Haupz Blog

Why We Do Things

John Cutler has delivered another nice piece. This time, he’s giving the question of why someone (an individual, or a team) is doing something a satirical spin by giving wrong answers only.

I particularly like how each of the wrong answers is immediately decorated with follow-up questions that illustrate why the answer was wrong to begin with. And then, there’s the bit at the bottom of the posting that lists some indicators for giving the right answer instead.

It’s a solid reminder that we must always keep in mind why we’re doing something. Does it really add value, and is it the value we’re meant to deliver? What Cutler writes here also nicely complements some thoughts I had written up about how the whole “agile” thing can be reduced to just two simple questions.

Tags: work

"Ur-"

The author of this blog post has assembled a list of seven programming languages he dubbed “_ur-_languages”. To qualify for inclusion, a language should embody a coherent group of paradigmatic concepts in a pure form. That is, inclusion in the list is not based on historical merit (having been the first or earliest) but rather on purity of concept. It’s a bit odd to use the prefix “ur-”, which has a strong historical connotation. The list on its own works well: the examples it gives do indeed embody the respective paradigms in a very pure form.

To illustrate, I had initially stumbled over Smalltalk or Simula not being mentioned as the _ur-_languages for object-oriented programming. The list mentions Self instead. Given the purity perspective, this makes sense: there is nothing that could be taken away from Self, it’s minimalistic yet rich. It allows for all the flavours of OOP to be implemented with elegance and ease.

And still, “ur-” ... the author’s intent would perhaps be better reflected by picking a word that expresses peak purity, rather than one that suggests historical earliness.

Tags: the-nerdy-bit, hacking

Success is a Matter of Doing

This episode from the At The Table podcast nicely complements a decision making philosophy based on the principle “plan quickly, develop properly”. A key point in the episode is this: it’s not the idea that determines success, it’s the execution.

Quick decision making followed by thorough execution allows for quickly iterating. Or, it allows for failing safely. This can be applied to any idea that is deemed worthwhile but is somewhat superficial - if the general direction looks good, a decision can be made in favour of implementing the idea. That implementation however better be properly sound, so that all the steps are transparent and understandable, and so that observing what happens can lead to insights. This works either way: with a successful implementation of the idea, and with a failing one.

In other words: don’t linger on the idea too much. Do the right amount of due diligence, and then quickly move on to proper implementation and learning.

Tags: work

Bernd Alois Zimmermann

Bernd Alois Zimmermann is a special composer. I have listened my way through many of his works (in fact, most of the pieces available as some kind of recording), and have not found a single piece yet that I didn’t find intellectually stimulating. Sadly, he died in 1970 - otherwise he might have contributed way more, and 20th century German music history might have taken some very different turns.

Zimmermann’s music is capable of it all.

It’s sometimes darkly cynical wit in parodistic compositions, as in his Rheinische Kirmestänze, Giostra Genovese, or - collage masterpiece! - Musique pour les Soupers du Roi Ubu.

It’s also sometimes absolutely vast, large-scale, and uncompromising. There are two main examples of this. The first is the opera Die Soldaten, which was deemed impossible to perform before eventually the right people took courage and brought it to the stage. Here’s part 1 of a four-part series showing that. (Mmmm yeah it’s not pretty, but neither is the subject.)

The second example is the “pluralistic” piece Requiem für einen jungen Dichter, requiring orchestra, chorus, soloists, narrators, electronic recordings, jazz combo, and maybe something I’ve forgotten. This piece is almost impossible to appreciate without a guide. It’s fascinating.

Finally, Zimmermann’s music can just be simply very good music. My favourite example of that is his trumpet concerto “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen”, which, you guessed right, paraphrases the well-known spiritual. Give it a try.

Tags: music

Innovation Heroism

Does innovation require heroic acts? It shouldn’t. In fact, it’s a sign of a problem in an organisation if innovation is considered heroic, or requires heroic acts to begin with.

There is a relation between ease of innovation and free flow of knowledge (the article mentions it as well). A while ago, I’ve had the pleasure of delivering a training session on knowledge management to managers at different levels of seniority from across the company. The model I described in the talk (not my idea, but that of greater minds) encourages many things that I love to see as well: free exchange about knowledge, documentation and abstraction of knowledge, collaboration to derive new knowledge, and prototyping to test new knowledge and make it practical.

