10 ways to know you’re actually a great developer
This post might seem as stating the obvious. But for a lot of developers it is not as easy to assert their own value to the company, community or world they live in. Despite what others think of them! In a nut shell: Great developers have a knack for greatly help progressing a project they work on in unexpected (or unintended) ways.
At various moments during my work in the past years I encountered quite some of these positive contributions in work either created by others or by myself. In one of my recent "Eureka" moments I decided to brainstorm a bit and write them down so others might recognize them in themselves or in others.
As an added bonus, I also describe what the default behavior would be in such a case so you can avoid the pitfalls.
(Please note that the list is not in any particular order!)
1. You start 'decompiling' the problem while it is described to you. Even before you started actively working on it.
Someone describes a problem to you, and you immediately start taking a step back in your mind and create a birds-eye perspective of the problem. You start to look at in an abstract way, in terms of components or parts working with each other. You start asking questions, not about how it would function, but how certain sub-parts need to function to make the whole system work.
Standard Behavior: The default mode when a problem is described to you is just listening to what is said. Afterwards the developer starts to break down the task into subtasks. When you're just starting in the programming world, it isn't all that abnormal that you can't do this immediately. It's like reading between the lines in a language. When you start learning the language, you won't notice the subtleties.
2. During a project people start to rely on you for information or resources
Normally you receive tasks and complete them in the allotted time and continue to the next task afterwards. However when you get more information about a project, and can order it right in your mind, the project will start to become an entity which can shape and form into something more. You create a 'bigger picture' for yourself about the code as well as the project as a whole. This unique perspective can be very helpful to your fellow developers, management, stakeholders or third parties needed for the project. This is a quality that is very, very, useful (if not required) for Technical Leads, as they are required grasp the bigger picture and act on it.
Standard Behavior: Developers stay within their scope of the problem. They solve what is asked and wouldn't think any further.. Beyond the problem itself and how his code will affect other parts of the system. This is probably a mindset, some switch that needs to be flipped. Or just a general lack of interest in the company (if the last one, get the hell out of there!). Of course the right mindset is no guarantee. It is entirely possible that there is no need for your unique perspective. So there will be no relying on you.
3. Coming across a difficult problem, you take out your notepad and scribble things down
It is virtually impossible to create solutions purely in your head. You are bound to make mistakes or forget things you thought up earlier. When you realize a problem is too large to fit in your mind, you quickly fetch your notepad and start writing down the problem and it sub-problems, tackling every sub problem one at a time.
Standard Behavior: The developer will probably think of something that is a step in the right direction, but won't entirely solve the problem. He will continue on the path and come across a new sub problem, and another one, and another one. Eventually they will either create (working?) spaghetti code, or end in an endless coding frenzy.
4. You discuss solutions with someone (or yourself; explain it to the duck) before definitely going for either solution
The first solution might not (probably won't!) be the best solution for the problem. Coming up with multiple solutions and discussing them is key to getting the best result. When having multiple solutions, you can choose what is best. And, you have a reference which can helps you choose.
Standard Behavior: Think of a solution and go blindly for it. The solution is easy, just think of more than one solution 
5. You don't just say "No!". You say "No! But we could..."
They say it is hard to say 'no' to something. Although this is certainly true, it is also true that when you do say no without anything else, all progress will halt and you go into a yes/no debate. Giving an alternative solution or suggestion goes a long way.
Of course this doesn't really count for obvious situations where you are required to do an 8 hour job in 2 hours. Although in this scenario you could say: "I can't complete this task in 8 hours, but I can give you <part of the job> in 2 hours".
Standard Behavior: Just yelling and screaming (well maybe not yelling and screaming...) that something isn't possible without giving an alternative or reason.
