What drives us

Monkeys work harder when they are not rewarded. People do, too.

Daniel H. Pink [wikipedia] collected the evidence about that fact and wrote (supposedly very good, didn’t read it yet) book Drive.

That’s not why I’m writing this post.

People are asking me from time to time why do I put so much work into providing free code and knowledge to the community.

My usual answer to that is: “Er, that’s hard to explain. I feel the need.” (Yep, that kind  of need.)

But that’s also not why I’m writing this post.

Not so much ago, RSA Animate published an 11-minute YouTube video containing a concentrated version of Daniel Pink’s talk based on the Drive book.

Now that’s why I’m writing this post!

This concentrated version of the book is so great that I definitely want to read the whole thing (in fact I already bought the Kindle version).

Even more – at 8:44 it defines me in few words: “Challenge, mastery and making a contribution.”

Exactly! I need the challenge, I want to master the subject and then I want to make a contribution!

Thanks to Dan Pink and the great people at RSA Animate I learned something about myself.

Do we need DelphiOverflow.com?

Today I was interviewed for the greatest Delphi podcast of them all and Jim asked me a question I didn’t know how to answer: “Do you think there should be Delphi equivalent of StackOverflow.com?” I’m afraid my answer was somewhere along: “Hmph. Yes. Very good question. Very good. Let’s talk about something else.”

And now I can’t get it out of my head. Should there be delphioverflow.com? What could we get out of it? I would be the first to admit that the StackOverflow model is greatest thing since Belgian waffles and that having Delphi questions and answers in such form would be very useful.

But wait – there already are Delphi questions on StackOverflow! Not that many as C# questions, but still enough that Delphi is seen on the front page and that other users can read about it and see that it is alive and well. Even more – there are enough knowledgeable Delphi programmers on SO and most questions get great answers in less than five minutes.

What other positive result could such site bring? Maybe Embarcadero people would be more eager to participate and answer questions on their own server? Maybe, but not sure. Delphi R&D team is very busy and sometimes they can’t even find time to answer newsgroup questions. And I’m pretty sure that - whatever such change would bring – newsgroups wouldn’t go away.

Let’s take a look from another perspective. What would be negative consequences? Less Delphi questions on StackOverflow. And that’s a Bad Thing because it lowers Delphi’s discoverability. We want to talk about Delphi in public places, not on some secluded server!

Now I know how to answer. No, I don’t think we need DelphiOverflow. We need more Delphi R&D people answering questions on StackOverflow.

(Your comments on the topic are very much welcome, as always!)

Why is software third time lucky?

In the beginning, there is a Problem.

Customer knows that the Problem exists, but can't tell exactly what the Problem is.

So the Customer goes to to a Programmer and asks him [or her, of course, but let me keep this simple]: "Can you build me a program that does That?"

[Here lies the original sin. Customer never asks: "Can you help me solve the Problem?" Because of that, Programmer is writing a program to do That instead of program that does This.]

Programmer says: "I can," because we programmers, by our nature, want to believe that we can code anything. So the Programmer goes to work and he works and works and although he has no idea what he is working on and how it should be built, he makes the Version One. It is merely a research project, a tool that allows the Programmer to understand the problem (not the Problem, just the problem of coding a program that does That), but the pressure of the modern world forces him to deliver it to the Customer.

Of course, Version One is unusable. After all, it was merely a sandbox where the Programmer tried to understand the problem. So the Customer pretends that he is using it and from time to time orders a small change, just to make the Programmer think that his software is being used.

After some time, Customer starts to think that he should really get something useful for his money, not just the unusable Version One and thus commissions the Programmer to write a new, improved version. Mind you, the Customer still hasn't a faintest clues what the Problem is, and so doesn't the Programmer. Even more, Programmer still has no idea that he has to solve the Problem. His task is to write a program that does That.

Still, something has improved since the day 1 - Programmer's understanding on how to write a program that does That. So he goes and codes much better program, which is built on his previous experiences. And thus the Version Two is born.

Version Two is much better version. It actually works. It doesn't look like a five year old has put it together in one afternoon and it doesn't crash every five minutes. And so, the Customer starts using it. And after some time, he sadly recognizes that the Programmer has indeed written a wonderful software that does That, but that this, alas, doesn't help him solve the Problem at all.

But now the Customer can finally tell the Programmer what the Version Two should do differently. And the Programmer listens and finally says in awe: "You mean that it should do This instead of That?!? Why didn't you say that in first place?"

And thus, the Version Three is born. It is written well. It solves the Problem. The Customer is happy. And the Programmer lives on to fight yet another battle.

This I believe.