Can't Grok, Won't Grok

Ruby Open Classes

2012-01-21T15:49:00.000-08:00

Coming from the .NET world, if we ever wanted to improve a class (by adding to it's code), we really only had a couple of options:

Subclass

This is limiting because .NET is a single-inheritence model. This means a class can only be subclassed once. So if other developers want to add more functionality, you can end in an inheritance chain nightmare.

Extension Methods

Since .NET 3.0, we've had extension methods. These allow you to bolt your own methods on to a type - the one gotcha being that they must be static. This would mean that you could only get at any public members of the instance you are executed against.

(I should note, these are not criticisms of the language. Just because I have jumped ship to Ruby, I still consider .NET to be a top-notch framework)

Enter "Open Classes"

In Ruby, we have what are called "Open Classes" - and they are pretty much what they say on the tin. Classes are open for extension and modification (yups, direct violation of the Open-Closed Principle).

Anyway, enough talk, let's see the code.

Example 1: Opening String

First up, let's simply add some nice functionality to String to see if it's a valid email address.

Lets get the a regex for a RFC2822-compliant email address.

Courtesy of [regexlib](http://regexlib.com/REDetails.aspx?regexp_id=2558):

^((([!#$%&'*+\-/=?^_`{|}~\w])|([!#$%&'*+\-/=?^_`{|}~\w][!#$%&'*+\-/=?^_`{|}~\.\w]{0,}[!#$%&'*+\-/=?^_`{|}~\w]))[@]\w+([-.]\w+)*\.\w+([-.]\w+)*)$

Even though this is of course very easy to remember, let's make it a little more readable:

No messing around, and makes for somewhat readable code. Moving on.

Example 2: Opening and using instance variables

What's cool, is that we can access all the instance variables in the class too - this means we can truly extend the class with little effort (and where it gets one over on extension methods).

Let's say we are using a piece of code from an OSS library that returns error codes from printing devices. We don't want to keep passing the return values around to retrieve the commonly used error message that accompanies it. However, these messages are business-specific, so don't belong in the OSS library.

The dark side of the force

As you can see, this is pretty powerful stuff, but as you know with great power comes great responsibility.

Not so good. Jay Fields has a great article on alternatives that may be useful if you find you need to tread on other peoples toes..

A lot of my fellow .NET developers are probably screaming at the monitor at this point "WHY BOTHER IF IT'S SO DANGEROUS" (I thought the same when I first saw it) but the truth is this - in the right hands (and I consider the developers I tend to frequent with far more talented than myself), it's a powerful and can a very useful feature*.

* Especially if you discover some weird bug that you need to patch before you can get it merged into the main code base.

2012: The Plan

2011-12-31T09:18:00.000-08:00

So, here we are with another new year just around the corner.
Call be boring, but this is one of my favourite times of year, not for any parties that may ensue, but because I get a chance to plan exciting things to do - and then do them.

I really did a lot of ground work in 2011, which I really want to build on in 2012 - so here we go!

Business Goals

New category because I started this in 2011 :)

Get moflo and dreamBIGLY to the point where it is earning enough for myself and my co-founder back to a normal salary (we have taken a rather substantial paycut since we are bootstrapping).
Get one charity project out of the door.
Start a secondary business that is completely out of my area of expertise (software development).

Financial Goals

Not much to do here really, I did too good last year ;)

Get investments up and running. I've been talking about this for ages - time to stop talking and start doing. Goal is 10% ROIC.
Clear my last piece of debt. I have a single loan that remains then I am 100% debt free!

Personal Goals

Start getting serious about my life list. Complete at least 2 items (preferably 4).
"Go Local" in another country. Live in another country for at least 3 months.
Publish, document and complete two projects on Lambs to Lions.

Some pretty big items in there - I really can't wait to get my teeth sunk in to them! It's definitely nice to be working in more of an "improving" mode rather than "starting" - starting is always the hardest bit.

What do you plan to do in 2012?

Make no small plans!

2011 Round-Up - How Did I Do?

2011-12-31T04:26:00.000-08:00

Wow, doesn't time fly? I can't believe it was a year ago that I wrote this.