6. You just know an idea stinks, but can't quite formulate what it is... Yet!
When a task/job is described to you, your gut wells up and you feel it is wrong in so many ways. This is something you act on. You find out where this feeling comes from. It is important you do this, because the feeling comes from somewhere. You don't rest until you find it. And when you do, you find out it is a fundamental problem of the idea. You suggest an alternative or fix to the idea which might be something seemingly small, but can have a large impact on the whole project.
Standard Behavior: Ignoring the gut feeling.
7. You know when it is time to call in the cavalry.
When knee-deep in the project, you find out the work is much more than you thought at the start or you realize you don't know everything you need to know. You realize the project is important so you ask for help. This can be done by either asking for more coding power (when there is more work) or asking for help on the topics you lack knowledge of. You don't just "grunt through it" as it will probably create spaghetti code. If, despite your warning, you are asked to continue the project anyway, you know you can fall back on this statement later when the proverbial feces hit the proverbial rotating blades. You could also decide to cut your losses and quit the project to protect yourself.
Standard Behavior: Continuing as you where. This is very normal and safe behavior. And for a while it seems to work. You continue because you don't want to let your manager/boss/client down. But while you do so you might end up not making the deadline. Most of the time fear plays a part in this scenario as well. When you ask for help it feels like giving up or acknowledging that you are weak or incompetent. But thats not true, you just acknowledge the task is not a 1 man job, or requires some specific knowledge that you don't yet have.
8. You say so when realizing you can not deliver what is asked
Some projects may seem right up your alley, but soon you realize you didn't had all the information required to make a good assessment. This is the time you speak up! It takes balls to do so, and it probably won't be an easy conversation. But you know that for both parties it is the best thing to do. You know that it is best for yourself too, because when you continue, you will end up with a lot of extra stress which could be prevented.
This one may seem like the previous one, but has a fundamental difference. In the former we speak of lack of information or time. In the latter the problem lies within the core of the project. Something that can not be solved with extra information or manpower.
Standard Behavior: Just continue and grunt on. Thinking you will learn as you go along.
9. You complete tasks more quickly than others
Last week you were working on a task and after lunch your manager came to you and asked you and your colleague to do some quick things on a project you are both very familiar with. In a rather small amount of time you rush through the requests and you go back to your regular work. After a while you notice that your colleague has only just finished his tasks. Strange, but he probably had something that turned out to be more difficult. Over time you notice these kind of things more and more. Still strange? No not really, you are just a great developer, one who has knowledge and experience and knows how to apply it in different situations. And as a result finishes all kinds of tasks more quickly. It seems a bit cocky to say. But you can measure your skill level by comparing how you perform in relation to your peers.
Standard Behavior: Well this one is kind of obvious, you don't do things faster than others The solution? Practice makes perfect! So code some more, explore the program some more, experience with certain features.
10. Creating sound code, even when you think you created absolute horsecrap.
Some times you are forced to create some code in little time. Despite the fact that you meticulously insisted on the fact that it can't be done in the alloted time, your boss/manager/client forced you to create it even if it would turn out to be crap. You start the work and are not proud of what you created. You feel kind of miserable with the work you delivered and in fact, you all you want is to remove the code and make it right. However, after a few days when you receive some requests for (seemingly huge) changes to the code you created, you find out you can make those changes quite easily because the code you created actually had structure in it and was made orthogonal to other parts so the changes where as easy as pie.
The lesson learned from such a revelation is that despite the fact you had to rush your work and probably won't get to be your finest work, you (subconsciously?) applied all your knowledge and created something developer worthy.
Standard Behavior: Ending up coding by coincidence or creating spaghetti code. This is done because it is thought that the time constrain trumps everything. Just start coding and all will be well is the general approach. As with decompiling while discussing a problem, you can't do right away. It takes time, knowledge of the programming language, experience and a way of thinking. Of course you can prevent creating spaghetti code and preventing coding by coincide by thinking before you do.
That sums it up! 10 ways to know you're actually a great developer!
