Category: Random Thoughts

On the political spectrum of liberal and conservative, the rhetorical styles of the ends vary. And this variance is what I think contributes to the idea that “the truth has a liberal bias”. Most of the time, when I hear a Democrat or liberal speak on an issue, the style they use follows this pattern:

1. Define the problem that currently exists.
2. State where we should want to be.
3. Give their view of the next step we should take to try to solve the problem and how it will get us to where we should want to be.

Meanwhile, on the other side, when I hear a Republican or conservative speak on an issue, the style they use goes like this:

1. Paint the perfect picture that is inevitable from their guidance.
2. Define the enemy.
3. Give their view of how to prevent the enemy from stopping the inevitable perfect picture.

The result of these styles is that when you lay out the facts, the truth, about how something currently is, it will more closely resemble the liberal point of view.

Words have meaning. Words have weight. When we speak, I think it is important that we choose our words wisely, not just to ensure accuracy, but to ensure the meaning isn’t altered when the words travel.

In politics a lot of people don’t consume information first hand. This is true in a lot of fields, but in politics it is exceptionally true.

If you disagree with your opponent, but you respect your opponent, the word used is “wrong”. They are “wrong”. Which means that they can probably be corrected.

When you disagree with your opponent, but you also don’t respect them or their position, the word used is “bad”.

When your opponent must be destroyed because there is no saving them, the word used is “evil”.

Somewhere along the way, the Republicans began describing their political rivals and the policies supported by them as “evil”. It probably began when they embraced the evangelicals. They needed to engage the fire and brimstone enthusiasm of their new constituents. But this literal demonization of their opponents has consequences. If you’re opponent is “evil” then negotiation and compromise are impossible. If you’ve branded your colleagues across the aisle as being in league with the devil, then how can you shake their hand?

Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s and the advent of VCRs and video rental stores and cable TV, and parents who, admittedly, probably weren’t strict enough with our viewing habits, I saw a lot of movies about disasters and apocalypses. The best and worst of science fiction films. But in real life I’d never encountered the idea of “preppers” until the late 1990s, as we approached the turn of the century, and the Y2K bug. That’s when a lot of people became aware of “prepping”, of getting off the grid, stocking up on supplies and guns, being prepared for the collapse of society, the end of the world.

Now, getting off the grid wasn’t new. There had always been communes where people would gather and grow their own food and live off the land.

Even as I worked in computers on Y2K issues, working to make sure “the end” didn’t happen, I still became fascinated by the lifestyle of those preppers. The idea of surviving the end and coming out on the other side of apocalypse. For many years it was an obsession, just the idea of prepping, but not actually prepping. Sometimes I would daydream about some underground bunker fortress cabin in the woods place I would ride out the zombie hordes or atomic wasteland times, but outside of those daydreams I had no desire to abandon the world and watch it die. I wanted people, even as I found it tiring to be around them for more than short period. I wanted… I needed society to be buzzing around me, even if I wasn’t engaged in it all the time.

This is where I think all the preppers and pessimists go wrong. I’m a bit of a pessimist myself. There isn’t a situation I can find myself in where I can’t think of a dozen dozen ways for it to fail. Ultimately, it’s why I’m a programmer and pretty good at it. I’m really good at looking at code, thinking of all the ways it can fail, and finding out why it is failing and fixing it. But personally, in all my pessimism, it’s always about being prepared for failure but then working toward success. Too many preppers get into preparing for failure and then just sit around waiting for the failure.

The preppers aren’t alone.

They have become afraid of things getting better, because if the system doesn’t fail, then all their preparations for failure will have been a waste.

What’s missing from a lot of these people is hope. That sounds hokey, but it is the simple truth. They don’t see how they can be part of the solution, and they don’t see their leaders solving problems, so they have no hope that the problems will be solved. In every case, however, these problems have solutions. Even more, we know what those solutions are, but we do not have the political will to do them. And we don’t have an electorate willing to put the people in office who would.

I love lists. I love making lists. I love crossing items off the lists I have made. I love crossing items off the lists other people have made. I love completing lists. And I think lots of people do lists wrong.