So - how did I get on? :)

Supplement income by 25%

I started off with this one quite slow - I sold a few items (which dovetailed nicely with my minimalism goals) and made a few hundred pounds. Obviously, this is a long way off my goal.

I then decided that is was time to take the plunge and go contracting. This then really gave my bank account the cash injection it needed and brought me up to about 20% increase.

While this didn't hit my goal of 25% - it's pretty damn good because it pushed me to take a bigger step that has pretty much changed my life.

Leonis Software was born.

Reduce fixed outgoings by 25%

Last year, I was living on my own in a 2 bedroom flat in Southampton. I was spending a small fortune commuting, not to mention had a relatively high cost of living. I was hellbent on reducing these costs.

I am really, really pleased to report I have reduced my fixed outgoings by a whopping 68%!! This has really opened a lot of doors for me and was also a big part of enabling me to get Leonis started.

Leave the UK at least four times

Managed 3 - Amsterdam, Las Vegas, Paris. Also went to Scotland (doesn't count as UK though). Loved Amsterdam, Vegas and Scotland. Paris - not so much. Good times had all round though and I love going on flying machines!

Downsize the apartment

From 2 bedroom flat in Southampton to 4-person houseshare in central London. Done.

Launch at least one product that is *at least* self-sustaining

Our first product moflo is live, and currently paying for itself. dreamBIGLY will be live *very* soon.

Now, just need to work on PROFIT!

In summation

I am really, really happy with the progress this year. I really feel like I am back to my old productive self and now working on products that I really, really believe in.

I've already had some contact from people using moflo telling me about how it has made them less stressed and they feel more in control of their finances which really rocks my world!

Super-excited about the imminent launch of dreamBIGLY - while budgeting is important (and not as boring as people think), there is already an amazing community of incredible people that I am really looking forward to engaging with and helping them achieve their goals (as well as my own!).

While financially I do not have the massive amounts of savings I would have liked - I have made a MASSIVE change to my working life. While I may need to go back to contracting for a short while to inject more cash into the business, I really can't help but feel like it's a case of when we get the products profitable, not if.

This year has also put me on a great footing for 2012, which I think will be a lot more "fun" orientated - good times!

Agile: Do Or Do Not, There Is No Try

2011-08-24T01:45:00.001-07:00

Recently, Paul Stack asked me a leading question in preparation for his post: "Is it really agile?". The question was:

"do you think organisations are turning their back on agile?"

My answer to this question was "no", and here are my thoughts.

Who are we talking about here?

Firstly, we need to establish that there are two kinds of organisation. Those that are actually living, breathing, functioning agile teams that have no problems adopting all the processes, ship regularly and deliver things of high value to their customers. These guys are not who we are going to be looking at here.

We are interested in the remainder, the guys that may or may not be "trying" agile, but for one or more reasons, cannot be considered "agile" (more on this to follow in a later post). This is to keep it simple so we can just focus on the current "problem".

The three wannabe agile-eers

Let's look a bit more closely at these agile wannabes.

In my experience (as well as talking to a variety of people from many organisations), I find that organisations not doing agile fall in to one of these three categories:

They honestly believe they are doing agile, but don't realise they are doing something wrong, or they change/remove practices because they "know better" or it "doesn't apply to us". Let's call these "The [Self] Proclaimers"
They think agile is a bunch of BS and just "another way for developers to get out of doing work". Let's call these "The Non-Believers"
They simply haven't heard of it, or do not know what it all means. Let's call these "The Lost Souls".

I'll go over the last two first, because I actually feel that these are really the minority.

The Non-Believers

This is plain and simple "this agile stuff is a load of BS and it's simply not applicable or not all it's cracked up to be". This is often coupled with "it doesn't work with the type of projects that we do" or disbelief that lightweight processes can *possibly* produce better quality results the incredibly thorough process that has been formed over the last 30 years.

This pains me for two reasons:

The organisation in question are working in a fast paced industry and outright refusing to look at what is changing in the environment around them.
Rather than experimenting with something new, they are reverting to "I know what's best" before even giving something a fair shot.