Now don't think you're a bad developer when you don't recognize all of them, or maybe even only a few of them. It doesn't mean you're a bad developer. There are tons of reasons you haven't experienced them. Maybe you just started in the development world. Maybe you switched to another programming language and don't know the details of the language. Or maybe the company you work for is just not the right company for you. Or, of course, you're just really not that good a developer 
First Employer Syndrome
In the past 10 years - the first years I started working after my education - I have discovered that there seems to be a group of employees who suffer from what I call "First Employer Syndrome". In essence this syndrome causes the employee to be unwilling to leave his job despite the fact that he is bored, unmotivated, not learning, fed-up with management or any other valid reason for wanting to switch jobs.
It all seems to be related to loyalty. Such an employee has a strong loyalty towards the company he works for or has a special bond with its product. When problems arise which are inherent to the company's management, he tends to ignore them or think of it as a hurdle which can be taken over time. He discusses the problem (or problems) in great detail and receives promises of improvement. When there is none to be seen, excuses are made by management. Or even worse: He himself(!) creates excuses for the company: "It's a busy time, and they had to release a new version, so they didn't have the time for it.". Or any other derivative of this line.
Even when the shit hits the fan real badly when, for example, the development department goes into "Fire Fighting Mode" (where you are constantly fixing arising problems instead of proactively fixing to avoid problems) for a prolonged period of time, he won't see it as "mismanagement" but blames himself for not giving what it takes, although he is working his ass of and makes more than 60 hours a week.
As you can see, the loyalty is so strongly present that he will put the company's goals before his personal needs. This can ultimately make him very unhappy or may even cause severe stress or steer the employee into a burn-out, depression or worse. At which point, of course, the employee will blame himself again and again for not being able to perform at his best.
Most of the time other employees, friends or family notice the problems and try to talk about it. They see that there is a problem and that it is in the interest of everybody that he leaves and goes somewhere else. But, again, because of the strong loyalty this won't matter at all. He really needs to find his own peace with the situation and decide for himself what's best for him.
If he would blindly listen to the advice of others, it will probably backfire. Say he leaves the company where he felt strongly connected with, and the company would then grow exponentially and every employee instantly receives a bonus, a car, laptop and the salary gets doubled. What is the result? He would feel really bad and it would feel like the biggest mistake ever. Even though he probably would feel even worse when he'd stayed (he might even blame the ones who have "pushed him" to leave his job).
Because of this he has to leave on his terms, by his choice and motivation. Only then he would learn that he made a "mistake" feeling too loyal towards a company that wouldn't (or couldn't) change and feel comfortable with it and with what happens with the company.
In my career I have experienced this syndrome from both sides. At first I was the loyal employee who wanted to change everything for the best but wasn't able to and couldn't make the changes. I still worked my ass of and blamed it all on myself and kept thinking it would get better eventually. I was the one who was being told that it was wrong for me to stay, that I should find another job, but I wouldn't accept that and stayed. Did any of the advice from others help me do something about it? Well eventually. If I remember correctly, it took me about 1.5 years before I decided the time was right. During this time I accepted the advise from others, but decided for myself if I wanted to go or not. Eventually I did leave. But it was on my terms. I had my own reasons and surely I didn't rely on what others had said. And when the company changed 14 something months later? Well I didn't have any regrets about leaving. I even felt great for them! But what when I had left 6 months earlier, because others said I should? I would probably have felt miserable: "If I had stayed I could now achieve the things I couldn't before..." , "If I had stayed, I would have earned more money...", "If I had stayed, I would...".
Once I have experienced this the first time, I realized this problem was not something only I experience. Around me there are a lot of people who are in the exact same situation. And now I am on the complete opposite side of the problem where I see people who are still at their current employer for all the wrong reasons and should leave to make their own lives better.
And what can or should I do about it? The only thing that can be done: Say what you think, share your experience, but never ever ever tell them to leave their jobs!
HowTo: Run a mailserver, even if your ISP blocks SMTP port 25
After some hard work we have finally gone beta with our service: RerouteMAIL. A service with which you can easily run a mailserver even if your ISP actively blocks port 25.