There are, in my opinion, two types of lists: a To Do list, a Backlog.

The Backlog

Look, I’m a computer programmer, so often the things I say sound like programmer jargon. Anyway, the Backlog is an unordered, unprioritized list of every thing you’ve ever thought needed to be done or would like to do. There is no rhyme or reason, no focus, no goal. The Backlog is just a chaotic list. The only purpose of the Backlog is to help you not forget things. If you are trying to use your Backlog to accomplish goals, then you are doing it wrong.

I can say that with confidence, because if you are trying to work from a list that contains everything, you’ll just end up distracted. You’ll finish one item, then go check your list and be face to face with a scattershot collection of stuff. And you are just as likely to pick up a task that you don’t need to be doing as you are to actually correctly select the next task you should be doing.

You should definitely keep a Backlog, but you should never work from the Backlog. Except when you are making a To Do list.

The To Do List

This is where the real work happens. This is where organization and focus live. And if your To Do list is just copying over your Backlog, you are doing it wrong.

The first thing you need to do when making a To Do list is to define the kind of this you are making and it’s limited. The two primary ways to limit a list is to: 1) Set a deadline, 2) Set a goal/scope. Once you have defined the type of list you are making, give it a name, a specific descriptive name that tells you what it is every time you see it.

• Examples of a deadline
  • “Things To Do Today”
  • ”Things To Do by Friday”
  • ”Things To Do before I go on vacation”
• Examples of a goal/scope
  • ”Things To Do to clean the house”
  • ”Things To Do to organize my finances”

Once you have defined the limit of your list and named it, the very first item you should put on your list is: Finished making To Do list.

So if your list is ”Things To Do Today”, you brainstorm and peruse your Backlog for items to put on the list, and when you’ve got a solid list, you are done making the list, so you get to check off that first item. This serves two purposes. First, checking items off your list feels good, and it gives you momentum. Second, it gives you a little mental space to say ”This list is whole. So if something pops up that isn’t an emergency, I can’t add it to this list. It goes on the Backlog.”

By defining your list well, and then giving it a complete shape by ”finishing” the list construction, you’ll make more effective lists.

What About A Bucket List?

A Bucket List is the one list that makes sense to be a hybrid. It’s a defined list with a deadline, but it’s an ongoing malleable one.

When making To Do lists, the defining characteristic is, as stated, a deadline or a goal. But most successful To Do lists also should be relatively short. Either the deadline should be immediate or in the near future, or the goal should be one you want to achieve “soon”. Meanwhile, a Backlog is an unfocused container of ideas.

If you are defining a To Do list with a very long deadline or goal, “Things To Do Before I Die”, the first problem you may have is that you aren’t likely to be able to put that “Finish making this list” item on it, because you are going to come across things to add to that list before you run out of time. But this isn’t a list that should be buried within your Backlog of projects and chores and miscellaneous random thoughts.

Personally, I treat it like a Backlog, but I keep it separate from my normal Backlog.

The Lottery List

One other Backlog style list I keep is my Lottery List. It’s a brainstorming list of “Things I Would Do If I Won The Lottery”. I keep it separate because of the process I use to make it and maintain it.

You see, I buy a lottery ticket now and then. And when I do, I pull out the Lottery List and I re-read it, and I scratch things off, and I add new things. Most of these things are crazy or silly, and all generally require a lot of money. However, if an item persists on my Lottery List for a while, I start trying to disassemble it, break it down and chip off pieces that I can move to my regular Backlog, or even put on a To Do list.

For example, if your Lottery List included “Travel the World!” and after a few revisions it remained, perhaps you could break it down… Where exactly would you want to travel? What countries? What cities? Are there specific things you want to do in those cities? And of course there are things you can do to prepare for travel. Do you have a passport? Have you started a travel fund? Would being able to speak another language help?

Sure “Buy a yacht!” isn’t the sort of thing you necessarily want cluttering your Backlog, but maybe “learn to swim”, “learn to sail”, “go on a cruise” are things that could fit in nicely.

