Recently, I asked a tennis friend of mine if he was a fan of Jaws, the movie that came out 50 years ago. His paraphrased response: Eh, no, not really… I saw it ages ago when I was a kid and don’t really remember too much about it, except of course for that famous line from the police chief (which he quoted back to me perfectly)!

Jaws is recognised by many as a “cinematic masterpiece”. That is to say, a whole bunch of ingredients came together to realise a piece of art that has made an indelible impact within the movie industry, and indeed within pop culture. Yes, it’s got some blood and gore (a lot less than people expect/remember), but that is entirely secondary to the main thrust of the picture which is all about good old-fashioned honest storytelling and seamless character development. Adapted from the Peter Benchley novel, it truly was a groundbreaking movie in terms of cinematography, editing, brute-force special effects, and iconic music score, all of which masterfully created another level of suspense for which moviegoers were unprepared.

The lore surrounding the making of this movie has certainly been well documented over the years. Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story was produced to mark this year’s anniversary. No matter what business you’re in, the very best projects tend to have their fair share of pain, struggle, good fortune, and above all, a stubbornness to succeed.

For some of the main participants, like Steven Spielberg (director) and John Williams (composer), we might borrow this famous quote:

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration

[Attributed to Thomas Eddison]

And, to be honest, that’s really just put in there to allow me to follow up with this quote:

Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple.

[Willy Wonka - Gene Wilder]

Jaws is an example of a great piece of movie magic. It has soul. It is an original.

I encouraged my tennis friend to go rewatch the movie in a theatre this weekend to get a grown-up’s perspective!

What’s in a Name?

Some bonus material in Benchley’s book includes a copy of the brainstorming ideas for the novel’s title.

Here’s a selection from his list:

Some Quotes from the Movie

Couldn’t very well finish up without a few lines from the movie…

Mr. Vaughn, what we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks, and that's all.

[Hooper - Richard Dreyfuss]

---

Y'all know me. Know how I earn a livin'. I'll catch this bird for you, but it ain't gonna be easy. Bad fish. Not like going down the pond chasin' bluegills and tommycods. This shark, swallow you whole. Little shakin', little tenderizin', an' down you go. And we gotta do it quick, that'll bring back your tourists, put all your businesses on a payin' basis. But it's not gonna be pleasant. I value my neck a lot more than three thousand bucks, chief. I'll find him for three, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten. But you've gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter. I don't want no volunteers, I don't want no mates, there's just too many captains on this island. $10,000 for me by myself. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing.

[Quint - Robert Shaw]

---

You’re gonna need a bigger boat!

[Chief Brody - Roy Scheider]

---

I quickly overlook the ALL-CAPS-ness of the headline and check out the details… One of my beloved electronic artists will be playing in an outdoor venue in the West Country in the summertime - and it’s not going to be one of these festival things where you wind up with a hodge-podge of attendees… No, this is going to be 95% hardcore Underworld enthusiasts and their cool offspring! I start planning how to make this part of our annual family trip back to Ireland… the anticipation begins… really hope this doesn’t disappoint… I know it won’t…

Album Drop

Underworld released their 11th studio album today: Strawberry Hotel. Some of the songs were introduced earlier in the year while on tour and as singles on streaming platforms. The band is primarily comprised of a British duo, both well into their 60’s, who have been pioneering a brand of electronic sound for over thirty years. Very much an album focused band, some of their songs (particularly on the earlier albums) extend over the 10-minute mark.

How can two guys, Rick fiddling with knobs on various different computer devices while Karl sings with a thick English accent and does some sort of interpretive dance, constitute a band? Where’s the guitarist, the bass player, the drummer, the keyboard player, et cetera?

What even is electronic music? Repetitive beats and loops and chest crunching bass that heightens the acid high for the ravers at some underground nightclub venue in Ibiza? Well, of course that’s just one very narrow slice of the pie. And for many, a distasteful one. However, I would encourage anyone to explore the evolution of “electronica” as a music genre, its infiltration into the mainstream and popular culture, and indeed its influence on and crossover into other musical genres. Like anything, it’s hugely subjective, but I reckon there’s something for everyone in the mix… krautrock, techno, house, big beat, drum and bass, jungle, trip hop, downtempo, ambient, et cetera.

