Julio Santos

Tree of life

Well, that was interesting. 400 pages to say “be honest”. I really wanted to like this book, as it’s often associated with Agile and no-nonsense team building, I figured this was for me. It took me a long time before I could get in the flow of the book. A good 50 pages before I understood what the point of the book was. When I realized that it was about team building, I felt better, at least I knew what I was reading about, but then I also realized that I was not learning much.

Anyone who has borrowed books from me knows that they should expect lots of underlined passages (hey, they are my books). I think I underlined 2 paragraphs in the whole book. Not that there’s nothing interesting in the book, but there’s not a whole lot new *and* interesting, I don’t think.

Books like Peopleware for example, are sometimes accused of not being practical enough. That’s a fair point I suppose, and maybe more actionable books are welcome (Peopleware is one of my favorite books, and I think it’s plenty actionable…just getting that out of the way :). In Software for your head” the authors go into very specific details on how to build an efficient team. Sometimes, and maybe that’s the problem I have with the book, in way too much detail, it’s way too mechanical. Definitely a book for Shu people.

If you’re not satisfied with my summary of the book, ie, “Be honest”, and want to know more, there’s no need for going through the whole book. The last 40 pages are a summary of the “core protocols” and really, it’s all you need to know.

I’m a big sloucher. For years I was given crap because I don’t sit up-straight when I’m working at the computer, blah blah blah. I’m happy to report that I have it better than them up-straighers…maybe. At least according to this article.

“Dr. Bashir and colleagues advise patients to stave off future back problems by correcting their sitting posture and finding a chair that allows them to sit in an optimal position of 135 degrees”

Fantastic book on how to represent statistical data. A book on design really, a classic. My charts should never look the same (all I need now is talent).

Just finished. Great book, I’m not disappointed.

If you’re not sure, watch the talk Dawkins gave a month or so ago. If you hate what he has to say, you’ll hate the book. If not, go get the book now.

The Lord of Rings Online

Warhammer Online Looks like WoW, which could be good (improved WoW) or bad (we already have a WoW)

Tabula Rasa This one has an Anarchy Online feel to it. I think I’m going to like it.

I was reading Aaron’s blog today and found one of the comments rather strange. The person basically says “I don’t believe in God, but I’m not an atheist, because an atheist would never change their mind, even if there was evidence for it”.

It’s sad, because this person, who *is* an atheist (-> doesn’t believe in god) does not want to be associated with atheists, because “atheists are fundamentalists who would never change their mind given the evidence”.

How interesting. I’ve been accused of being a fundamentalist-atheist myself, but never by an atheist :-) [yes, I take that accusation as directed to me, even if it wasn't...this is my blog]

I’m reading Dawkins’ God Delusion, which I find fascinating. Since the book came out, I’ve read reviews/blogs about how Dawkins is being too hostile, too extremist, a mean person, blindly attacking religion. Basically, he’s as bad as the fundamentalists he denounces.

Fundamemtalist-atheist makes as much sense to me as “four-sided triangle”. Strongly not believing because there’s no evidence, cannot be the same as strongly believing despite the evidence - one sounds reasonable the other a little bit less so.

I’m often left speechless when I hear that expression “fundamentalist-atheist” and though I’m sad that it seems more common than I would have hoped, I’m in a way glad it happens to Dawkins as well. Dawkins writes much better than I do, and I’ll let him explain the difference between fundamentalism and passion.

I am no more fundamentalist when I say evolution is true than when I say it is true that New Zealand is in the southern hemisphere. We believe in evolution because the evidence supports it, and we would abandon it overnight if new evidence arose to disprove it. No real fundamentalist would ever say anything like that.

That’s pretty much the essence of it.

Because I’m listening to it:

—

Generals gathered in their masses,
just like witches at black masses.
Evil minds that plot destruction,
sorcerers of death’s construction.
In the fields the bodies burning,
as the war machine keeps turning.
Death and hatred to mankind,
poisoning their brainwashed minds.
Oh lord, yeah!

Politicians hide themselves away.
They only started the war.
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor, yeah.

Time will tell on their power minds,
making war just for fun.
Treating people just like pawns in chess,
wait till their judgment day comes, yeah.

Now in darkness world stops turning,
ashes where the bodies burning.
No more War Pigs have the power,
Hand of God has struck the hour.
Day of judgment, God is calling,
on their knees the war pigs crawling.
Begging mercies for their sins,
Satan, laughing, spreads his wings.
Oh lord, yeah!

–Black Sabbath, War Pigs

Nice book for folks new to iterative development, especially for those in leadership or management positions. The authors do a great job at teaching basic iterative concepts as well as advanced ones, with specific examples and everything.

It’s a little bit oriented toward the Unified Process (or RUP or IRUP) but in a very light way. They understand that “iterative” is the most important aspect of the UP and concentrate on that specifically.

Over the years I read (and sometimes reviewed) many books on no-nonsense project management, I still learned a couple of things from this one, and got some new ideas. Overall recommended for project managers new to iterative or folks who need a refresher.

–

I think the reason I keep reading books on no-nonsense project management is that I find it frustrating that despite the extensive choice of such books, project management skill sucks so much. Once in a while, I think that maybe I got it all wrong, that this stuff cannot possibly be easy, so I grab a book in the hopes to learn something major, that I will be able to share with other folks. But no, for the most part, it’s just plain simple.

I’ll add this book to my “how come project managers suck so much when there are books like these available” collection.