One thing that's been advocated in this, and many other forums, is to learn whatever we can however we can. If we want to be the best whatevers we can possibly be, we have to be willing to take the ego hit and squeeze every opportunity from every situation we encounter.

I love it when I see someone being willing to take the hit and post their code for open criticism. stefp's sig saying to message for english corrections is great, too.

At this point, I'm going to depart from the readily-acceptable and venture into territory that's going to get me --'ed hardcore.

The terrorist attack on the WTC and the Pentagon contains lessons for us to learn. Not just the trite lessons about airport security (we need the military doing our security, not minimum-wagers) or about intelligence gathering (anyone can hide from the CIA, frankly). Real lessons about organization, planning, and execution.

Every programming project has, essentially, 6 stages:

  1. Requirements
  2. Design
  3. Implementation
  4. Testing
  5. Roll-out/Maintenance
  6. Retirement
Every single project needs to plan, organize, and effectively execute all six stages to be a resounding success. How many of us have been on projects whose requirements were vague, design incomplete, and testing inadequate? Yet, we, the implementors, were chastised for putting out a buggy product behind schedule and over budget. (Even assuming the product got out the door!)

The terrorists, whoever they were, did the following:

  1. Stated an objective.
  2. Determined requirements to achieve that objective, including the necessary training and resources.
  3. Created a step-by-step plan with milestones to achieve.
  4. Executed that plan, essentially flawlessly.
Now, I have no idea if they had all of this on paper. But, there are early indications that this was over a year in the making, with at least 50+ people in several nations taking part.

Now, imagine a programming project of that magnitude. 100 people in 5 countries. Imagine the planning required up front. Imagine the training necessary to achieve that objective. Imagine even having a concrete objective!

I think we can take away a lot from the terrorists. I know that I will be looking at my future projects with this in mind. Whenever I despair, I'll realize that every project is doable. (However, some projects, while doable, should never be done.)

I'm not idolizing them. They nearly killed my father. I personally HATE every single one of those motherless pig-dogs. However, my hate will not blind me from a lesson I can learn.

------
We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

Don't go borrowing trouble. For programmers, this means Worry only about what you need to implement.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Learning from any source
by VSarkiss (Monsignor) on Sep 14, 2001 at 03:31 UTC

    I've been debating writing a reply to this all day. I guess I'll take the plunge.

    I think you're trying to find something good out of this unspeakably horrible act by having a positive regard for the coordination behind it. I think I understand your motivations, and I believe they're good ones. But the fact that this was all in the service of evil and mayhem cheapens it beyond redemption. I can't come away with a positive regard for these individuals -- the degree of thought and planning they put into it makes it more awful for me, not less. I can't imagine someone with enough hatred, enough venom in their soul, to spend months, possibly years, planning a disaster of this magnitude with such precision. I can't reconcile it with my belief that deep in the core of any human is a kernel of good.

    But I would suggest you turn it around. If you want to carry away something positive for the future, think about some of the positive things that happened, miniscule though they may be against the backdrop of the disaster. To me the biggest wonder was the fact that the towers failed safely. They collapsed on themselves rather than leaning over and demolishing the rest of Manhattan. Think about that when you build your next system: if it fails, what will come down with it?

    Better still, think about the incredible effort that went into raising those towers. As a matter of fact, any major construction -- a skyscraper, a bridge, an airport -- needs planning and coordination on a much vaster scale than what's needed to implement a software project. Think about what lessons you could learn from those.

    As I said, I think I understand your motivations. I apologize if I've misunderstood you. But to me, the horror of what those plans brought about taints them irremediably. I can't marvel at them; all I feel is contempt for the planners -- and amazement at what humans are capable of wreaking against their own kind.

[reply]
      I actually had this exact discussion with my manager today during our monthly "How are you doing as a person?" meetings. (For all you managers out there, implement that!) And, an interesting point was raised. It may be somewhat OT, but the entire WTC is (strictly-speaking) OT for PM anyways.

      (As a bit of background, he's a born-again Christian and I'm a Wiccan with an amateur philosophy background.)