Similar to other duos like Daft Punk, Orbital, and The Chemical Brothers, the complementary talents in the partnership have ensured the longevity of the Underworld collaboration and consistent critical acclaim. Rick Smith is the main composer and electronics guy and Karl Hyde brings his distinctive lyrical & vocal style and vast energy to the equation. Their music has a lot of range and, aside from the impressive studio discography and various EP’s and collectors editions, is featured in soundtracks and scores for film and television. In addition, the duo were chosen to compose and direct the music for the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Beat Drop

Back in 1996, an English movie director, Danny Boyle (who was also involved in the aforementioned 2012 Summer Olympics), convinced our duo to allow him to use some of their music as the “heartbeat” of Trainspotting, a dark comedy that revolves around heroin addiction. The success of the film thrust Underworld from relative obscurity into the commercial mainstream (well, fairly mainstream), ensuring that the duo would reach a much wider audience base and allow them to continue to evolve their sound without compromise, while utilizing increasingly sophisticated tech.

Born Slippy was the big hit from the movie - at its core, a song about addiction (alcoholism) and the darkness that comes with it. For Underworld, this would be like Radiohead’s Creep, or Beck’s Loser. To this day, the two boys probably still marvel at how content with such a dark theme can transform, for many, into a euphoric clubbing anthem. This is where the magic lies. Like any good creation of art, the observer will be transported to somewhere that is a good place for them.

A drop or beat drop in music, made popular by electronic dance music (EDM) styles, is a point in a music track where a sudden change of rhythm or bass line occurs, which is preceded by a build-up section and break.

[La guida alla musica moderna di Wire, 2010]

Born Slippy contains one of my favourite beat drops. It has been the crowd pleaser at Underworld shows for over twenty years. I don’t think it ever gets old, and certainly seems to keep the duo young at heart. I read that it is to be the final track on the setlist for the 2024 tour.

Twin Drop

The Wyldes is a cool, laid back venue out in the middle of nowhere, about a 20 minute drive from coastal Bude, in the northern part of Cornwall. A mini Glastonbury (also located in that general part of the country, not far from Stonehenge). I had never been to the southwest of England before. I was all set to sample a genuine Cornish pasty and listen out for some good accents. The Cornish coast is part of the British Riviera. That title is well earned - the beaches along here are fantastic.

The day of the gig arrives. It’s kinda like Christmas-morning-as-a-kid vibes for me. After a little pregame action, we pile into a shuttle bus to take us from Bude to the venue. I’m accompanied by my twin daughters, Ingrid & Katherine, their childhood friend, Emily, and my nephew, Troy (an excellent musician in his own right, and a great student and critic of music of all genres… I’m really hoping he digs this).

We get there. The crowd starts streaming in to take the unseasonable chill out of the air. There are a lot of English people in close quarters around us. Over two thousand! But, as expected, this is by and large a very experienced concert-going bunch. Being the understated guys that they are, Rick and Karl slink on to the main stage without many of us even realizing it. We scamper out of the VIP bar area and into the melee. It begins…

Towards the end of the show, my daughters drop the rhetorical question, which I’ll paraphrase: So, Dad, was this a father-daughter dream-come-true moment?

Indeed, a truly beautiful experience that always brings a smile to my heart when I bring it into my consciousness. This was really all about my girls. My duo.

“You bring light in. You bring light in”. Thank you.

As such, it can be a very natural, innocent, and necessary practice. Or, on the other extreme, we may be confronted with the belligerent plagiarist hailing their originality for something that was blatantly copied on-the-sly from someone more gifted.

Here, I'd like to specifically touch on vocal copycatting.

The term echolalia tends to be used in circles relating to the research of autism. Generally, it’s a transition period in language development for small children. But for autistic people, of all ages, who don’t have functional language skills, it can manifest as one of their primary means of communication.

The variety of the impression can range from hyperbolic caricature to a faithful rendition of a well-known scene/speech. The impersonator will typically go the caricature route, and will tend to place the character into situations that are entirely foreign to our knowledge of that character. On the other hand, the straight-up mimic will follow more the parrot-like behaviour.

Voice cloning/spoofing has been around for a while in a much more limited capacity. We've seen how Siri (and the like) has started to sound a little more realistic. Deepfake audio takes it to another level, and there have already been reports of its "impactful" malicious usage in business and political contexts.

Mea Culpa

For myself, I've always been fascinated with accents and dialects. As a quiet, shy type, growing up amid a family of six children, it was very liberating and fun to be able to bounce impressions off of my siblings and friends. From the thickly accented English soaps (Coronation Street, Eastenders, Brookside, ...), to the poetic sports commentators (Ted Lowe, Dan Maskell, Sid Waddell, ...), to our beloved comedic characters (from Sgt. Bilko to Basil Fawlty), and then the characters on the Big Screen (from The Man With No Name to Dr. Hannibal Lector).