Tech and a stagnant environment do not mix. Yes, your company may have got along just fine in the last 20 years, but times are changing my friend.

My advice

Managers, stop hating/being dismissive and start finding out. Talk to people, there is an abundant, thriving agile community full of incredibly talented people out there (sure, there is also a lot more untalented people as well now that it's become a bit of a buzzword). Ask questions, lot's of them. It will become pretty clear pretty quickly if people know what the are talking about. Hire them part time (I personally don't believe a "scrum master" is a valid full time job, at least post initial roll-out - sorry guys). Yes, I will be happily be this guy (shameless plug - email me if interested).

Developers, have a chat with your managers. Let them know how much this means to you. Offer applicable advice on how you think agile could improve current processes. Come up with some metrics where possible. If you continue to have problems, consider moving elsewhere. There are plenty of great agile shops doing great things that will snap you up.

The Lost Souls

These poor guys are so out of touch that they really have no idea what agile even is or supposed to do. Aside from wondering what the hell their CTO has been doing, this really leaves us in a bind because if the organisation was to suddenly "discover" agile, then they would have a LOT to take on in both learning and deployment. Ouchies. Thankfully, these companies really seem to be in the minority now. However, some do still exist.

My advice

Same as above really. However keep in mind that we are starting at square 1. In some cases this can be a benefit since it can be easier to get started if people just take the current practices as-is. On the flipside, you could also encounter a lot of resistance. Perhaps more because there is so much to take in.

Take it slow and steady. Learn lots from those in-the-know.

The [Self] Proclaimers

I think these guys are now the vast majority of companies, they have seen about agile, and given it their best shot. Then then tend to end up in one or more of these situations:

They don't participate in one or more key agile practices.
They "adapt" practices (normally adding more "process") because "agile isn't enough" or "it's our own flavour".
The guys heading up the agile rollout move on to another organisation and those that remain don't have the knowledge/passion to follow it through.
They are simply lying (yes, I have experienced this).

My advice

These guys are the trickiest to deal with, since they often genuinely believe that they know better.

Managers, stop and listen. Just stop trying to "be in charge" and listen to your dev team. Are they surprised you are listening? Do they have pain points that are slowing them down day after day? Why are they there? Can you remove them? Do you need to know more information about agile? What exactly is it these agile guys do? Can you let someone in the team take responsiblity? How about you get some training yourself, or hire someone to come in and help out? Start respondng to what people are saying. In every organisation like this I have seen one thing in common - all the managers "think" things will be nice, but never take action. Either take action or enable someone else to.

Developers, I warn you, this can be a slog to get through. Keep voicing concerns with current processes. Metrics can often be a big help because no matter what a manager thinks, "numbers don't lie". Try using the questions above to assess what the manager knows, what is blocking them? Help them to help you. In most cases, the developers know what needs to happen, but if unsure, talk to other developers or get someone in to assist. This can be really useful because they become that "target" if anything goes wrong, or meetings etc. are required.

The bottom line

It boils down to this:

When your competitor "gets" agile, they will ship more than you, faster than you and at a higher quality than you. They will have a lower bottom line, and they will erode away at your market until you have nothing left. Waterfall and other broken processes will work, of course they will - but agile works better.

How can you expect to beat a processes designed from the ground up to produce fast, effective and valuable results?

Finding a Cure for the Creative Itch

2011-08-12T01:06:00.001-07:00

I am on a journey, and I am walking pretty fast - it feels great, it's invigorating. As I progress, I find myself entering a new environment, one that I have yearned for but is still somewhat alien to me. I am entering a strange new land and I need to acclimatise.

My Journey Thus Far

I am working my way toward my dream. I have freed myself of the corporate shackles and now working on my own project in the background while contracting. Once I have enough cash in the bank, I intend to quit work altogether and go full time on said project to bring it to fruition (or fail and move on).

But as I progress towards this strange new world, I feel one key emotion - sheer excitement. Yes, there is a little fear in there too, but this is the indicator of doing something worth doing. Risk often means greater reward. Rewards are exciting. Yay.

