Tuesday, August 22nd, 2006
Once Upon a Time
If this was a fairytale I would begin it with “Once upon a time…”. It would have made it much easier for me. I am not that good with beginnings, you see. Unfortunately, one cannot start in the middle and this is not a fairytale, so I guess I’ll just have to give it a try.
My name is Lidor Wyssocky and I’m a software quality specialist. I know it sounds a bit like the starter of a “something anonymous” session… and maybe in some sense it is. For the last three years I’ve been writing almost exclusively about software development and how to make it better (non-geeks please bear with me for just one moment).
It started off quite simply. Software development is, after all, pretty isolated and self-contained. Isn’t it? We geeks spend all day playing with our computers, thinking about how we can put our hands on the latest gadget, and talking in a language nobody else understands (not that anyone really wants to understand it).
So what on earth do I have to say to you?
Well, as I’ve learned throughout the years, life in the software industry is first and foremost… a life. You think, you create, you interact. You love some of the people around you. Others, you can’t stand. Sometimes you are in control. In other times, reality seems to be controlling you. There are so many forces working around you, so many constraints, and so many people affecting your life although ultimately they are exactly in the same position you are. You are constantly trying to find your path, to move forward, to achieve more, to earn more, but the destination is not always clear.
So, there you have it: we are all in the same mess. At least many of us are. Where does it leave us? Well, I guess it is up to us to make sense of it all.
No, I am not some kind of a guru. Don’t expect any instant solutions that will solve all your problems. You won’t find them here. Decaf is merely my attempt to take a step back every once in a while, to look at our reality, to see the bigger picture, to analyze it, and to try to figure out how we can make it better. Do you want to join the ride?
All passengers please unfasten your seat belts. We are about to begin…