Sometimes when you're trying to do the impression, you'll know yourself that it's a bit off, it's not very accurate, but, very often, that doesn't really matter. It's more about connecting with your audience (whether it be your best friend, or a group of virtual strangers) in a fun and more meaningful way.

The Trip

We all have our own favourite impressionists/impersonators. They might be doing a stand-up act, or a turn on Graham Norton. Or, it could be the hilarious Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon who flex their skills while indulging their culinary palates.

My Little Foray

Recently, I decided to purchase a non-expensive mic and start creating a few voice recordings. I've uploaded some of these to a YouTube playlist. When you've got some spare time, and need some background noise, feel free to visit:

Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a straightforward technique derived from a practice associated with the ancient Vedic traditions of India. This knowledge was introduced to the West by Maharishi in the 1950's, as part of his ultimate goal to bring about World Peace. Understanding that a single religion could never be the driving force to achieve such a vision, Maharishi made sure to disassociate the TM technique (and other Vedic teachings) from any Hindu vestiges.

Aside: my father met Maharishi in Dublin during his European tour in 1983

But, this is not really about TM. Instead, I'd like to delve a little into the practice of retreating in our current society.

• Terminology: for starters, the term has somewhat negative connotations, certainly on the battlefield, but also perhaps implies admitting that we have a personal weakness or some such thing that we need to work on.

• Psyche: is the idea even in the mainstream psyche anymore? Or, has it ever been? Has it been more of a thing that is organized by your local church or school? Or, maybe best left to those do-gooder types that head off to Africa on a mission trip? Or, indeed, those annual (but oft contrived) team-building exercises for which everyone in the office is obliged to sign up?

• Effort: we are creatures of habit. So, even if we get to the point where we are seriously and voluntarily considering some sort of intentional retreat, it's such an effort to break out of our daily routines. There are always plenty of excuses to put it off - work, family, other busy'ness... And, fear!

Rather than trying to work on the terminology, perhaps we should attempt to recast the notion of "retreat" to something less stuffy, something more appealing, more mainstream.

First things first, we need to redress the mindset that pervades, in countries like the USA, wherein taking holidays - a.k.a. vacation, ETO (Earned Time Off), PTO (Paid Time Off), FTO (Flexible Time Off), et cetera - is almost frowned upon. Or, certainly, taking an "extended break" of say two weeks is generally considered unusual behavior (particularly if you are in your 20's or 30's). But, of course, it's not unusual behaviour, rather it is essential in order to properly disconnect, to rest, to refocus, to reenergize.

Once we all accept that taking-time-out is right, it is of course up to the individual to decide how to spend that time.

• To simply vacate your home temporarily is a good start.

• The degree to which you are willing to go outside of your comfort zone is an important choice. There's no right or wrong here. This is very subjective and very much based on where you're at. But, the important thing is to be open to this reality.

• Formal or informal?

  • An ad hoc, spontaneous type of getaway with friends/family, or

  • A trip where you give up control and allow others to prescribe and administer the agenda.

• Above all, I would say rest is key. Whether you plan to engage intellectually, spiritually, meditatively, or in a more physically active way, the criticality of rest and sleep cannot be overstated. Depending on the nature of the vacation/retreat, your reintroduction into "normal life" should be well planned. A 5-day mountaineering trip should certainly include adequate downtime before getting back into the regular routine.

At my recent retreat, there was intense restfulness, meaningful knowledge sharing, and beautiful fellowship. The Sisters that hosted us did so with the ultimate of respect and efficiency, along with unwavering vitality and infectious good humor. For me, their character was one of the most striking aspects of the entire experience. This was manifest in many different little ways, not least the willingness to embrace vegan cuisine (the prescribed style of diet for the retreat, albeit rather alien for the traditional American/Filipino).

This fine Canadian actor was something of a rare breed. You were never quite sure what you were going to get when he appeared on screen. His character portrayals were rarely straightforward, and always interesting and engaging... sometimes charming, sometimes menacing. His presence on set surely elevated the collective performances of the entire cast, whether it be in his earlier days in M*A*S*H (the movie, 1970), or later on in The Hunger Games series.

His performance in Don't Look Now (1973) with Julie Christie is a standout for me - the raw intensity is spellbinding, and makes for a devastatingly unsettling experience, both while watching the show and thereafter...

Some Quotes

"For me, working with these great guys was like falling in love. I was their lover, their beloved." [speaking of Fellini, Altman, Bertolucci, and the like]

"Film acting is about the surrender of will to the director."

"Working for Fellini was the best experience of my life. For an actor, there is no one like him. More than anyone else in the world, you submit to Fellini. He is the master, and you go to serve."