      "Evil", as a term, has been bandied about waaaay too much in the past 50 years. And, frankly, I do not think it applies to this, or any other, terrorist bombing ever done. The only situation from the past century I can think of that "evil" could possibly apply to would be the pogroms of the USSR under Stalin. No, not even the Holocaust.

      Before I go any further, let me define what I consider to be "evil". It is an adjective, describing an act that has no redeeming goals and no possible redeeming qualities.

      An act can be horrific, despicable, and make us cringe in our seats ... yet not be evil. And, in no way would I ever advocate an act whose execution takes life in any form without a significant redeeming nature, such as food or defense of self/family.

      The Holocaust, and Nazi Germany in general, was a true holocaust. Over 25% of the Jews (and other undesirables) alive on the Earth at the time died in a period of 6 years, most in unspeakable agony. Yet, the goal behind it, while reprehensible, was (given their assumptions) ... conceivable. It was within the paradigm of Nazi Germany to eradicate another "race of humans". (Note that I do not subscribe to the fallacy of human racial differences ... all humans are of one species. That is the only differentiation supportable by science.)

      In addition, Nazi Germany gave us the superhighway, German-engineered cars (especially the VolksWagon), and ultimately the Apollo program. It ignited the need for computing machinery (for which every person who reads this is grateful) and paved the way for the EU (which most people won't find evil).

      Plus, and this is debatable as to whether this is a good thing, without the Holocaust there would have been no Israel. No Jewish homeland. No end to the Diaspora that had lasted well over 1500 years.

      The other ethnic cleansings that have happened (with alarming regularity) in the past 50 years have their roots in the desire for homogeneity and cultural identity. We, as Westerners in Europe and North America, have that very same desire in all of our hearts. I recognize it in myself and I'm both white and black. We just don't let it flare up (at least not since the 60's...)

      What the perpetrators of the WTC wanted was for the US to feel the pain that we have dished out since 1945. I'm going to estimate that 10,000 people died or were significantly injured on Tuesday. 30,000 have died in Chile due to CIA-trained guerillas. Hell, we trained Osama bin Ladin! We trained him to go out and kill Russian soldiers, which he did, quite well. And for what? Because we wanted to one-up the Soviets. No. Other. Reason.

      I understand that sentiment. Go check out the OT:Parking Lot thread for our version of it. I wholeheartedly agree with that thread, in case you're wondering. I would join the military if they would give me a gun and point me in the direction of those who were in any way related, however distantly, to Tuesday's massacre.

      Does that make me evil?

      ------
      We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

      Don't go borrowing trouble. For programmers, this means Worry only about what you need to implement.

[reply]
Re: Learning from any source
by mitd (Curate) on Sep 14, 2001 at 02:39 UTC
    Although I have always been little uncomfortable with the idea of 'Programming' as a metaphor for 'Life'. It is nice to see one more member of the fraternity 'get it'.

    Don't you think reading a few selected books would have been easier?

    mitd-Made in the Dark
    'My favourite colour appears to be grey.'

[reply]
      maybe life is a metaphor for programming (pretty bad, huh?)

      actually, i've thought about this when people object to the use of sports metaphors in a broader context. to the extent that anything requires the ability to concentrate and execute, and responding to an environment that is beyond your control, both programming and sports are valid metaphors, as could be the creation of art, or writing a book, or practicing a martial art.

      i was going to say that perhaps the emotional aspects of life don't have a direct parallel, but now that i think about it the capacity to "keep an even keel" (yet another metaphor) is a lesson inherent in every creative act that involves a leap into the unknown. the only real danger is letting your metaphors blind you to what is going on around you. which is probably what makes terrorists what they are, blinded fools.

[reply]
Re: Learning from any source
by Sifmole (Chaplain) on Sep 13, 2001 at 23:56 UTC
    Actually, From all reports they only succeeded at 50% of their goal. Apparently the plane which hit the Pentagon was actually slated for the White House; The plane which went down over Pennsylvania, was not intended to crash in an unpopulated area it would seem safe to guess.

    '--' at will, but I wanted to make sure that no one was really operating under the idea that the people who planned this were so good at planning to be seen as people who can execute something "essentially flawlessly". From all reports, all it took to quash 25% of their year plus of planning was a couple of courageous Americans;

    BTW, I did not '--' the original poster.

[reply]

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