of the server room where I work:

Rebooting is the first step in NT Troubleshooting.

(grin)

The problem with Deadlines

Keith brings something to the table that I did not know (but I did suspect):

Anyway, back to the likely effects of applying schedule pressure. It is interesting to note that a University of NSW study, quoted in Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams, concluded that "projects on which the boss applied no schedule pressure whatsoever ("Just wake me up when you're done.") had the highest productivity of all."

The problem is that we, as software developers, will always end up with tight (sometimes ridiculous) deadlines - and customers will always want us to do it for less. This is reasonable considering that this is how the business world runs and thrives. Get it done quicker for less. The interesting thing is I don't think this happens with other engineering projects, such as constructing buildings, houses, public works, etc. Sure the folks who are paying for the project want it to get done cheap and fast, but there's all kinds of permits and inspections that have to take place throughout the process.

Wouldn't it be ironic if someday if folks (from a 3rd party) would come in every so often and inspect and approve our code?

Deadlines suck, plain and simple. The reason they exists is that someone (that's paying your wages) told someone else they could have something done by ${insert date here}. I doubt it'll ever end until we're the ones paying the wages and promising deliverables - to make our businesses profitable and our customers happy. The other option is to get a really cool boss that understands Software Development and actually listens to your estimates. I've had this a couple of times - man those folks are cool to work for. Kudos to Dan and Alan - you guys really know how to run a software shop.

Does Apple's Cinema Display have some new competition?

For $500 less than Apple's 23" cinema display, you can get a 45" awesome-looking monitor from the company L. Looks cool - though the company does seem to be similar to Hypersonic PC in that they have wicked looking products, but no one has ever heard of them. In my experience, it's best to go with the name-brand companies. Also, isn't it funny how their 17" laptop looks a LOT like Hypersonic's ZX7. Since I actually had the ZX7 sitting in my lap for a couple of days, I'm willing to bet they're both built from the same hardware.

Deadline Week

This is one of those weeks when I'm a freak of nature. A code monkey with a passion for getting things done. Yet there's too much to do and its all due by Friday.

Yep, this is a week with a deadline. It's been building since I started at this new gig about a month ago. We all knew it was coming, and we're somewhat prepared, but there's still a lot to do. The screwed up thing is I can't seem to think about anything else, and all I want to do is code, code, code. I don't want to eat, sleep or go to the gym. I just want to get it done: code, code, code: I'll neglect my family, friends and body to pump out a software release - because my mind is enthralled by the idea of deadlines. My body loves the excitement, the passion makes my blood boil and my brain just wants more, more, more.

The worst part of it all? It won't matter next week, or even the day after we get it all done. No one will really care. It was a deadline - we said we could do it, and that's what they expected. When we're super pumped that we got it all done, no one will care - we said we could do it. And my reward? I'll be so damned burned out (from spending so much time on the computer) that I won't even want to look at one - not even Foxxy (my new powerbook).

It's strange that I know this is happening - or that I've at least recognized it this time. I don't think it will help though. I'll have to make sure and apologize to Julie and Abbie for being such a narrow-minded prick all week.

Good Stuff ~ Simpsons

 Just a friendly reminder...

Out for sushi

Murphy's Birthday