This job posting (an excerpt) actually appeared recently on a popular professional networking platform:

It got me thinking a little further about the impact of AI in the recruiting sector. Indeed, while speaking with a recruiter recently (an actual real person, on the phone), we touched on this a little, and the extra challenges that both recruiters and candidates are facing as a result.

This kind of disruption is not unusual when some "new" tech is being adopted and evolved.

Rather than try to articulate some of my thinkings, for now, at least, I'm going to simply leave you with this:

In my post (mentioned above), I use the term Wild Wild West to refer to the coding cowboy culture. Indeed, one might be inclined to use it to refer to the state of tech recruitment at the moment (especially as more and more companies embrace the work-from-home model)... no doubt the churn will settle down and things will improve in this space, and hopefully I won't end up having to modify this WWW term to a WW! [apologies, I couldn't resist]

The notion of truth, of understanding, of perspective, of belief, of doubt... these are explored through our hero's conflicting recounts of his odyssey from a primarily theological gait. But, we can see how one might apply this idea to other less lofty stuff - stuff that does not pertain to divinity or potential existence beyond the earthly one.

For example, in a professional scope, the entrepreneurial spirit is embodied by an innate ability to push on through, leaving uncertainty in its wake. We hear phrases like:

• Thinking outside the box

• Pushing the envelope

• Daring

This is coupled with the less glamourous side:

• Discipline

• Self-motivation

• Ability to learn from "failure".

But, regardless of whether we are in the workplace or in the spiritual space, or whatever it might be, it generally boils down to this:

• Are you open and willing to take the leap, or instead, to remain in the relatively comfortable reality with which you are more familiar?

Pi Patel: "So, you didn't like my story?"

Mr. Okamoto: "No, we liked it very much. Didn't we, Atsuro? We will remember it for a long, long time."

Mr. Chiba: "We will."

[Silence]

Mr. Okamoto: "But for the purposes of our investigation, we would like to know what really happened."

Pi Patel: "What really happened?"

"Yes. "

"So you want another story?"

"Uhh... no. We would like to know what really happened."

"Doesn't the telling of something always become a story?"

"Uhh... perhaps in English. In Japanese a story would have an element of invention in it. We don't want any invention. We want the 'straight facts', as you say in English."

"Isn't telling about something - using words, English or Japanese - already something of an invention? Isn't just looking upon this world already something of an invention?"

"Uhh... "

"The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no? Doesn't that make life a story?"

"Ha! Ha! Ha! You are very intelligent, Mr. Patel."

(Mr. Chiba: What is he talking about?")

(Mr. Okamoto: "I have no idea.")

Pi Patel: "You want words that reflect reality?"

"Yes.'

"Words that do not contradict reality?"

"Exactly."

"But tigers don't contradict reality.'

"Oh please, no more tigers. "

"I know what you want. You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently. You want a flat story. An immobile story. You want dry, yeastless factuality."

"Uhh..."

"You want a story without animals."

"Yes!"

"Without tigers or orang-utans."

"That's right."

"Without hyenas or zebras."

"Without them."

"Without meerkats or mongooses."

"We don't want them."

"Without giraffes or hippopotamuses."

"We will plug our ears with our fingers!"

"So I'm right. You want a story without animals."

"We want a story without animals that will explain the sinking of the Tsimtsum."

"Give me a minute, please."

"Of course. (I think we're finally getting somewhere. Let's hope he speaks some sense.)"

[Long silence]

'Here's another story..."

There's little else to be said, really, other than, check him out or revisit his stuff, whichever applies!

Misc

We're all very familiar with the concept of multitasking, or at least, with the notion of multitasking that pervades our current society, be it in a work setting or at home.

We are fed the notion that we should be constantly capable of and actively doing multiple things at the same time throughout our day. A classic example can be taken from the fast-food/work culture wherein we find ourselves behind the steering wheel, exiting the drive-thru, with the intention to navigate safely back to the office (during rush hour, using our favourite app to find the best route), while scoffing down the "nutrition", and following up on several work calls and emails that we neglected earlier.

The concept of multitasking involves working on two or more tasks simultaneously, switching back and forth from one thing to another, until all tasks are completed. Psychologists would argue that, strictly speaking, the act of "multitasking" is a bit of a misnomer for humans - we are not really built to perform multiple things at once. Of course, this all depends on your very definition of a "task", or "sub-task".

Multitasking at Home

One of the most obvious settings for this topic is the kitchen... My earliest memories would be of my mother (back in Ireland) preparing the Sunday lunch...