A while ago I posted about some wild idea's where you could go around the SMTP block of your ISP by running your mail through another (non blocked) mailserver and forward it to your mailserver which is running on a different port. Today, we go beta with a service which makes this possible for everyone!
The road from 'Proof of Concept' to 'Finished Product' was, as always, a bit longer than expected. First of all I switched from developing in PHP to Django (to expand my knowledge) and secondly, there are some pitfalls when you want to make this kind of service for more people than just yourself.
For the people who don't know what the fuzz is all about, a short rundown. There are ISP's in the world which believe that there are a lot of people who don't know what they are doing. So when those people run a mailserver chances are rather large that they don't configure their mailserver correctly, and they become an open-relay and thus, open for spammers to be used as spamming machine.
Although these ISP's are in their right to do so, we believe the clients (and especially the business clients) should have the chance to be able to run a mailserver if they completely understand the risks.
By default (and according to everyone and everything on the internet) a mailserver listens on port 25 for incoming mail messages. Because this is the default, ISP's block this port (incoming and/or outgoing).
Fortunately we have thought up a way around the ISP's who are actively blocking port 25.
As a lot of people (mostly unix administrators) know, you can run a mailserver on a different port than port 25, say port 26. However, the email world does not know this. So when a mailserver (for example the google mailserver) wants to mail to you, it tries to connect to port 25. And so you have to find a way to let the other mailserver think you are on port 26. But this can't be done easily and without your ISP.
It can be done via our new service: RerouteMAIL. The trick is that we listen on port 25. And then relay the incoming message to your mailserver running on port 26!
And the best part is, we have a fee free version which everyone can use, a hassle free registration, and no questions asked.
If you are interested or curious please have a look at: www.reroutemail.com or leave a comment on this blog!
10 reasons why development projects can and will fail
It really is everywhere! Until now, in every company I have worked for, I have seen it. Projects fail to hit their deadline. And total anarchy emerges from the ashes of those failures. Save yourself (or your company) while you can and learn from the top 10 list of reasons I came across in the passed 8 years.
I have been developing (web)applications for some time now. And although some people might consider the 8 years as being "new", I consider it long enough to be able to point out some important reasons to why projects fail.
Although it was really really hard, I tried to make up a top 10 list of things that can (and have gone!) wrong. And because if I have experienced these problems. You can bet others (you?) have and will too! So, here goes. My top 10 reasons:
10. Not all things have been taken into account
It sounds too obvious to be true. But it is. When people start a project they mostly don't take time to step back for a moment and consider the implications of the project. I haven't been in a meeting which went like this: "Hey! Is this really as easy as it sounds? Or are there hidden problems lying low and ready to jump at us when we least expect it!?". Most of the time people are too excited about the project and feel like they can take on the world! And they realize halfway through the project (if you're lucky!) that they didn't realize feature X would take as much time as it did! And so, their deadline creeps up on them and BAM... The deadline can not be met.
9. It's a rush job!
How many times haven't I heard this one: "I know it's a rush job! And we are aware of it!". Only to hear a few weeks later: "But how is it possible that this bug exists?! We just CAN'T have these kind of bugs!". And most of the times these bugs only surface after it has gone live for a few days.
8. There are no milestones
No proper milestones have been set for a project. And this is not good. Not for you, nor for the customer! If you don't have milestones, you have no way of measuring your progress. And even when you think you are on the right course, you can never know for sure. More so, you cant update your client (or customer) on the progress. Because you just don't know!
6. The customer lacks technical insight/knowledge
It can be a real problem when the customer (or your manager) is not as technically endowed (on this subject) as you are. But realize it is as much of a problem for them as it is for you! They wonder why you take so long to create feature X which seemed soooo easy to them. The biggest problem is not their perception of complexity, because this you can explain. The biggest problem is that they will not be able to explain their wishes to you in detail enough so you can make a correct estimate on the project length.
