deepthoughts.orsomethinglikethat

This is in response to Michael Urban's posting, "And The Fastest Growing Web Framework Is..." (which is also kind of a commentary/response to a Rick Hightower blog posting) which awards the honors to JSF based on job posting trends from February 3, 2005 to June 27, 2007.

I won't argue that the job trends chart clearly shows that JSF has had a significant number more job postings for the last two and a half years. You might argue the means the data was gathered but that's already been done extensively in the article's comments.

I will offer an alternative (I'll admit a bit ridiculous) interpretation that states the reason there are so many more JSF job postings is because JSF is the least productive web framework listed; requiring more developers to complete a project. I know it's another poor conclusion drawn from the chart, but I would venture to say that the average JSF project's development team is larger than other development teams using the other listed web frameworks.

It's time for software developers to quit doing what we're told and start thinking. We're not robots. We're intelligent individuals who can consider context and produce results beyond the handicapped communication of a formal requirement.

It's the software developer's responsibility to ask questions, listen to the answers, and do whatever it takes to understand the problem and it's symptoms; ultimately capturing the Spirit of the Requirement. The Spirit of the Requirement can be likened to the Spirit of the Law, where the focus is placed on intent; not literal definition.

For example, it's a terrible idea to spend hours styling an Adobe Flex application to match an HTML mock-up. Everyone, including the developer will be disappointed. If the customer wanted HTML, they obviously could have done it themselves. Think. Interpret. Provide value.

This problem is more common than you might think. In fact, if you haven't witnessed similar situations, then chances are that you've unknowingly participated in them. Consider an experience where you had done exactly what was asked of you, yet it wasn't good enough?

It's time we open our eyes, lift our hands from our keyboards, and be more than requirements transcriptionists.

Yahoo! Pipes is hiring. There's a link on the Pipes homepage to the list of positions available. It's pretty neat that they're advertising their positions to their own end users. I guess if you're a pipes fan, then you're at least approaching fulfillment of a couple of the job requirements. Speaking of job requirements... all of the positions listed have a common set of requirements of which one stuck out like a sore thumb:

"A strong tolerance for video games played in the middle of the day (Mario Kart, etc.)"

At first glance, I was WOW'd (I still am, but in a different way). I know that more and more software "shops" are striving to improve the work environment and that video games/consoles are a growing contribution to the cause. I read the requirement again; "A strong tolerance..." I was even more impressed. The requirement is double-edged. Had the Pipes team been purely advertising the coolness of their work environment, I would have expected something else... maybe, "A strong desire to beat your coworkers at Mario Kart" or even "Loves to play video games" (orsomethinglikethat), but they didn't. All positions require "A strong tolerance" of at-work video gaming. Corporate culture and team dynamics are key factors to the productivity and success of a project. Everyone works differently and not everyone tolerates at-work coworker video gaming the same.  Not only is the Pipes team advertising their work environment, they are working to preserve it.

Maybe I'm reading into this too much. If I am, then thanks for provoking this thought. If I'm not, then congratulations to the Pipes team for acknowledging and guarding a good thing.

To whomever reads this: Am I off my rocker? What do you think about video gaming at work? Would/does it bother you to be busy working on something while another coworker plays video games? Would you play if your employer had a gaming station setup for your team? Please comment.

If you've got the Flex 2 SDK, then you've got the source; at least most of it. It's nothing new, but I don't think it's well known. The source can be found at [Flex SDK Install DIR]/frameworks/source. If you've never downloaded the SDK by itself and only use FlexBuilder, then you'll find the SDK under your FlexBuilder install directory.

I point this out because I've imported the source into FlexBuilder for easy reference and code navigation. If you're curious how the Flex team does something, then now you know.

Enjoy!

How about this... "The system should perfectly correct subjective data whenever it is identified as incorrect." In other words... not all provided data is able to be system validated for correctness, so if and when incorrect data does make it into a system process the system should be able to perfectly correct the identified problem.

What a great goal for a system in development.