How did she manage to produce such a feast in what seemed like such a short amount of time (albeit time being a very fuzzy concept for a youngster of 7 or 8 years of age)?

• The soup (made from scratch) and bread rolls

• Followed by:

  • The roast beast (Irish lamb or Irish beef being our favourite)

  • the roast potatoes (beautifully textured) and the mashed potatoes (beautifully creamed) - it is an Irish household after all :)

  • the cauliflower or celery (bathing in a piping hot bechamel)

  • the token carrots or peas (admittedly not my favourites, back then)

  • the Yorkshire pudding (if it was beef)

  • and the gravy (sublime, no packet of Bisto crap here)

• Followed by:

  • The dessert (hard to pick a favourite... perhaps the cornflake based one, which we called the Coolgreany dessert)

• All of this in addition to attending Sunday Service and taking the clothes in from the line before the rain got too much.

• I should add that my father would insert himself at important moments in the process - preheat the oven, set the dining table, take care of the beverages, and help out with the serving.

Judicious multitasking in the kitchen is of course essential. When following a recipe (or multiple recipes), the "steps" (or sub-tasks) almost always have to be interleaved in some fashion - performing/completing each and every step sequentially is clearly suboptimal, resulting in a ravenous cantankerous rabble (be they young or old). With that said, doing too many things at once, or having "too many cooks in the kitchen", can have disastrous consequences (pre-al-dente/mush, char-less/burnt, bland/acrid, watery/gloopy, ...).

Multitasking at Work

The electronic age heralded a change in our daily work habits. Having various information technology devices and communication media at our fingertips promotes a multitasking type of behaviour. The work-from-home culture is exacerbating these tendencies. Meetings, particularly in the virtual form, are becoming less effective as a means of collaboration and making decisions on stuff -- too often, the participants are preoccupying themselves with other "sub-tasks" (messaging, email, Web browsing, etc.) and are simply not engaged enough to truly participate.

This seems like a good place to touch on this general topic from a software developer's perspective.

Multitasking in Computer Science

The concept of executing multiple tasks concurrently requires the introduction of some additional vernacular.

This is a huge area in computing, and the above is just a little rudimentary sampler. Computing has many different variants in this space, all to do with executing and completing tasks in the most efficient manner possible. It's an ever evolving area at both the hardware and software level, but, for the most part, it goes anywhere from basic concurrency (one cook in the kitchen at home) to extreme parallelism (a team of chefs in a Michelin star graded kitchen).

Multitasking in Software Development

In terms of the daily behaviour of the software developer (indeed this applies to many different professions), multitasking has become a rather contentious subject. The advice from the "experts" can be quite polarizing:

1. The Agile purist might insist that one must block out all distractions that might potentially detract focus away from the top priority coding task at hand... the noise-cancelling headphones are donned, the DND (Do-Not-Disturb) status is activated in the collaboration app, notifications are turned off, email and other windows are closed on the desktop, no home-from-school kids in the next room, and absolutely no meetings.

2. The "team player" can only become such if they are an "excellent multitasker", open to interruptions throughout the entire day - i.e. status: green (available). They should read (and optionally respond to) email/text messages in a timely manner, openly volunteer to pivot to some other task that is deemed higher priority (who prioritizes these things? Ahem, that's a whole other discussion!...), be the first one to perform a code review when a colleague creates a PR, etc.

As with most things in life, the extremist approach rarely works well for the greater good.

Monotasking

Dr. Mark suggested you start by observing yourself throughout the day, noticing when and how you task-switch without realizing it. From there, the advice is simple yet challenging: You’ll need to practice monotasking, or doing one thing at a time, to gradually retrain your focus and build your tolerance.

[excerpt from the aforementioned NY Times article, which also cites this workplace study]

Intentional Multitasking

The NY Times article concludes with a little advice on how to become more intentional about your "multitasking habits". I'm going to repurpose that advice here with a software developer bias.

1. Stick to your strengths: for tasks that we know will require a lot of "brain power" (due to relative complexity and/or limited, beginner level knowledge/experience), it's best to take on some of that Agile purist mindset and concentrate fully on the task at hand. For other tasks with which you are extremely comfortable, some task-switching will not be an issue (e.g. during these times, you can allow yourself to be more responsive to external disruptions, to assist a colleague or whatever).

2. Weigh the risks: sometimes it's necessary to log on to a customer's system and perform some sort of tweak to rectify a behavioural defect. For example, this might require altering some data in the customer's database. While the developer may have done this sort of thing on countless previous occasions, any time you are dealing with "production data", regardless of whether the "data cleansing" is trivial or more involved, you really need to be focused and meticulous, and set yourself up to be distraction free until the task has been completed.