5. Ad-Hoc projects / Prolonged FireFighting Mode
Your morning at work starts and your manager runs into the room yelling and screaming: "WOEAAAH!!!!!! WE NEEEEEEEEED BUG 1337 FIXED RIGHT NOW!!!!". The sky has fallen! All customers have ran off and the cash has stopped pouring into the bank account of the company! All because of this bug! Or... so your manager led you to believe! You rush yourself to your computer and work long and hard to fix the bug as soon as possible! Finally! the bug is fixed! And you can continue your daily work on bug 1884. But then, after lunch, it starts again: "AHAHAAAAAAAA!!!!! THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH X AND Y! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!" and of course you need to fix it right away! This scenario continues some time.. Until at the end of the day, the things you had to work on that day didn't finish. A day passes by and you fix some "MUST BE FIXED NOW" bugs until one moment: "WOEAAAAH! WE NEED BUG 1884 FIXED!! AND IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIXED 2 DAYS AGO!". And the circle is complete... Because you were fixing bugs which seemed critical, you are not able to work on your daily routines. Which in turn, turn out to be "need to be fixed now"-bugs eventually.
The biggest problem with this is that you will always keep a feeling of behing behind all the time. And escaping from this vicious circle can be very hard. Although you can't prevent this problem directly, you can discus the matter before fixing the "need to be fixed now"-bug. Ask your manager "Is this 1337 bug really more important than bug 1884? And if so, are you okay with delaying 1884?". This will probably make your manager think the request over and it will allow you to fall back on the conversation when 1884 became a real "need to be fixed now"-bug
4. Communication problems (or lack of communication) "
It happens quite a lot. A salesperson has promised feature X to customer Y and has told the Project Manager to make it happen. It slips the mind of the PM and the salesperson didn't remind the PM about the feature. Until the time approaches that it should be delivered to the customer and the salesperson asks the PM about this. "Damn!". The PM wraps up some developers and a technical lead and you'll hear something like: "We have promised the customer a month ago we have feature X in the release for the end of this week so build it and build it right!".
Everybody should know this is a recipe for disaster. You just can't build a feature in a week (or less)! No arguments. You just can't!
3. Total lack of specifications
You think you have done everything right. You talked to the customer, written things down, had the customer sign the document on what to deliver. But you don't write the specs. You didn't work out the details of the features and think you can manage it along the way.
Just Face it! In the larger projects (even if it is still a one man job) it is almost impossible to do things right the first time. And unless you have calculated a lot of refactor time (and I really mean a lot!) into your project, your deadline's will slip. And you will have an unhappy customer. Just take your requirements and work them out. Just make small mock-up of what you are going to create. Write down some flows. And be sure to show them to your customer and have them comment on them.
You don't have to create full detailed Interaction Designs. Work out all the Use Case Scenario's and write pseudo code for every function. Just make sure the outlines are there and have them approved or reviewed.
2. A Sales person determines the deadlines without consulting programmers
This I hate the most!
Operations come's to you and says: "Yeah we have to create X, and it has to be completed before end of the week!"
"Que?"
Damn, they have done it again! They promised stuff to the customer, and we don't even know if it is technically possible to do so! And even if it is possible, we don't know if we can have it production ready in that time...They haven't even discussed it with the PM or a TL.
1. There are no, or incomplete, requirements
This one is also very classic, and very easy to make. "We need a program that can do this and do that, <explanation of what and how etc>.. can you make it?". Sure you can! And there you go happily programming and creating what the customer asked. And after some hard weeks of working and finally delivering the program, you receive the following reply: "Ah, yes.. But... This is not how we wanted it. It should work like this and that!". So you reply: "But.. Why didn't you say so?". And the customer replies: "Well, er, it is obvious that it should work that way!". And there you go.. Throwing away a big part of the program, starting over again..