My Best Allergic Reaction Yet

But, I have found myself suffering with something...

I have discovered that the only thing really holding me back from doing something - anything, is me. This has caused my mind to literally explode with ideas. I keep seeing new problems and thinking "how can I solve that?". Not in my traditional "with code" geeky sense, but I am thinking about businesses, profits, sustainability, what people do I need to pay to help me make it happen?

It's fun, it's exciting - but it's overwhelming and distracting me from my current work. It's a really bad itch.

A Cure For the Itch

Right now, I am trying to get over this by simply getting my ideas down into mind maps and thinking "I will come back to it later" and just trying to get my brain back on track. This kind of works, but I find it really hard shutting my brain off once I get excited.

The thing is, I can't help but feel that I cannot be alone here!

How do you find a cure for the itch?

Minimalist Moment: Lose Everything? Not I!

2011-08-11T05:57:00.001-07:00

As I am sure you are aware, there have been several bouts of "rioting" here in London recently. I say this in the loosest sense, because it's not really been in protest of anything, it's actually just been mindless violence and looting.

And this is what worried me the most. Peoples homes were getting set on fire, for nothing. Like a lot of other Londoners, I live above shops in a big old building. Fire safety? Didn't exist when these were built! So in short, the plan was to get out. FAST. So, when word on the street was that the mobs were coming to my area, I got a little concerned. I thought it would be sensible to just have a quick scoot around the flat to go over an exit strategy in case I/we needed to get out of dodge in a hurry. Luck favours the prepared.

So I decided to sleep clothed, and pack a bag with everything I would need to get by:

2x underpants.
2x socks.
Pair of jeans.
2x TShirts
Passport
Cash/Cards

I also packed my Macbook Pro and iPad since I had plenty of room.
Then it dawned on me. I looked around my room and thought:

"Everything else can go up in flames, and I really wouldn't care."

Another beautiful "minimalist moment".
- Posted from my iPad, please excuse any typos.

2011 Update: What's Done & What Will Be Done

2011-06-27T13:38:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys!

Long time no speak right! I said in my previous post that I had been busy, so I thought I would share with you what I have been up to, and what's on the plan for the rest of 2011.

Here's where I stand on my 2011 goals:

Financial Goals

Supplement Income by 25% - The plan here was to get more creative about how I earn my cash. Rather than floating from paycheck to paycheck, I wanted to get more money from more sources. I am pleased to say I have formed my own company, have my first contracting gig signed and am starting to flesh out my first product idea, which I want a working prototype well before the year is out. By the end of the year, my turnover would be yielding an increase of about 23-25% extra on last years income. WIN.
Reduce Fixed Outgoings by 25% - As well as trying to make more, I want to spend less - I want to funnel cash into doing stuff rather than spending it on mindless crap. I am super-pleased to say that I have reduced by fixed outgoings by 60%. AWESOME WIN.

Personal Goals

Leave the UK at Least 4 Times - Left twice so far, to the US (Las Vegas) and Amsterdam. Both were awesome. Planning another trip after my contract is up, but may try and sneak in a small break somewhere else. WIP.
Downsize the apartment - Done, now living in a flatshare with 3 awesome peeps. All my crap now easily fits in to what is an "small double bedroom". Next step, a suitcase! WIN.
Launch at least one product that is *at least* self-sustaining - I have an idea that has been floating around in my head for about the past year, I think it's a great idea - but it doesn't mean anything while it's in my head. I have been doing a lot of research on customer development and lean startup. Looking forward to getting a working prototype out there in the not-to-distant future. WIP.

Minimalist Goals

See here for my minimalist goals.

Up to phase 3 - which is almost complete, just need to get down to 1 suitcase! Looks like I might just miss my deadline, but I'll take it :D WIN.

So, that's what's been keeping me busy, a lot of change in progress and a lot of mental re-moulding has been taking place. Since moving to London (oh yeah, I didn't mention that above, I re-located too) I found that I fell into classic London habits of just running around like a headless chicken. I have found myself recently stopping and getting back to being busy, but not a busy ant.

Good times!