3. Find break points: a customer support issue is being worked and the developer is knee deep in the bowels of debugging a decidedly elongated stack trace, while also looking at logs in the monitoring tool, while also trying to figure out how to reproduce the behaviour in-house in a repeatable manner. Rather than switching away from this complex task in an ad hoc fashion (and then having to try to remember where you left off upon returning), the developer should proactively set some targets along the way, which can act as natural "breakpoints" (pun intended for techie readers!) to preserve sanity and avoid brain-power drainage. The first breakpoint might be the formulation of an initial root cause analysis (where perhaps the source of the defect is isolated to a particular "component" in the system, and a particular category - bad data, software logic, infrastructural, etc.).

4. Use multitasking when it actually helps: the article's author suggests habit stacking as a useful technique to encourage more productive patterns of behaviour by associating/linking an existing/instinctive habit with one that is less comfortable, or perhaps less engaging. For example, if you've been stuck with a somewhat mundane, tedious task (perhaps involving data entry, or some manual regression testing, or some rudimentary housekeeping/refactoring work), then it might be a good time to crank up some block rockin' beats (or whatever gets you going) to keep you energized so that you can push through and bring the task to completion!

So, this is all well and good, but what does multitasking have to do with storytelling (the underlying theme of this blog)?

A great story (book, movie, lecture, et cetera) comprises the main plot (or simply the main character/subject, if the plot is insignificant), and may well have various other sub-plots (supporting characters/subjects) in the mix. As the reader, we become engaged by virtue of a strong hook. We need one central theme, or plotline, or character development upon which to concentrate. If we are presented with too many superfluous threads and tangents with no readily apparent coherent hierarchy, then we tend to tune out, become less engaged, and perhaps get to the point where we have little interest in getting to the end of the story (we might instead ask, "What is this story actually about or what is it trying to say?").

It might well be that the audience comes into it with a healthy spirit of intentionality and mindfulness, however, it's up to the author to do their part and to not force the audience to work too hard (regardless of the subjective biases of the audience)!

About two billion people (i.e. 1 in every 4 humans on this planet) are gearing up to celebrate Easter this coming Sunday, in some shape or form. This is the most profound feast on the Christian calendar and, whether they like it or not, is indelibly embedded in the psyche of those who have been raised within the backdrop of a Christian belief system.

Discipline

Most of us scowl at the thought of being coerced into the adherence to some particular discipline, be it theological, health related, work related, etc. We don't like the idea of becoming another little disciple. In today's world, we are conditioned to "prioritize" self...

• I can be whoever and whatever I want to be!

• I know what's best for me and what works for me!

• I control my own destiny!

• And you can too!

Now, if you'll indulge me, I'll ask you to reread the above exclamations...

Do they sound like they are being uttered by a self-centered brat or by an ethically empowered woke [sic] individual who wants to solve World Peace?

Okay, that's such an unfair/loaded question - let's park it and leave it as a rhetorical (eh, or, if you like, feel free to use the comment box below ;-)).

The point I will try to make here is that it's almost impossible to deny the paradox that exists in this realm; structure, order, and consistency (prime ingredients for being disciplined) are so often considered the recipe for a stifling culture, notwithstanding the fact that we humans are creatures of habit and most of us would concur that we collaborate more effectively when we're all on the same page.

Indifference

Earlier this evening, I reprised my role as Pontius Pilate in a presentation of the Good Friday Passion at our local Catholic church. This political leader exudes one of the most underestimated of human flaws in the telling: indifference. And, more often than not, as we have here, the perpetrator of indifference goes into it with the awareness that this action (or inaction) will result in some form of personal gain.

We see these characteristics in many different professional walks of life.

In software development we have amassed a huge body of knowledge and experience in how we build and maintain systems that add some sort of value to humanity. In addition to the continuous development of better technologies and patterns for communicating with computers, the industry has a bunch of well known sets of processes, or disciplines, which development organizations selectively follow.

We talk about schemaless data models, object oriented analysis and design, asynchronous programming, machine learning, test-driven development, the Agile philosophy, and so on and so forth. Like all doctrines, they are there to be explored and to be utilized appropriately and wholeheartedly. Some are more complex and contentious than others - open to (mis)interpretation and prone to poor implementation. But, ultimately, they are there to help us to do our thing and to continuously strive to do that same thing, and to do other more interesting things, even better the next time!