And the biggest problem is, there is really no one to blame! It's just that people won't exactly, with 100% certainty, know what the other person really means or thinks. So, even when you have requirements, it is quite hard to say "Well we decided this and that and I made it that way. So, its your fault!" because with that attitude you will only get your customer mad and create an atmosphere in which you can't work.
The solution? Make sure you agree on what is required of the project, and make sure you write them down. Have your customer specify what the program has to do to make it acceptable for him. And finally make sure you live the project as much as your customer does!
Well there they are! My list of reasons why a development project can and will fail. They are based on my personal experience in the passed years.
Have you experienced these reasons as well? Or have experienced others? Leave a comment!
The money problem with friend-groups: “Nah… I’ll pay! Pay me back later!”
You might recognise the problem. You have a close friend group and you do lots of things together. So when you go out, or go to the movies you decide that you'll pay something, and the others pay other stuff and you dont realy worry about the money. They are your friends, and you trust everyone, so, no biggy.
Now although this is true, the problem lies where you can't keep track of what you owe who, or who owes you what. And although you know it's okay, it just doesn't feel right. Especially when it concerns larger amounts. For example, you go on vacation as a group. Decide that everyone will pay amount X as a money stash for group activities. But you know it is a matter of time before the plan becomes a bust. Eventually someone forgot his card and could not make a withdrawl. The account was empty sooner than expected. Etc. etc. In the end person X has deposited €400 person Y €600 and peson z only €200 because of whatever reason.
Now I have, on multiple occasions, decided to make a nice little Excel sheet which can handle these kind of problems. You enter the money you have spent (its a friend case so you trust everyone supplies accurate numbers) of each of the members, and it calculates neatly what the average amount spent is, and you can see who owes what to whom. Further, if person Z afterwards gave person X some money for something else, it is handy that these numbers can be specified too. So it will always reflect who has already settled his debt and who hasn't. The biggest problem is you have to manually keep track of changes. If someone pays somebody (partially or full), and didnt notify me, I can't keep track of the changes. And so it is a matter of time before it is not accurate anymore so you can't rely on it.
Because I (we) have these problems. I'd think I'm not the only one! So I think about making some simple application which can handle these kinds of troubles. Attach a mail service to it so people can easyly be reminded of his debts or request for information. Combine this with some type of grouping of friends and you have a centralised application to handle all current and future money oweing problems without worrying about who paid who (or didnt).
Finding out if a tweet is posted
Just a text blog entry to find out if the twitter tool creates a tweet!
Don’t you hate it when your ISP blocks port 25 so you can’t run a mailserver?
You have an ISP which is just fabulous, great speeds, acceptable pricing and no download limits. Great! Now you can have your own linux/windows server right at home. Run a webserver, claim some domains, host a few other things (mysql, python, ruby, django, etc) and tinker around with everything you couldnt do at a hosting provider. But when you try to configure your mailserer the fun ends. Mail just doesn't get deliverd... Booo!!!
At first you think you configured your mailserver wrong. Maybe you didnt set up your MX record corectly for your domain or maybe, just maybe, your postfix config is wrong (what could go wrong there? 
). After some tinkering and frustrated tests you come to the annoying conclusion that it is your ISP who is nagging you. It appears they block the SMTP port (port 25) in their firewall, so nothing gets through to your server. Damn it!
So your first thought is to go around it. You are a great tech-buff and you think you can outsmart your ISP blocking a port in its firewall and find a workaround, so you think to yourself "why not run it on port 26 (or something else) instead??". A fine idea indeed. But there is one problem. SMTP servers don't know your mailserver is running on a different port. And it has to know!
Let me illustrate this a bit more.
When someone (user@gmail.com) typing a message and wishes to send you an email (user@somedomain.com), creates the mail, and clicks on send, the google mailserver first contacts the DNS server to request the MX record for the domain (somedomain.com). It receives a response in the form of an IP address.
