June 2008

Just love quotes!

"Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness.
- Robertson Davies

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
- Samuel Johnson

There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of old things we don't know.
- Ambrose Bierce"


Memoirs. Inherently egotistical, but I'm compelled to write one. Partly just to remember, to celebrate, but mostly to review for patterns of successful behaviors and draw conclusions, which usually only come via such experiences. My efforts to draw wisdom juice out of my 40 plus years will undoubtedly bore most people not in my circle of love, but I may have to try it, if just to silence the inner voice that nags me about it. These works ask to be born.

I've been thinking some about resonance, and about patterns. I've been looking at my work and how teams collaborate. I was humming in the public bathroom recently and I always have enjoyed how my lower register resonates in them. I meditated on that effect today, after the terrific Kung Fu Panda movie. Between a three year old boy and a 4 decade old bladder that is more of a gravity feed system now, I spend alot of time in toilets these days. When my voice resonates, its almost like someone else is singing with me. It is as if the voice inside of me has found life outside of me. Its louder clean bass tone. I feel it helping me stay on pitch. I am sad when I stop and it doesn't continue.

Is there a way that software development teams resonate? What patterns are there for effective teams? I recall this last football season. Despite losing the super bowl, the NE patriots were the best team of the year in my opinion. Their victories, 18 in a row, had an aire of inevitability. There were moments when each member of that team would pick up where the others would slack off. Now the Giants clearly had their weakspot figured out -- offensive line. The blitz was the death of Brady, and really in football the QB has to be secured or you can't perform. I imagine if their RB was just a bit more dominating they could have run against that crazy blitz, but I digress.

The Steelers, the 49ers, the Patriots. These teams seem to resonate on the field. Actors, in shows like X-files and MASH, true classics such as Lord of the Rings, Lost, The Matrix ( how about that energy between Neo and Trinity!) and X-files resonate with each other and the audience. Movies are an excellent example since if they do not resonate, they usually fail. Politics, art, science ( read about how those teams cracked the human genome)...every endeavor has some notion of resonance. What stops resonance? What causes it? Ponder I must.