The world is full o' complainers. An' the fact is, nothin' comes with a guarantee. Now I don't care if you're the pope of Rome, President of the United States or Man of the Year; somethin' can all go wrong. Now go on ahead, y'know, complain, tell your problems to your neighbor, ask for help, 'n watch him fly. Now, in Russia, they got it mapped out so that everyone pulls for everyone else... that's the theory, anyway. But what I know about is Texas, an' down here... you're on your own.

[opening narration, "Blood Simple" (1984)]

The great M. Emmet Walsh passed away recently at the grand old age of 88. The creation of his (arguably?) most memorable character was quite the collaboration between the pen of the Coen Brothers and the talent & moxy of this exceptional character actor. He gambled on these fledgling movie makers, and with incredible self assuredness, developed a distinctive Texan drawl and demeanour in his portrayal of Private Detective Visser - even more impressive coming from one raised in the great Anglo-Saxon state of Vermont (albeit of Irish lineage).

You know, you know, a friend of mine a while back broke his hand and put it in a cast. Very next day, he falls, protects his bad hand, and he breaks his good one. So he breaks it too, you know. So, now he's got two busted flippers. So, I says to him: "Creighton," I says. "I hope your wife really loves you, because for the next five weeks, you can't even wipe your own god damn ass." [laughs]

Now at this point, I would normally be inclined to draw parallels between my subject and software development. I might compare this exceptional professional to the exemplar in an Agile team environment - a phenomenal supporting actor to his peers, possessing an undeniable knack for making each project a success, and thereby making everyone look good. Or, I might digress and ramble on about the entrepreneurial feat that the Coens pulled off here to kickstart a remarkable career, and how it reminds us of some of those in the tech space. How much is pure luck and pure genius? Hindsight usually does not lie (too much).

Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple.

[Gene Wilder's Wonka (I mean, is there really any other?), while making a mysterious formula]

But let's not digress here...

This post is about celebrating the life and works of a great American actor.

This link was the first thing that popped up on Google.

M. Emmet RIP.

There are plenty of writings on this out there on the WWW. For example, this article on Medium which explores this approach vis-à-vis innovation. An environment that permits this culture of behaviour, or indeed, (inadvertently, we hope) promotes it, tends to result in a landscape that resembles the Wild Wild West - i.e. not a particularly professional, ethical, nor sustainable one.

The Coding Bandit

The alliterative quality of the term is undeniable. However, perhaps a better phrase would be: the coding bandit. The true cowboy is the herder that works tirelessly as an individual and works well with fellow grafters, with the ultimate goal of supporting the family, and the broader community. On the other hand, the bandit is more of a self-absorbed desperado, who is fueled by a desire for financial remuneration and notoriety.

Detection

So, what are the telltale signs that a Cowboy Coding individual or culture has infiltrated the organization?

Here are a few:

1. The Hero Persona: we all know the guy that prances around from team to team and who is well able to talk the talk. Perhaps his normal job is in the professional services department, or the like. The CTO will foist this clever citizen upon the unwitting engineering team to lead the effort of bringing some novel idea to fruition. Our "hero" (or antihero), is undoubtedly a skilled developer from a prototyping perspective. He's able to quickly churn out code and get it committed (with incredible ease, despite the PR review process that's in place) and get some stuff working, with precious little genuine focus on the edge-case requirements, non-functional requirements (performance, security, extensibility, etc.), and due diligence in terms of software testing. Once the "pre-alpha" is deemed a success, he's off on his way to be a hero someplace else!

2. Low Morale & Team Spirit: the root source of a broken team can sometimes be difficult to diagnose. Counterintuitively (perhaps), autonomy and lack of structure are very often the recipe for this deterioration (structure is very often misconstrued as a vehicle for stunting productivity and creativity, as opposed to its primary goal of bringing consistency to the process of building and delivering quality software). Havoc is inevitable if the Cowboy is allowed to do his own thing. Havoc not only in the codebase itself, but also within the team (and cross-team) dynamic.

3. Technical Debt: how often does so-called prototype code end up persisting through the entire lifecycle of a codebase? Or, perhaps more devastatingly, how often does prototype code become the exemplar pattern? Prototyping is of course an important part of the development process. The key is to ensure that the prototype code (which implicitly includes underlying architectural dependencies, design decisions, etc.) is subsequently fleshed out fully and held to the same standards as any other code in the system. Whenever there's a Cowboy in the mix, proof-of-concept type code tends to stick as is (like mud!). In my experience, this modus operandi is a prime source of technical debt in software systems.

Very often these signs are far more fuzzy than suggested above and can easily fly under the radar for quite some time. It's up to managers and developers alike to be vigilant!