More soon :)

Exciting Times - Two Great HackCamps Upcoming - Dev4Good and GiveCampUK

2011-06-05T12:57:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys! Remember me?

Yes, it has been a while, and yes - I have been busy! I'll get another post up soon explaining what has been chewing up my time, but for now I wanted to get some buzz around two great-looking events coming up soon. What's best is that these hacks are just about hacking, they are about hacking with the intent of helping the third sector.

Why Bother with a Hack Camp?

As you may remember, last year I attended CharityHack, which was great fun and amazing to see what people are capable of producing in such a short space of time (lots of caffeine and pizza help).

For me, I think I would say that I go to these events to:

Learn from many smart people with a variety of skill sets.
Network with lots of like-minded people.
Build software for problems I may have never encountered before (very easy to get stuck in a business and only deal with their problems). I like to shake it up a bit.
Just hack - get away from it all and focus on building something awesome - lose the manager and business constraints and just focus on the "wow" factor. Very liberating.
Eat lots of pizza and drink lots of red bull!

And to be honest, even if an event just had two of the above points, I would still go. HackCamps are an all-round assortment of geeky goodness.

What About Companies?

While I am a hacker and obviously focused on hacker concerns, don't forget that these kind of events need support. These are a great opportunity for you to get your corporate brand out there into an audience that is normally "the right kind of people" (people motivated and passionate about their craft to surrender a weekend for it, for free).

Most events will have multiple levels of support that businesses can support them at, be it getting a few items of branded material into swag bags (normally free) or good 'ol sponsorship which will often result in a chance to speak about your business or slap your logo in a few key places.

As well as this, normally sponsors will be around to talk to the developers (and others - such as designers and UX people) which can provide a great opportunity to target an interested market, not to mention provide a great resource for hiring great people.

The opportunity should not be taken lightly - even if you don't find the awesome hire you are looking for at an event, the community will really appreciate your support - and regulars are well noticed.

Upcoming Events

There are a couple of pretty tasty looking events coming up soon that have me super-excited. Dev4Good and GiveCamp. Both are pretty similar in design - turn up, build awesome stuff to do good.

Dev4Good

Link: Dev4Good (http://www.dev4good.net)
Date: 2nd-3rd July 2011
Location: 14 Lower Mall, Hammersmith, London
Swag: XBOX Kinect and more!
Register: Hackers - Here - little weird, sign up for the "wemoot" thing and that should be it. Sponsors should contact them.
Sleep on Site?: No - you need to find somewhere to crash - ask on Twitter or find a local hostel/B&B.
Contact: Twitter @Dev4Good / #dev4good
More Info: http://www.dev4good.net/events

GiveCampUK

Link: GiveCampUK (http://www.givecamp.org.uk)
Date: 21st-23rd October 2011
Location: London (Venue TBC)
Swag: TBC
Register: Hackers and Sponsors can register Here.
Sleep on Site?: TBC
Contact: Twitter @GiveCampUK / #givecampuk
More Info: http://www.givecamp.org.uk/faq

So, what are you waiting for?! Come along to either/both and see what it's all about. Don't be nervous (I was at my first event) - we are all there for the same reasons and that is what counts!

If you are coming along, be sure to ping me on Twitter (@robcthegeek) and I will make sure I say "hi"!

Happy hacking!

The Money Makeover - Milestone 3: The Emergency Fund II

2011-01-03T09:45:00.000-08:00

At this point, we are totally rocking and rolling with our makeover. We have got the fundamental tools in place (like the budget and emergency fund I), we are continually reviewing and cutting unnecessary expenses and we have cleared our debt.

So what’s the next step? Well, we need to get a safety net, a big safety net to offer us increased security and peace of mind. The Emergency Fund II.

What is the “Emergency Fund II”?

Like the emergency fund I, this is money in the bank “just in case”, but rather than act a a buffer against unexpected “casual” expenses, this exists to help shield us against something potentially far worse, unexpected job loss. Unfortunately (especially in recent times) this can happen, and when it does, it can hit hard and have a disastrous “rippling effect”.

In a nutshell, the fund:

.. is 1 years salary (gross).
.. is allocated meaning we do not touch it unless we absolutely have to.