Back to the heroics problem: a group or company that tends to rely on a Sole Glorious Figure to address problems - be it in innovation or decision making - does not tap into the collective wisdom of the team. That, however, is buried and needs to be brought to the light by allowing it to emerge. Which, in turn, is only possible by allowing - no: encouraging, maybe enforcing - collaboration.

Thank you, no silos please. Let’s build bridges to cross, communication channels to talk, windows to observe.

Tags: work

Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony

More than three decades ago, Sergei Rachmaninoff was one of my first contacts with classical music. I had heard the name and something that insinuated his music was interesting, so I bought an audio cassette (this is how old I am) with his first and second piano concertos. These - especially the second concerto - struck me hard, and I instantly loved this music very, very deeply. I still do.

A while later, I came across Rachmaninoff’s second symphony, which struck me similarly hard as the piano concerto. In particular, the slow movement had an impact. The opening theme with its melancholic yet light mood, and then the clarinet solo that just won’t end … until it ends after all, only to be continued by the strings, which loop it back to the opening theme … incredible.

Hear it please. The entire thing, or just the slow movement.

Tags: music

Managing To-Do Lists

Dawn Springett here has a concise suggestion for managing to-do lists. It’s related to my series about WIP from a few weeks back. I like Dawn’s list for the brevity and pragmatism: it’s a combination of tools that make sense, and it makes sense as a whole, especially where it reminds the reader to embrace change (priorities may shift, schedules may have to be rearranged).

One of the suggestions is to “[s]chedule your tasks in your calendar, in order of priority”, and to “allocate enough time for each task”. This is way more complex than it seems, especially for people with certain kinds of roles that involve meetings, lots of them. Allocating enough time for any given task isn’t going to be easy in such a setup. On the upside, many of the meetings are connected to the tasks in one way or another, and can be leveraged to keep things moving. This is what I’ve been practicing, too.

Tags: work

Music and Nature

Music time, and nature time. I’ll give a bit of a brain dump of music (of the classical variety) that describes nature. I’m curious to hear more suggestions (also for alternative interpretations to the ones I’m pointing to) to keep the list growing. Here goes, in roughly chronological order.

We’ve all come across Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”. They’re a collection of four violin concertos describing in baroque terms the characteristics of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Eccole.

Joseph Haydn, prolific grand master of symphonies (and wit), is represented with two pieces here. First, his “Sunrise” string quartet, which ever so slightly hints at its title in the first bars of the opening movement. Second, his late masterpiece “The Creation”, which narrates the early days of the world as described in the Bible. The opening, beginning with nothingness and developing unto the “fiat lux” moment are stunning. Hear for yourselves - even if only the first 8 minutes.

Ludwig van Beethoven, in his 6th symphony, famously depicted a thunderstorm (whole thing, just the weather).

Rivers have something about them that makes them interesting for composers. Bedřich Smetana’s immortal “Vltava” - here convincingly delivered by a young orchestra - is perhaps the most popular example. Don’t forget Kurt Atterberg and his symphonic poem “Älven” though.

But how about mountains, you ask? Rightfully so. Here we go. The opening of Gustav Mahler’s 3rd symphony is meant to describe, in music, the Höllengebirge in Austria. (Mahler composed the symphony in a hut on the lakeshore at the feet of that mountain range.) And let’s not forget Richard Strauss, whose “Alpensinfonie”, in an audibly compelling way, describes an entire day in the alps, from night and sunrise to sunset and night, including a hike to a summit.

Austrian composer Siegmund von Hausegger wrote an entire large-scale work entitled “Nature Symphony”. It’s quite majestic, and full of slowly unfolding beauty.

I’ll close with two symphonies by English 20th century composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. His first, “A Sea Symphony”, set for large orchestra and chorus, makes rather clear what it’s about with the opening call to “behold the sea!” It’s a grandiose description of oceans, ships, shores, and seafarers. Vaughan Williams' seventh symphony, “Sinfonia antartica” takes us to the far south and its vast, majestic, cold landscapes.

Anything else?

Tags: music