off topic: new car advice for senior

[Don Y]

But that's the point -- with FOSS, you have removed all of those outside pressures, constraints, influences, etc. that "get in the way" of your doing your best. So, you should be *showing* your best work -- without resorting to excuses.

I grew up surrounded by craftsmen/tradesmen. The bricklayer had the most *ornate* brickwork; the carpenter the most ornate woodwork; etc. Each effectively said, "I have this skillset. I am my own client. I don't need to 'profit' from the work I do for myself. I can *afford* to show my best effort (even though I may never encounter a client who can afford to pay me to do so!)"

FOSS developers seem to take the opposite approach: I'll just work on what interests me AS IF no one was ever going to see how *incomplete* (because I['m not interested in the WHOLE SOLUTION) that effort WILL be.

[Muggles]

I guess I demand more of myself.

[Don Y]

If everyone did that, the world would be a *different* place!

(whether better or worse, I can't say)

[Muggles]

Sometimes, (I've been told), that I demand too much of myself, too.

[Don Y]

Sure! I frequently "redo" things that I'd previously considered as "done" -- simply because my skill level has increased or I've leraned a better way of evaluating my previous work.

E.g., each time I bake something, I tweek the recipe based on observations that I made the *last* time I baked it (and wrote on the recipe "for next time"). Instead of "settling" for something that may be "good enough", I want to see how I can make it *better* (if I screw up, I can always return to the Rx that I had used "the time before")

At one point, I strove for consistency in my baking. E.g., so that every cookie tasted and looked like the one before. (I call this the "Oreo" approach -- you can eat them until you fall over because you have no awareness of each *new* cookie entering your mouth!)

Then, I realized that folks would zone out when eating them. They didn't *notice* what they were putting in their mouth after the first ("Gee, this is good! I'll have -- many -- more!")

So, I started deliberately introducing variation to each batch; varying sizes, thickness, hardness/crunch, color, etc. And, noticed that folks found eating them to be far more engaging! As if they were wondering what the *next* one would taste like -- instead of silently assuming it would be identical to the one they were still chewing.

The goal isn't to make cookies but, rather, to make "eating experiences"!

[Muggles]

I love the idea of creating an "eating experience", too, so I'm a slow eater because I like to actually taste every bite vs. inhaling the fool.

[clare]

It's the old, old question. "Why is there always enough time and money to do it twice, but never enough to do it right?"

[clare]

Be forced to live with/use your own product. That might give some incentive.

[Muggles]

Exactly! I like to design various things, and usually create a prototype first to work out the kinks before I create something for a client. Solving design problems is fun and seeing the solution in the finished product is really satisfying especially when the feedback is what I was expecting from a good design.

[Don Y]

I, unfortunately, am the latter type: I "eat to live" (instead of live to eat) so treat it largely as a chore -- to get out of the way as quickly as possible.

But, that doesn't mean that I expect others to have the same "disdain" for food that I have. Instead, I try to exploit their eating patterns and give them pleasant surprises.

I put various liqueurs in certain baked goods -- knowing that most of this will "burn off" in the oven. But, by carefully controlling the bake, I can arrange for a *hint* to remain. Folks that wolf things down never perceive those subtleties. And, folks that are more attentive find themselves frustrated -- when they *sense* a hint of "something" but its gone before they can identify what it was.

For them, the experience is much more memorable.

[The "oreo" analogy is really appropriate! Not many folks "cherish" a memory of sitting down with a bag of oreos...]

[Don Y]

EXACTLY! In my case, I have no desire to WASTE the portion of my life required for ONE of those attempts! I can't ask to have that time "refunded" to me because someone was too lazy or stupid to figure out how it *should* have been done.

If I asked you to dig a big hole in my yard (and *paid* you for it), how happy would you be if, once finished, I had you fill it in and dig it elsewhere? *If* you are paid for this, the first time you might just shrug thinking "hey, if he's got the money..."

But, you certainly wouldn't want to make a career out of that sort of thing. Where's the satisfaction in that??

[Don Y]

But, people aren't. I've often ranted that folks like the MS weenies should find themselves on an operating table, sometime, and overhear the surgeon -- just as they are drifting off under the anesthesia -- say something like: "Wait! I've got a blue screen. We'll have to reboot..."

[Muggles]

When I make scalloped potatoes I use real butter and sweet milk along with fresh chopped onions. The difference in the taste just by adding real butter for me is the difference between enjoying the dish and giving it to someone else who doesn't give a flip. If it doesn't taste good there's no point in eating it for me, anyway.

[Tony Hwang]

Potatoes = mucous causing acid causing food, Rememeber how to figure out

• and - lead using potato? Milk = acid causing mucous causing, Onion = good. I eat to live. One close friend of mine who used to enjoy good food always who knew all the good eating place in town died from stomach cancer almost 20 years ago.

[rbowman]

One of the disappointments in my education was when I took a statistics course aimed at engineers. Much of it was along the line of how few pieces do we have to sample to ensure that only X% of the total production is defective.

[rbowman]

The other perennial engineering decision...

[rbowman]

The current buzzword in the software field is 'agile' but I've been doing it for years. Create a prototype that isn't fully functional but represents you're interpretation of what the client asked for. Show it to them and listen to what they really wanted. Rinse, and repeat.

It's depressing the number of people that don't want to take part in the process, prefer you to read their minds, and then bitch about what they get.

[rbowman]

That's why I've worked on one and only one DoD project. You really need the atitude of "Hey, the paychecks keep cashing."

[clare]

Didn't you know you are supposed to be a mind reader???

[Don Y]

I won't play that game. Call me when you *know* what you want. It's not my role in life to show you things that you *might* want... had you but spent the time to THINK about your needs.

I try to understand my client's needs along with *his* market. Then, propose *my* solution. In the process, I am able to defend every one of my design decisions because I've *thought* about the problem -- instead of listening to the client's "first approximation" of the problem (which will change when he sees the consequences of that approximation).

Chances are, a client won't be able to come up with a better solution (of course, he can take MY solution and let someone else "iterate" it -- but it won't be *me*! :> )

If you want to play "no, let's see what the couch looks like against

*that* wall", get someone else. You can't afford to pay me to wander through a universe of POTENTIAL solutions (and, I'm not keen on spending my life doing that!)

But, folks know this up front. Trust me -- or find someone who is willing to just cash your paychecks until you run out of patience or money or ideas...