Then the mailserver will connect to this IP addres on port 25. Why port 25? Because thats the way all SMTP server work. It does not know any better than to connect to port 25. Its the way SMTP works.
So, no dice.. Just using a different port is not enough (and No: tricking the world into thinking port 26 is the new port 25 aint gonna work).
After some thinking the solution came to me. If we can't trick the world into sending to port 25 and we can't go around the port block at the ISP. Why don't we run it before the ISP or at another ISP?
"Uh, but, aint that the most obvious solution?"
Yes ofcourse it is. Running your mailserver on a different location where port 25 is not blocked is the perfect solution. But it is not appropriate in this case indeed. You want to run you own mailserver at home so you have full control over it. Not at a colocated place, hosted by a hosting provider and what not.
But think one step further:
"If someone would be willing to run a mailserver outside of your ISP's influence, and forward all incoming mail which is supposed to be for your domain and forwards this to your machine which has actually running a SMTP server on a port other than port 25 and delivers the mail on that port... Wouldn't that solve the problem?"
And there you have it. The solution to the problem. This way you can run a mailserver yourself even when your ISP blocks port 25!
Now I've been searching around for someone who offers this kind of service, but was not succesful. So I thought to myself, why not create such a service yourself? And so from the need of a solution, there came a solution and maybe a solution which can help other people aswell!
Currently I have this problem solved in a proof-of-concept scenario where a friend of mine is running a SMTP server (on port 25) and he forwards all emails directly to my SMTP server running on port 25. Right now I'm looking into ways of providing this solution to other people.
Update: Recently we (Marc-David and I) have launched our service at http://www.reroutemail.com/
A New Project – My framework actually didn’t fail!
I recently started working on a new freelance project. Now there's nothing special about that because thats what I do for a living right now... But reading around on the internet and in books made me realize again that blogging about it is a good way to get things 'out there' and a way to clear my own mind.
My new project involves the creation of a pretty straight forward web application. Users logging in, an amount of relations between different objects. Some listings, some variables, some conditions, the works.
The fun part about this project is that, so it turns out, it is the stuff that realy makes me happy doing. Its a project in which I can do everything from start to finish. The basic idea is provided, a basic layout is provided and most of the data which should be available stored in the database is provided. So it basicly comes down to creating a solid DB design, creating a technical design, PHP coding, HTML layout, bug testing, bug fixing and deployment.
There are no real constraints on this project in terms of baggage from previous made stuff. No buggy feature which was previously implemented and results in quircky behaviour. No strange DB Designs which actually don't make sense at all.
Most projects I have done in the past actually have this kind of baggage. I am constraint in how to set up the project and only have the freedom of when I do the work, not in how I do the work.
But with this project, I have total freedom, and it makes me happy!
Right from the start I figured I could again use my freshly created framework which, supposedly, 'failed' according to a previous post. Now I couldn't be more wrong when I wrote it! It turns out that although I hadn't much use for some of the features in the past, the things I had created came in real, REAL handy! I had a basic site up and running in a few minutes and in a day orso I was back into the feeling of how it was to code and make real progress real fast. The need for improving the framework returned. And, more pleasingly, my motivation skyrocketed and the work wasn't work anymore, it became fun.
For me fun is one of the things needed to stimulate progress and creativity. When it is fun to work on a project you are constantly thinking about how to create new stuff and improve stuff. In this project I have fixed more bugs and created more effective functionality in the framwork than when I was actively working on the framework itself. And fixing stuff gives you pleasure/satisfaction, and pleasure drives you to create/improve new things, which in their turn gives you more pleasure/satisfaction. It's a win-win situation. And it is one I realy needed at the moment!
Expect more posts later on the project (and I try to keep my word this time )
Getting Real – by 37signals
After a few weeks I decided to start reading "Getting Real" from 37signals. I bought the book when I read about it on a blog from Scott Berkun (Why Requirements Stink) .