Location, Location, Location

The last thing to consider is where to keep your lists. And really, this is going to be very personal. Do you want handwritten sheets of paper? A moleskin notebook? Evernote? An email draft? Some other thing? The main thing is to pick something that works, and if it’s not working, then move to something else. But if you migrate from one form to another, do yourself a favor and really move. Shift all your lists to the new format. Don’t leave half lists in different media strewn throughout your life. You’ll only end up feeling LESS organized.

Last year I made exactly two posts on this blog. The second was about programming bugs and the processes by which companies handle them. The first was my 2021 post. If 2020 was a year interrupted, 2021 was a year on pause. We got a better president (though it was the lowest bar set in the history of this country), and the old president tried to overthrow the government… and about half the country seems to be fine with that. If 2022 wants to be a better year, there better be some high level prosecutions.

On a personal level, my new job has been wonderful. This company learned to do remote well, and have continued that, and adapted. When things were getting better I even went to the office a few times and it was very nice. I rode the bus, which is a thing I can do now. I walked to the bus stop just outside the back of my neighborhood, and rode to within a couple blocks of the office. Commuting without stress. It was glorious. But then everything shut down again because Omicron. Hopefully that will change in the new year.

I did read more books. I’ve read almost all of T. Kingfisher’s books. I have three to go and will be getting to them soon. I also read a few other books. So I feel good about that. I’m going to keep reading into the new year.

Writing, on the other hand, petered out fairly quickly. I tried to reorganize my stuff and my process, and I just never settled on anything that worked. I’m going to keep trying. I want to write more, and reading more has inspired thoughts, but I haven’t been able to capture them on electronic paper.

Exercise went very well. Mostly. We got a Peloton, and I rode that bike nearly every day for months. And I used the app to do some weights and yoga and meditation and other stuff. It was great. I felt great. And then… I went out for a walk one Thursday morning with Brody, our dog, and another big dog ran up to us, off leash, and attacked Brody. I tried to keep them apart, but the other dog managed to get his jaws on Brody’s head, and I knew the next thing that dog was going to do was try to shake Brody and snap his neck. So I dove on the other dog, and I pried its mouth open with my fingers and freed Brody. I hurt myself a lot on the process. My fingers bled from being cut by its teeth, and my body was scraped all over from rolling around on the textured concrete sidewalk. The owner of the unleashed dog arrived and took it away, and Brody and I sat on the ground for a while to calm down. The physical injuries prevented me from working out for a while, and the psychological impact of the attack prevented my from meditating. It basically just really fucked me up for a couple months.

Right about when I was getting physically better, I took a tumble down the front steps of the house and smashed my right knee against the concrete. It’s mostly better now, but still aches a little when I squat at the way down. I probably should have gone to urgent care, but, you know, pandemic panic.

Anyway, with all this mostly behind me, it’s time to get back on the bike I think. I enjoyed the exercise, and I want to do it again.

I did play guitar more. At least until I cut up my fingers prying a dog’s mouth open. They’re healed now, so I’ll probably start that up soon.

On the creation front, I lasted in Making Art Everyday about a month, but so many of the prompts were just flat out uninspiring. I want to do it again, but I need it to be different. Bardot Brush is doing MAE again, but with weekly and monthly versions added on. I might try those. We will see.

Also for 2022, I think I’m going to have to accept that what we have now is closer to the new normal than the old normal. I don’t think we’ll always be as locked down and under such severe COVID threat, but I don’t think it’s going back to pre-2020. There are just too many people who don’t care about anything other than their own inconvenience. And one party in this country has successfully politicized facts and truth as being something they are against. So, we are going to be stuck with walking Petri dishes brewing up variants for a long time to come. To that end, all future vacations will need to involve personal travel and nature. Driving to parks and stuff. Because as much as I like cruises, I’m not sure I’m going to feel comfortable doing those again.

To bring this to a close, 2022, I hope you are better than the last couple of years. And I’m going to read more, write more, exercise more, eat better, play more guitar, and get out into nature. Happy new year, everyone.

