I don't think @fillenumerique enjoyed anti-gravity yoga as much as I did, but I was quite proud of my vampire today. Good core work! #

Totally awesome time racing today! And it's snowing! Life is good #

Powered by Twitter Tools

I love it when people bring props to @kwawesomefound, singing is new but also #kwawesome http://t.co/i0SXQR3z #

Powered by Twitter Tools

Powered by Twitter Tools

Credit: Wikipedia

I’m pretty confident that 2012 is going to be better than 2011. One of the things that makes me sure of this is that I now have Elite status on Air Canada. Airports, a huge source of misery, are set to be less miserable with access to the lounge (or maybe I’ll just get liquored up there so I notice it less).

But joking aside, during the time in transit to, and from, and in, Europe through much of December and the start of January, I’ve had time to take stock of what I want to be different.

The first week of the year,  I spent skiing in Andorra. It was really nice to get away and have a break. It was nice to be outside, and active. I need more of that in my life! I also took advantage of the hotel spa. Pretty much my ideal vacation.

The big thing – living more intentionally. Being less reactive. Designing my existence such that the things that I want to do don’t get subsumed by obligations.

This year I will travel less. I will do fewer talks. I will go to the spa more often. The new gym opened and it seems like a nice place to spend an evening. I also joined adult racing at the local ski hill and got a season pass.

This year is set to be my last year in Canada. I want to make the most of it – yes – but I also want to enjoy it.

What’s your theme for 2012?

Powered by Twitter Tools

Credit: flickr / jillallyn

I read an article today about why there aren’t enough women in tech. It says, women doubt themselves. This hurts their chances of ending up in Science or Engineering. They think they can’t do it.

It bored me. I am so tired of reading this. We know it. I must read an article a month – a week even – that says this. But more, I notice it when I speak to female colleagues, technical women friends, female university students, female school kids… non-technical women who tell me when it was that they stopped feeling good at math (or, that they never did at all).

Articles don’t change anything. What does, is when you take the time to connect with another woman before she leaves. And you share the doubts that you have, the times when you nearly gave up – the reasons why you didn’t, and the tricks you use to keep on going. Studies show, that she’s likely better at math than she thinks she is. I think that’s a piece of information that should be shared.

When I talk to guys, I end up talking about my job and what I do. When I talk to women, or girls, I often talk about how often I have felt like a complete and utter failure and hopeless case, and then gone and succeeded anyway.

Maybe instead of hitting “retweet” on some other article that tells us how completely hopeless it all is, we’d be better to invest 15 minutes connecting with another woman and encouraging her.

Just a thought.

Getting an iPad for my grandpa (@ Apple Store w/ 3 others) http://t.co/S8MXmyV0 #

Powered by Twitter Tools

Powered by Twitter Tools

© Copyright Raymond Okonski and licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence.

Interesting project the past few weeks. Basically I was swapping out a large and central component to what my team is building. It was really tough, to do that and keep everything functional. Normally I ask – what is the least amount I can do to make an improvement? This time, I had to ask, what’s the most I can eliminate and still remain functional?

A genuine challenge, and it was good for me.  The first couple of days were hard focus, and tough lessons. A day writing code that I couldn’t even compile until it was done, because it wouldn’t without everything. By 4pm I felt like my brain had bled out through my eyes, and went back to the hotel (I was in NYC) to collapse. At the end of it, I realized I had to do something else first, before I could test and check in.

So I came back and did that. Again, by the end of the 2nd large thing I felt physically exhausted.

Day 3 I put them together and checked in. After that I could do smaller things, figure out what wasn’t working, delete things, make small improvements. Change the way we were doing things – because we didn’t have to follow the way the replaced thing was working anymore.

Once functional, but not beautiful, I picked a new (smaller) UI component, and replaced it with an improved version. Again – hard focus. Desperate to be distracted. It’s like a fight. With the problem – because I’m still figuring out the best way to approach things – and with myself because it’s frustrating, and difficult.

The following week I have to do the same (UI component) thing again. By this time I’m flying – it’s flow. I’ve learned how to do things to build on each other he hard way, and this time I’m cutting CL after CL and I’m zooming. This little project is coming to an end, soon.

But… plans change, and this little project is now obsolete. I’m completely “in the zone” and racing towards the finish, and it’s like a rug being pulled from under me. All of a sudden I’m back to asking – what next, what order. Feeling discouraged. Someone reminds me that it’s the right decision, and what I always thought was right, but somehow when I was “in flow” I forgot.

Some observations about hard focus and flow.

• Hard focus is hard. It’s like a fight, and I would love anyone to distract me at any time.
• It’s also completely exhausting. 4 hours of hard focus will leave me physically and mentally exhausted.
• Flow comes after, it’s the sweet spot before something gets boring but you know what you’re doing.
• Still figuring out new things in flow, but it’s more like building on understanding, “oh I don’t actually need this”, or “this is neater”.
• Things stuck on in hard focus take much longer to move forward on than in flow. In flow a tea-break will do. In hard focus it’s more like lunch or a new day.
• Flow can last for days, effectively. I’ll get tired and stop, but I’ll come back the following day and pick right up again.
• Hard focus is a fight every morning, even more so than the rest of the day.
• Being derailed in the middle of flow, for whatever the reason, is horrible.
• In hard focus, I look at my task list to decide what to do. In flow, I look at my task list to mark off things I’ve done. The next step is always so obvious.
• I’m actually more on top of twitter etc when I’m in “flow” because I have more compile time, more waiting on submit scripts. Distractions are less interesting than what I’m doing, so they never really take me away from it.

Anyway, what can you do? Learn from it, and move on. After a day off, I’m heading back in search of flow.

Powered by Twitter Tools