I started in the morning and read it from cover to cover in a few hours.
The book does a fabulous job in creating a 'think small and easy' mind-set. And it does so without going in too much detail. Every chapter is relatively small and gets to the point quickly. After every chapter I got the feeling that I wanted to put the theory into practice and start right away. But moreover it made me wanna read the next chapter and find out more (which ultimately resulted into me reading it from cover to cover in one read).
As stated in the introduction, a lot of the principles and methods are not thought up by 37signals themselves. They borowed a few here and there and added their own sauce to create a 'methodology' which is very suitable for themselves. Although they state things as being a fact, they never force things on you. They just point out the way they do it and why it helped them to achiever their goals.
The book made me realise again how 'easy' it is to start a web application and do it right but without all the fuss of elaborate planning, specifications, etc, etc.
Another side-effect of reading the book is that I wanted to blog about it again, and it resulted in me writing 3 blog posts today. I just wanted to get it all out of my system, and get it out of there right away. True, there may be typo's and grammatical errors in some of the posts, but it is the web! When someone points them out they are realy easy to fix. Thats the way the Internet works!
Why creating my framework ‘failed’
In one of my earlier blogs I posted about the framework I wanted to create. At the time I was really anxious in creating it and making it as cool as it was in my mind. Unfortunately, all didn't go as planned and although I have really created some nice stuff, it was not as I had expected.
So what went wrong?
First of all, I stoped working in an environment where the framework was needed for. I stoped working at my former employer and started my own business. At this company there were all sorts of problems which could be fixed by creating a framework of tools and guidelines. The framework had a purpose and the features it should have where crystal clear.
But when I stoped working there, this problem went away... So what I was eager to create became a "solution in search of a problem". And because the necessity for it went away, there was no drive to create all the aspects of it. With that, usefullness and motivation went away.
For a long period of time I did not really see this. I happily started working on it, but was not getting the results I was hoping for. Over time, the time spent on the project deminished and time was spent on other projects instead.
So the project failed?
Well, not really. I did create a solid base for all my other web development projects. The simple websites I created use the framework and it really helped me create them nicely and easily. Right now I use the framework as a "means to an end" instead of an "end". When the framework does not support something I want, I create it. Not the other way around. And although I should have learned this lesson before, from sources like Scott Berkun's: The art of Project Management and numerous other sources (books and online). I think the only way someone really learns the meaning of a statement like "A solution in search of a problem" is to experience it first hand. Preferably in a way he fail's (failure is the best learner).
What now?
Well, I learned quite a bit from the experience, and right now I am aiming on some new projects and products I would like to create. A lot of idea's sprung from reading "Getting Real" by 37signals. I will be posting about the book, and the idea's I'd like to work out, pretty soon.
“PHP Tools which should help developers in creating high availability websites”
Well. There it is... My first official blog entry. True there were trial ones before this first one. But this is the actual one which is going to be visible to everyone!
So, why the hell do I want to start a blog? Everybody is doing it already, and everywhere you see useless information regarding some useless topics with useless comments by useless people. What's the difference with this one?
Actually, I don't know the specific answer to that question. It is partially for a bit of typing-away on the keyboard and partially for venting my ideas somewhere where it can be actually seen. As you may have gathered from my Info page I am currently working on creating some "php tools which should help developers in creating high availability websites".
Blah blah blah blah blah.
It really sounds like I am only using buzz and hype words. And that I am trying to sell some sort of product to people who realy don't need them. And if they actually do need them, there probably is an alternative which is better. But that assumption is wrong. I think the stuff I want to make actually isn't there yet. And if it is there, it is very well hidden (I haven't found it).
I know. What I've typed thus far is not very descriptive about what I am trying to create. The details of the things I want to do are exactly the things I want to describe in my Blog. The basic idea in plain english. For myself as an exercise to draft up the idea, and for other's an explanation of what I want to do.
In my next post I want to go into detail on the basic concept of my idea