Don't forget to look around

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The screen saver on one of my less-used computers at work has a changing view of my old photos and the one here just came up. It reminded me of an earlier post from this year called Sometimes you need to take your eye OFF the ball. That post revolved around a funny story of someone taking a picture of his daughter with a celebrity and missing the fact that another celebrity was there, too.

In our picture, taken back in 2004, my family was so intent on getting a picture by this elf statue that they didn't notice that the man himself (we were at Santa's Village in Jefferson New Hampshire) was walking by. We'd see him later so it was no big deal but it just stuck me again how easy it is to miss important things around us. We get so intent on doing mundane things that we miss the wonders and miracles around us. Especially this time of year. We all have goals and for many of us it is preparing for Thanksgiving or buying gifts for Christmas or getting a project done at work. We focus on those things and miss the things not associated with the trip to the finish line. Nothing I am saying is new and you know it better than I do. I'm just writing this now because I was reminded of it just now. I'm not going to change your life or your mind - unless this reminds you of it now, too.

I'm going to be writing a post soon about another distraction we face and how it can have a more serious result.

One of the things I especially enjoy about riding my scooter to work is that I have a much better view of the road and the surroundings. I see more things. Partly because I have the better view but also because I am forced to notice things around me - my health is at stake if I miss a car coming at me. Yes, it was freezing this morning but I dressed warmly and scooted in. I find I am more alert and ready to go when I arrive at work. Sitting in a car lets you relax and remain less alert. Listening to the radio is the only real plus to driving the car to work. Well, that and not getting wet in the rain!

Everything is easy...

I wrote a comment on another blog where the post was about a change that forced the blog writer to change their schedule. The blog writer said that some people might question how hard it really was to simply change his schedule. Well, that made me think.

Very often at work, someone will come along with an idea for a change to the software projects I work on. More times than not, the suggestion will come with the line, "This should be an easy change." Nothing drives me crazy quite like that line does. I usually give one of two answers to this:

1. "If it is that easy, you shouldn't have any trouble doing it."
2. "Everything is easy when you don't have to do it."

That second answer is my favorite because you can take it two way.

One way puts the emphasis on "you" as in, "Everything is easy when  you don't have to do it." In other words, since I am doing this and you are not doing this, it's easy for you to say it will be easy because you will not be taking the time to look into all the possible problems it will cause or at all the difficulties we may find in accomplishing this.

The other way to look at the second answer is in questioning whether this should even be done. If there is no reason to change the behavior or add a feature, then it is easier to just not do it.

Too many things are done just because someone thinks a new feature is needed. This not only adds complexity for no reason. It also makes the project just a little bit harder to maintain or fix in the future.