disjoint thoughts

When a development team runs into some sort of road block or issue with their project, how should the tech lead find the best solution? The following is my opinion after working under several individuals with great technical leadership:

1. Brainstorm: Find out what problems the developers are having, and brainstorm possible solutions. Get a list of the pain points the developers are experiencing. Don’t make any decisions now, just get a list of things going badly and ideas for solutions.

2. Research: From the brainstorming session research possible solutions to the problems. Use the notes from the brainstorming session as a start but don’t let them be a limiter. Test out the solutions within the project itself.

3. Implement: Pick the best solution. Create examples of how this solution handles the pain points the developers were having. Present it to the developers with real working examples of it being used in the project.

4. Feedback: As the developers start using the solution, ask for feedback and continually reevaluate the solution to make sure the right one was picked.

5. Refactor: If the new solution has too many problems, go back to step 2. Don’t get stuck with another solution that sucks in different ways.

6. ???

7. Profit

I love grilling. It is by far my favorite method of cooking. It’s simple, quick, and requires very little cleanup. Grilled steak is a classic meal and one of my favorites, but what to do with the leftovers? Leftover steak always gets cold and hard in the fridge and I’ve never known the best thing to do with it. It usually ends up in the trash after a week or so.

The days of thrown out steak are numbered! Fear not leftover steak! I will save you from the evil clutches of the trash bin! How will I do it? By using these delicious recipes:

http://leftoversteakrecipes.com/

Let’s say you have an awesome parking spot. Maybe not as cool as the parking spots we have at OpenRain, but a good one nonetheless.

What do you do if someone else jacks your spot? Leave them a nice, passive aggressive, note for them:

Worked for me!

Are you wanting to develop rock hard abs? Is the lack of a six pack impeding on your ability to attract members of the opposite sex? Is most exercise you get on a daily bases coming from your Wii? If you’ve answered “YES!” to any of these questions, the Wii Sports Ab Workout might be your road to success.

Follow these easy steps to get started with the Wii Sports Ab Workout:

Step #1: Load up Wii Sports and start a round of boxing.
Step #2: Hold the Wiimote with the toes on your right foot (If you cannot hold the Wiimote between your toes, you may consider attaching them to your feet, or a pair of sandals, using medical tape).
Step #3: Hold the Nunchuck with the toes on your left foot.
Step #4: Lay on the floor.
Step #5: BOX!

Note: you cannot use your arms/elbows to prop yourself up! It will require the use of your abs if you want to watch the screen.

For an extra bonus, play with a friend! The shear hilarity of the experience will make surely make you laugh until tears roll down your cheeks and thus increase the burn to your abdomen even further!

My girlfriend, Gina, gave me one of the best birthday presents I’ve ever recieved.

An engraved carabiner. There’s three things that make this gift totally awesome in my eyes. First off, it’s a rock climbing carabiner. I love rock climbing. Second, it’s unique. I’ve never seen an engraved carabiner before; she had to have it custom done and apparently it wasn’t easy. Third, the engraved phrase “climb on, benny wenny” has sentimental value. A unique gift with sentimental value from a sport I enjoy makes for one sweet package. Thanks Gina!

And in case anyone is wondering, I don’t plan on ever using this carabiner for climbing… with the exception of attaching my shoes to my pack or clipping my chalkbag to my harness. If anyone makes one of these themselves, you should not use it for climbing purposes due to possible weakening of the carabiner from the engraving.

They’ve finally decided to shutdown the photo radar system that was recently put up on the 101. I’ve never been tagged by the system, but it’s still annoying to say the least.

Instead of shutting these things down, I think they should build a web app that takes the average vehicle speed over the past minute, and displays it on a google map with pins at each location of the photo radar stations. At least commuters that go by that portion of the 101 would be able to see how traffic is moving, and the 1.4 million dollars that they spent on it wouldn’t be a complete waste.