So, take your salary (not your take-home). That’s what we are aiming for. Yes, it is scary isn’t it.

Why do I need this “emergency fund II”?

First and foremost, it is a big safety net. The last thing you want to worry about when unexpectedly losing your job (for whatever reason) is how to pay for things like groceries and other things you need.
Not to mention the stress saved when the situation occurs, it removes the stress of worrying about if the situation might occur. Less stress (anywhere) is good!
Keep in mind, we are saving a years salary gross of tax. This means that it will last at least a year without any loss of quality of life. Not to mention that if things did get “difficult” you could snap in to “survival mode” and stretch it out even more.
It’s your cash! Rather than paying in to some random insurance fund and letting have someone else do the same thing as you are (and taking a slice), it’s your cash in your bank and all the interest is yours.
On the “insurance” note – not only is it all yours, it’s accessible to you with no questions asked. Again, if you are going through the stress of worrying about income, the last thing you want to deal with is someone from an insurance company trying not to give you the cash you need.

So, it’s all about reducing stress and adding safety nets. All positive. Good stuff!

How the hell do I fill a fund that big?

Well, however many months ago when we started the makeover – how scary did all that debt look? The very same debt that we have cleared! At this point we have all the tools and discipline to make this fund a reality which is precisely why we are starting it now.

At this point, we have got pretty good at “finding cash” – we are able to strip back expenses and not have anything sneak up on us and blow a hole in our budget.

All that cash you was putting in to debt? Start by putting that into an account for your emergency fund II.

It’s that simple.

As well as that, we can also do the following:

Look for high-interest savings account that are geared to longer-term and regular investment. Since we are not going to need the cash “immediately” (and we have our emergency fund I to assist with that) we can afford to wait a bit before getting our hands on the cash. For example, many banks run a “30 day notice account” which yields higher interest, but you must notify of intent to withdraw, which takes 30 days to clear.
All that yummy interest from our high interest account should be reinvested to help build the fund quicker.
Ensure that our fund target is at or above our current salary. If you take a pay rise, then bring the fund up too. If you take a pay cut, bring it down (or leave it where it is if higher).

Always try to keep it simple, but also try and get as much bang for your buck. You might find the bank starts to play more nicely with you once they get wind of our financial intentions (since they don’t like us right now because we aren’t lining their pockets with interest from credit cards and charges from overdrafts etc.).

In Summary..

The process is simple. Since I have only just cleared my debt I have only just started building my emergency fund II, however, I have set some targets for the end of the year and really hope to meet them (but I have a rather challenging year ahead so not gone public with the commitment :).

I have to be honest, I am really excited about getting this one done. It must be such a liberating feeling that no matter what happens with your employment status, you are going to have a pretty strong safety net that should last a year.

Happy saving!

The “Money Makeover”– Milestone 2: The Debt Snowball

2011-01-01T23:06:00.000-08:00

At this point, we should have created our budget, allocating savings and have our emergency fund 1 to prevent surprises and naturally cutting expenses where we can.

So, what’s the next step? Well, we really need to own our responsibilities and clear our debt.

What is the "Debt Snowball”?

Put simply, it is a list of all of the debt that we have. Loans, credit cards, money owed to friends/family, overdrafts whatever. The only debt it doesn’t include is the mortgage.

The aim of the snowball (at a high level) is to simply provide some visibility and focus on the money that we owe to other people. As you can see, a central theme to our makeover is removing surprises and setting expectations of our money.

As people in command of our cash, we should always clear debt before having our own fun with our cash (and we never borrow again once we have cleared it).

Why have a “Debt Snowball”?

For me, I love the idea of the snowball for the following reasons:

It’s simple. Always KISS.
It gives me clear success criteria. A requirement for any real project/task. Once a debt is cleared, you can cross the item off the list.
It provides focus. Again, we need to focus on important things to get them done quickly and efficiently.
It provides a mechanism for “gearing”. If you have a lot of debt, owed to a lot of different people, things can get overwhelming. You can have a lot of little fish nibbling away at you as well as the big sharks. This can be really overwhelming. The snowball allows you to focus on one enemy at a time and systematically take them out, as well as preparing you to take down the sharks too.