Once upon a time I worked for a company. And this company was acquired by another company. The new big company, upon acquisition, set out to conduct a survey of our customers. It was explained to me that this survey was very intense, and very accurate. It would illuminate problems that we would need to fix. And I shouldn’t feel bad when we get a low score, because a low score was expected. This big company had been using this survey for a while, and, I was told, originally scored in the low 50s, but after much work they were very proud of their current score in the low 80s.

The survey was conducted. Our company scored a 96.

They were astounded. Scores this high for companies that had never utilized the survey were unheard of. I was unsurprised at our high score, because the survey was entirely customer service focused, and we were very good at customer service. In fact, most of our customers, if they left us, would come back later and complain about how awful the customer service of our competitor was. If a customer of ours was being forced to switch away from us by management or acquisition, they would lament having to leave us, because they knew we had great customer service.

The new company didn’t understand. Their customer service help desk was run very similarly to ours. So why did we score so much higher? I knew the answer: bugs.

See, the typical manner in which bugs are handled goes like this:

1. Customer runs into an issue and calls customer service.
2. Customer service tries to solve the issue with the methods they know.
3. If the problem cannot be resolved, a ticket is opened with details of the issue.
4. Product management takes the ticket, prioritizes it, and finds a place on the schedule to put it.
5. When the scheduled sprint comes around, the responsible team fixes the bug.

The issue with this process is that it can take months for a bug to get fixed. In fact, at most companies with traditional work sprints and product management, they often have to specify a “bug sprint” once a year where all engineering and development teams sets aside all other work to clear out the backlog of bugs.

At my company, the process went like this:

1. Customer runs into an issue and calls customer service.
2. Customer services tries to solve the issue with the methods they know.
3. If the problem cannot be resolved, customer service immediately consults with engineering.
4. Engineering drops their work and fixes the bug immediately.

Admittedly, my process results is many blown deadlines. We never delivered a new feature “on time”, which is why we never publicized new features until they were done. But, no customer was ever left “broken” until the bug fix could be “scheduled in”. A broken customer was always more important than a future feature. Always.

To me, this is obvious, and is evidence of why, especially if you are a small company, your development team should work closely with customer service. If your company is large, then you can probably afford to have a “bug team” that might only be one or two people whose entire job is to fix bugs as they arise so that your company never needs to have a “bug sprint” to clear the backlog. Backlogs should be for new features, future expansions, new technologies, etc. Fixing broken things should never go on the backlog.

Anyway, to finish the story, the new big company disagreed with me. They put up division between our product’s developers and help desk. They added a ticketing system and product managers who managed deadlines more than the product. They physically moved the engineers to the other side of the building to prevent us from having casual conversations with the help desk. And our scores went down. And our backlog grew. And eventually, I got fed up and left. I’m sure they are fine, still making money, even though I know they’ve lost a number of people. But I also know that the reputation of the company I helped maintain has fallen. And customers wait weeks, months even, to have bugs fixed.

In 1994 I saw Clerks at a local art house cinema. Being of the right demographic – Gen X, white, male – meant that I identified with a lot of the movie. Dante’s lament “I’m not even supposed to be here today!” would end up being a constant refrain throughout my career in tech support where I was often the guy who knew the most, but bad stuff always happened when I wasn’t working.

But as we languish in this pandemic, I find that the lines I’ve come to most identify with is the exchange between Dante and Randal over the mourning service of a mutual acquaintance that has passed.

Dante: But you hate people!
Randal: Yes, but I love gatherings. Isn’t it ironic?

Last week I posted on Facebook “I miss people.” Most people probably read that and felt similarly, that they missed hanging out with their friends and coworkers. For me, though, it was really more general. I’m primarily an introvert. I don’t actively seek out individual engagement with others, unless I already know them – which presents it’s own problem. However, I love crowds. I love concerts and big events. I love going to the mall at Christmas time to experience the rush and people watch. So when I say that “I miss people.” I’m more referring to missing the general commotion of a world full of people. I miss crowds. I miss events. I miss watching people.

