• Every time you look at something, ask yourself: “does this make sense”.   Seriously; I’m not kidding.
• Do not assume you know a solution until you have all of the details and understand the problem.  Assuming makes an ass out of you, me, your team, your project, your company, your school, your mom, your dad, your country, and the human race.
• Don’t listen to argue, listen to understand.  Ask questions to understand, not to accuse e.g. “Why would you do that?” vs.  “What are they key advantages to doing it like this?”
• Archive your email, use a tool to index/search it -  It is very bothersome when someone asks me a question and I search my email and find I have already answered it for them previously, it is even worse when I search my email and find they answered the question to me previously.
• Try and understand what you are doing.  Automatons and Drinking Birds can press buttons; you are more valuable than them because you can understand things.
• Understand the impacts of any changes that you make.  Don’t assume a small change will have a small impact.   If you do not understand the impact of the change you are making, get a coffee, then come back and think about it again.
• Everyone makes mistakes. – Just because someone said they tested it correctly, do not hesitate to retest.
• Don’t be a dick.  Good things happen to good people.  Treat everyone like you would like to be treated (unless you like it when people treat you badly, then you should seek counseling).   If people like you, they will not hesitate to help you out.
• Care about important things that matter, don’t care about things that don’t matter.  This sounds easy, the trick is learning to differentiate between the two.
• Doing the things that others don’t want to do will differentiate you.  Did Michael Jordan want to practice drills for 10 hours a day, hell no, he practice because he wanted to be the best.  Do things that others say are hard and don’t want to do, this will set you apart from the pack.
• Have Goals, Write Them Down, Look at Them – Do you want to be sitting in your same desk writing and testing code 20 years from now? I am guessing no. Do you have other goals? Have you ever bothered to write them down and think about them and visualize how to achieve them.  If you don’t you will be sitting here writing and testing code for the next 20 years.

Problem Solving Steps:

1. Understand the problem:

• What is the problem?
• What are the steps to reproduce the problem?
• What is the impact of the problem, when does it need to be solved?
• Why is it a problem?
• Is this a new problem or existing problem?
• Is there a baseline, or how should it behave?
• When did it start happening?
• Did it ever work?
• What components does it involve?
• What Data does it involve?
• Is it functional, technical, both, or unknown?
• Can you decompose the problem into its parts?
• What are the simple reasons the problem could have occurred?

Is it a functional problem:

• Do I understand how the process should work?
• Is the problem related to data?
• Is the problem related to timing, order, or sequence?
• Do we have a copy of the data that caused the problem?

Is it a technical problem:

• What locations or environment is it happening in?
• Do I understand what components are involved?
• Are there any steps to validate the environment?
• Run diffs of things that have changed.
• What tools do I have at my disposal to test this (remote debugging, soap sonar, ethereal, web service studio, benthic, toad, test harnesses, debug logs)?
• Look at logs before and after.
• Look at all of the log information available.
• Look at the code and data for yourself, don’t take someone’s word for it
• Research the problem online

2. Identify a solution to the problem

• If this problem has occurred before, check my emails to get details on it (Google desktop,  coppernic, ms search)?
• Is there a solution for this type of problem already (check KX, emails, project, account, and internet)?
• Is there a solution for a similar type of problem?
• What solution is the quickest and has the least amount of impact?
• Are there any creative solutions we have not thought of yet?

3. Implement solution (validate it works)

• Ensure that solution is agreed upon by peers, and superiors;
• If it is a production solution, it will need to be agreed by the client.
• Once the solution is in place make sure that the problem is gone.
• If anyone is impacted by the solution, do they need to be notified that it is fixed?

4. Identify what can be done better next time to avoid the problem.

• Did I send an email of the problem and the steps to solve it to everyone involved?
• Is the process documented correctly?
• Is the problem solving approach documented correctly?
• If there is change that could prevent this problem in the future?

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Fortunately a gas station I visited recently has found a way to combat this problem through poor UI design.  When trying to pay with my credit card and entering my zip code, I kept getting the screen message: “ERROR: INCORRECT KEY COMBINATION.”  The instructions said: “KEY IN YOUR ZIP CODE AND PRESS ENTER”.  After receiving this message three times, I finally figured out what the problem was.   The gas pump had an intentionally designed bad UI.   There are two buttons that are labeled “Enter”, only the small one works for keying in your zip code.   I am assuming they did this on purpose to deter people with stolen credit cards.

Which enter button would you press?

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My Little Robot Friend

Say Hello to my Little Friend….

My household acquired a Roomba robot vacuum about two months ago.  So far the results have been great.  I have a dog that sheds a lot, so there were always clumps of fur tumbleweeds floating across the hardwoods. Running Roomba 3 times a weeks seems to have alleviated the tumbleweeds.   Some people I have spoken with claim that they don’t like the Roomba because they are always having to clean and empty it (I’m guessing they have really dirty floors).   I have also realized that the success of the Roomba depends on the customer: depending on your floor type and your house layout you will have a very different experience with the little robots.  I am very surprised that iRobot doesn’t offer a two week free trial so people it doesn’t work for don’t spread bad word of mouth regarding the product.

Watching my Roomba got me thinking about how it is like a good business.  the following are the top 6 reasons why the Roomba is like a good business:

1. It knows when to refresh itself – The Roomba is cognizant of when it needs to be recharged and it will proactively seek out its charging station to refresh. Good business recognize when their products or services have become stale and they will seek to refresh them.

2. It works for you while you sleep – Roomba will clean while you sleep (if you don’t mind the humming and bumping).  A good business will make money for you while you sleep.

3. It has innovated to create a new space – I have not considered owning a vacuum robot until the Roomba.  An innovative business will innovate to create a new product you may have never considered before.

4. It has patience – The Roomba will go over a spot over and over until it gets it clean,  it is designed with the assumption that it will not get it right the first time.  Seldom will a business get it right the first time, most successful business have to iterate through a series of failure before they have their winning streak

5. It is easy to maintain – Most regular vacuums are pain in the rear to maintain (cleaning brushes, belts). Roomba maintenance is pretty simple with easy to press buttons and clear instructions.  A good business should be built with the context of maintainability and operations in mind.

6. It gives you feedback  – When it gets full, stuck, or tired the Roomba will give audio and visual queues to indicate is needs support.  It will also let you know when it running over a dirty part of the floor. A good business provide data and analytical feedback that allows you to make informed decisions.

Table 1. Mythical Man Weekend

This “Mythical Man Weekend” will almost always turn into the “Actual Man Weekend”.

Table 2.  Actual Man Weekend

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