The last point is a good one – I can’t reiterate enough through removing surprises and fear, this whole “money” thing becomes a lot easier and makes for much better sleep at night.

How do we create our “Debt Snowball”?

Like I said, I love the snowball because it’s simple:

Grab all your bills/contracts and whatnot. Everything that means you have some kind of “credit agreement” with an organisation.
Write down any money you owe to friends/family.
Now list ALL of them on one piece of paper/spreadsheet (whatever your tool of choice is). Ordered from smallest to largest, clearly showing how much is owed, and the minimum payment required (where applicable).
Now add these items to your budget (the ones with minimum payments are already there though, RIGHT? ;). Even if some of them have “0” in.

This is our snowball. If you have a snowball like mine, you are probably looking at the bottom figure and sweating a bit. Don’t worry, that’s fine. It will be gone soon enough :)

So, I have a scary list/”snowball” – now what?

OK, so we now have three important things:

We have a sight for our weapon (the budget).
We have a mechanism for generating extra ammunition (through cutting).
We have a hit list (our newly creating snowball).

So, let’s start taking these things out shall we?

Every month when you create your budget, take every surplus £/$/whatever and pile them all on to item at the top of the list.
Make the payment to the card/company or whatever ASAP (to stop accruing interest as quickly as possible). If this is not an option, then get it into the allocated savings to gain some interest and prep to take it out in one fell swoop. Remember, allocated savings are allocated – it’s not the “buy a new plasma TV fund”.
Keep paying the surplus each month to the top item, or saving. Once you have cleared the debt cross it off the list. Go ahead, you can smile/dance/streak – it does feel great crossing it off :)
Now, you should have some extra surplus (the minimum payment to the debt you just cleared) as well as the surplus created through cutting. Load ALL of this onto the next item.
Rinse and repeat until the list is history.

A few points to note:

We are always paying minimum payments first. You make a commitment to these credit people, stick to it.
We are focusing our real effort (the cutting) and it’s product (the surplus) on one thing at a time.
Once we have killed one target, we then throw everything at the next.
You will be amazed how much velocity you can build up. Worried about when you start getting to the bottom of the list and those big scary numbers? Well, you are going to be throwing a LOT bigger punches by then. They don’t have a freaking chance.
We don’t start having fun with the surplus until the list is dead.
Responsibilities first, fun later.

The last two points are important – it’s easy when you start getting to the bottom of the list to think “oh wow I don’t need to put that much into that debt”. Well, guess what? You DO. YOU NEED TO PAY THE DEBT.

And the best bit:

Once the list is done, you are going to have a lot of steam built up to start putting in to fun things. And you should do so, you have earned it my friend.

Some Tweaks

The book prescribes the method as above – however, I did make a couple of relatively minor tweaks – these should only be done if you have the discipline to not mess around!

Interest Rates

I re-jiggled some of the smaller debts to clear based on rate of interest. Some credit cards have a crazy interest rate and it can cost a lot more if you keep them running for too long.

However, I would say only re-arrange debts that are within a few hundred £/$ of each other. You need to keep the really big fish towards the bottom of the list because the motivational power of killing all the small fish first can really give you a boost in cutting more (not to mention it’s one less debt to worry about).

Loans and Early-Exit Penalties

Some (read: “most”) loan agreements have an early-exit penalty. If you want to clear the account early, then they will charge you an additional rate based on the term remaining. Make sure you read the loan agreement carefully (it should be in a clearly-marked section) or you can get a nasty surprise when the account suddenly has additional debt piled into it after you make what you believe to be your final payment.

In situations like these, put the cash into your allocated savings and draw from it each month when a payment goes out. This enables you to get a little bit of interest on the cash, as well as remove the debt. Just keep it allocated and don’t touch it.

In Summary

A simple, yet effective tool for tackling the debt owed. I love the way it focuses us on building our velocity up to run through each and every account. Believe me, it feels really good crossing off those big fish at the bottom :)

Happy debt-slaying :)