In my professional life, I don’t enjoy working “with” people. The modern style of “pair programming” and such are really ineffective for me. I don’t like being at the keyboard and having someone over my shoulder telling me what to type, and I don’t like sitting back and just telling someone what to type while they sit at the keyboard. I prefer that we do our own work, then come together to compare, or better yet to discuss what we learned after comparing on our own. But I hate working from home. I want to be in an office with other people. I want to hear the hustle and bustle of people going about their day. I want to casually pass people in the hall or in the break room. I want to say hello and good bye to people, even if I don’t have deep involved conversations with them.

I crave the casual signs that other people exist in the world. I miss people.

Most people I know, myself included, are frequently looking for easy, simple solutions. From daydreams of get rich quick schemes and lottery wins, to once again clicking on a link to a headline that promises to tell that “one weird trick” to do something hard, we do it. We desperately want things to be simple.

And yet, there are some problems that we continue to insist are horribly complex and complicated and the solutions will be also complex and complicated, and hard won, but they actually have simple answers.

For example: Homelessness. There are people who are homeless. Some of them are homeless because of something they did, and some of them are homeless because of something outside their control. And once someone is homeless, the process to get them un-homeless is arduous. Shelters and programs, counselling, government money and charity solutions… not to mention things like police and sanitation and health system impacts of people with nowhere to go. They don’t have money because they probably don’t have a job. It’s hard to get a job when you don’t have an address or phone, but you can’t get those things without a job to earn money. It all seems like a messy pile of issues and people want to help but they don’t know where to start.

The solution is really simple though – give them homes. Giving a person a home immediately makes them un-homeless. And as long as that home is given unconditionally, it solves the problem. They are no longer homeless. Instead, they are now jobless, or an addict, or a collection of other issues, issues that people who weren’t homeless also have but manage. Now that they have a permanent address, and maybe a cell phone with internet access, getting a job now becomes possible. Once they have a job, they’ll have money for things – like food, or moving to a better home. Once they have a place to live, it gives them the stability to be able to address medical issues, perhaps get therapy, address addiction.

But we don’t give them homes, because when you try you get clobbered with questions of who will pay for it and why should some people get free homes when other people have to work for theirs. You’ll get into what quality of home to provide – some people won’t want you giving them much more than a prison cell, because they can’t get past the idea that a person should be punished for needed help. (Note: this right here is a HUGE problem. This is how you get people upset that those on food assistance programs aren’t eating gruel. If they are getting free food it shouldn’t be “good” food, it should be garbage, or it should be planned healthy meals with no joy. Lots of people are downright cruel toward people in need.) You get bogged down in a lot of details that do need to get addressed, but most of the people asking those questions are trying to make the problem go away – not solve it, just vanish from their site, hopefully without it costing them anything.

Which leads us to an adage that people enjoy repeating, that “money can’t buy happiness” which often is mutated into “money can’t solve problems” (“mo’ money, mo’ problems”). But in a society and system that is very capitalist, yes it can. The root of many problems is lack of money, so giving them money (or providing them they thing they lack the money for) will literally solve the problem. Too many people don’t like money as a solution. Despite being so capitalist, the idea that money can solve problems and buy happiness offends them. “Problems can’t be that simple to solve!” they tell themselves. And so they seek out non-money solutions for problems that are best solved with money, and it becomes painfully obvious why those problems don’t get solved.

Most people have worked retail or service jobs in their life. Yes, there are people who are born rich and don’t ever get a “menial” job before getting to college and moving on to “real jobs”, but most people aren’t them. Most people in the teens or twenties, or even later, get jobs waiting tables or making fast food or working a cash register or stocking shelves.

Society can’t live without most of these jobs, but they devalue them just the same, and further society devalues people who don’t want to move on, people who like and excel at those jobs. Believe it or not, there are people who honestly love helping someone find the right shoes, or eat a tasty fast meal, or get a floral arrangement, or just like interacting with people while they ring up their purchases. There are people who love working retail or in restaurants, and they don’t want to “move up” to “better” jobs.

Why leave a job you love doing every day for a corporate job you’ll hate? Money and benefits.

But what if they could get the money and benefits at the jobs they love doing? What if they could work retail or food service and make enough to support a family and buy a small house and go on vacation now and then?

What if all jobs were valid valued jobs and we let people who where they fit best rather than forcing them to move “up”?