Resolution

In the WWW, presence of the rat is advertised to all, and then the bounty hunters take on the challenge of capturing the culprit so that justice might be served and the WWW can become a slightly safer and more orderly place; until the next rat comes along!

In a software development organization, it is sometimes feasible to fire the antagonist. However, very often, the wrangler can simply move on to some other jurisdiction, or if the infiltration is too deep then this approach is not practical. The Cowboy is usually adept at ensuring high job security - brown-nosing with the C-level, plamausing the sales folks, and deceiving engineering managers and (perhaps also) peers.

Management and developers may well be aware that this rock star continues to moonlight from one team in the department to another, leaving an ungodly mess in his wake. But, it's quite the other thing to be willing and able to convince the powers-that-be of this reality.

Accountability

Continually fostering and demanding a culture of accountability and transparency is the only way (I believe). All contributors to the codebase must be willing to pony up in terms of accountability, regardless of longevity in the department and/or within a particular team, and regardless of ones label (be it "associate" or "fellow"). And let's not forget, as Kent Beck rightly highlights in this article, accountability is not to be mistaken for "the blame game".

• honesty, trustworthiness, transparency, teamwork, accountability

• confidentiality, objectivity, respect, strive for excellence, loyalty

The following is a somewhat ad hoc list in the context of software engineering:

I would contend that coders should think of themselves as actual storytellers on a daily basis, rather than just occasionally being reminded of the amusing little comparisons between reading a story, say, and reviewing someone else's code.

The User Story Concept

Agile pushed this into its very vernacular with the user story (and epic) concept. But all too many coders dismiss it as such - i.e. just a concept; simply a non-techie spiel concocted by the business-analyst/scrum-master that attempts to describe yet another random little feature that needs to be added to the application.

Caution

In my opinion, to devalue this concept and to ignore the fundamental precepts of both good and bad, and ugly, storytelling while writing code is a critical mistake!

A Culture of Impatience & Fear

Many coders (mostly inexperienced ones, but also those who should know better) tend to dive in when tasked with a particular assignment. Once the basic solution (typically a familiar pattern, already used in various other places in the application) has been conceived, very often there is precious little additional upfront planning prior to actually writing the code.

The on-demand culture of today suggests that one should just jump in and make the best stab at churning out the code. Even if your solution is going to have to end up being a bit kludgy and/or if it's going to require a bunch of code duplication, no matter, there's no time to think about the future, nor if some restructuring (refactoring) should happen right now (maybe later - yep, let's just add a TODO comment for now)... After all, we have to demo this stuff to the powers-that-be next Wednesday at sprint reviews and we certainly don't want our team to look bad!!

There tends to be a fixation on the here-and-now functional requirements, with little real thought for the non-functional requirements which tend to only bubble up to the surface in the mid-to-longer term - i.e. later on, when the code is struggling in production, customer churn is overpouring, and the sh*t has truly hit the proverbial fan (please excuse the expletive)!

Be Articulate

In the age of social media, the dumbing down of natural language is of genuine concern on a global scale. Education systems tend to promote learn-by-rote rather than creativity and critical thinking, and would appear to have a blatant disregard for the skill of being articulate. Thus, the scholar is bombarded with multiple-choice checkboxes as the primary gauge!

It seems the newer generations are rarely encouraged to tell a story anymore, whether it be in the form of a written composition or some form of speaking to an audience, nor indeed to read a good book and broaden their minds and their vocabulary!

Coders learn Computer Science fundamentals in school, and then go get a job by ticking all the boxes. But, very often, once they are ensconced in their well-paid position, they tend to forget to adapt that knowledge in their everyday coding habits. I see it all the time... they'll claim to be object-oriented aficionados, for example, but when it comes to reviewing that PR, the code is bleeding with anti-pattern guilt.

This is where the more experienced developers need to step up today. We need to lead by example and promote the emergence of a highly articulate workforce across the board in this industry!

Be Brave and Be Creative

To conclude, I would tell all software engineers (as I do so repeatedly to myself):

• to ignore the fearmongering and the self-centeredness in our current society,

• to ignore those worries about "not getting it absolutely correct the first time",

• to own up to your mistakes (poor design choices, bugs, etc.) - we are human, we all make mistakes!...,

• to be okay with saying: "I need a little assistance, else I'm going to continue to bang my head against that typewriter for another fruitless 4 hours",

• to push back: "We underestimated the complexity of the task, we need a little more time to do the right thing", and

• to do one's homework, whether it be on your own personal time or that of the company's. Always be looking to improve at what you do every day, in the hope "that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding".

Remember: showing a little vulnerability, now and again, is a strength... just so long as you don't get too fond of it ;-)