Nikolejsin is spreading the word on Claims based Identity to the Canadian public sector. I had a quote and Pamela Dingle, Mary Ruddy and Rob Blakley are also in there. August company for me.

http://www.thestandard.com/news/2009/09/16/case-claims-based-identity-management

http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/the-case-for-claims-based-identity-management/138760

http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=C46053C8-1A64-67EA-E40DEA02CB302FD4

The hierarchy of needs is arranged in a pyramid, once lower level needs are met you can move up to the next level. Lowest on the pyramid are things like Food, Sleep, Water. Here’s a visual:

Self-actualization is highest in the list and presumably by the time you’re operating at this level you’re ready to transcend these earthly bonds.

I did a simple thought experiment to try to determine how this would work in a software development team. Software can suffer from very basic needs such as lack of disc space, or sufficient air conditioning. You might laugh but I’ve been in the office at 4AM when the A/C is off working on production releases with a team of developers. It’s not fun. On the contrary, a well setup team doesn’t worry about these things, they’ve moved up the pyramid. This got me thinking, what sort of pyramid do you need in order to operate as a “highly effective team”. How much of the pyramid do you have already and what are the gaps?

Here’s what I came up with (click to view)
Shanahan’s Maslow Hierarchy

My analysis is by no means complete but I ended up with Seven levels. Seven’s a good number. They break down like this:

Level 1 – Physical Needs
These are the basics that every developer needs in order to do some work. A Compiler, Computer, Desk, Cube, Coffee, Lights, Air Conditioning, Team Structure (folks need to know who to talk to), Project Schedule. No surprises there. I’ve included a box for “Google” which represents internet access. Yes, I have seen teams that are asked to code whilst lacking internet access. Can you imagine ramping up without reference material? I’ve also included Software Licenses because some shops develop using trial licenses only. Lastly, Whiteboard and Markers go a huge way in terms of communication. Of course this list could be much longer but I stopped there.

Level 2 – Tools
Level 2 looks at “tooling”. You have a compiler but level 2 adds in productivity features like Intellisense. A Quiet Office w/door is vastly superior to a cube (in some cases, not in others). Code is managed in a Source Control system and Coding Standards are documented. Requirements might be capture in MS Word but at least they are documented. Some Basic Project Management exists with maybe a weekly team meeting. Code Reviews are manual and defects are tracked in a dedicated Bug Tracking system (e.g. TFS). The team has access to Vendor Support Accounts for when they encounter problems.
Lastly, formal Environments e.g. SIT, UAT etc. are established.

Level 3 – Common Components
Ok, now we’re starting to work smarter not harder. Horizontal functions and cross-cutting concerns have been pulled out to some degree into Common Components. Typical pieces include Authentication, Authorization, UI Layer Design Patterns, Data Access, Localization, Logging and Exception Handling. A formal Build Process has been established. Non-code artifacts like Design Docs and Test Cases are managed in MS Word.

Level 4 – Re-Use / Frameworks
Taking the Components from level 3 and tying them together we get a Framework. Integrated components and Comprehensive Developer Utilities and e.g. a Data Access Layer that works together with the MVP Pattern used by the UI Layer. The pieces work in concert with the whole exceeding the sum of the parts. More like a Framework than isolated components. This in turn institutes a Consistent Architecture across projects. The Build Process is now Automated and we can start to tackle Distributed Development.
Non-code artifacts are no longer managed through Word but through dedicated systems e.g. CaliberRM, DOORS, TFS. We also begin to see higher level concepts come into play like B2B interactions, e.g. Identity Federation. These high-order concepts are not possible unless the lower levels of the pyramid are firm.

Level 5 – Automation
Now we look for efficiencies, scaling back the human processes required and moving to an automated life cycle where appropriate. Tying the various sub-systems and processes together through automation. Virtualization or Cloud Computing might enter here. Things like Code Generation and Continuous Integration are implemented and we start to see comparable Metrics coming out of the projects. Source Control is governed by Policies which enforce things like “all code must have a unit test” etc. Requirements, Test Cases, Code and Defects are all linked and we begin to see traceability through the project’s deliverables.

Level 6 – Software Factory
By operating as a “factory” the team introduces Governance around non-software artifacts. Projects are more predictable and Metrics are harvested consistently. Estimates are more accurate and justifiable leading to more achievable project timelines. Results can be Quantifiable rather than purely Qualitative.

Level 7 – Software as a Commodity
Now you’ve reached Nirvana, or almost. Projects are “Turn-Key” with a high degree of predictability, very low risk and very accurate estimates. The management team has End-to-End Traceability/Visibility and there is a complete feedback loop from Project Inception through to Live Date.

This was a useful (and challenging) exercise. If I’m being honest I would say we’re operating at level 3 or 4 right now and failing to climb higher because we keep getting dragged back to lower levels.

My gut reaction was that the smaller the team, the more nimble they can be between levels and I often envy smaller shops with less constraints and more freedom to move around this pyramid. I’m not sure that holds though since perhaps the smaller the team the more volatile the lower levels of your pyramid might be? Conversely the larger the team the more stable the lower levels would be but the tougher it is to move up the pyramid. There has to be a balance.

Given enough resources and a solid foundation I feel the pieces are out there now to rise higher, they just need to be applied.

The question now is whether “Shanahan’s Hierarchy of Software Development” belongs in Zachman? or “Popular Psychology”?

The “Complimentary and Alternative Medicine” or CAM movement is big business. It seems the “in-thing” to shun western medicine as being primarily driven by “big pharma”. Big pharma is a conspiracy which holds that there are cures for things like Cancer or Neuro-degenerative diseases like Parkinsons which are being withheld by the evil pharmaceutical companies in order to turn a profit.

So what’s Alternative Medicine? Alternative Medicine is medicine which does not fall under the FDA regulations for drug testing. The legal definition of a drug is “articles intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease”.  The FDA mandates that anything claiming to be a drug pass rigourous double-blind clinical trials and be proven to be effective, better than placebo whilst also causing no harm. As you can imagine it takes a LONG time and costs a LOT of money to go through this testing.

Enter CAM. CAM side-steps this troublesome process by simply putting statements on the bottle that say things like “This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease”. Genius.

Now you’ve got all the ingredients of a good bit of foolery:

• a) The demand: People are sick, desperate and they need cures. Health-care is expensive.
• b) The opportunity: Just put some fine-print on the bottle and you’re good to go.
• c) The conspiracy: Propagate a rumour about the Evil Big Pharma.

A+B+C = The True Believer.  No one ever stops to ask if the stuff actually works and clinical trials seem like a silly nuisance.

You might be surprised to learn what kinds of things fall into the bucket of CAM, here’s a short list: accupuncture, anything chinese, anything holistic, Naturopathy,  Urine therapy, Magnetotherapy, Faith Healing, Fasting, Quigong, Calorie Restriction and on and on…

(ok, ok, I wasn’t surprised by “Urine Therapy”)

The Wiki4CAM states it with incredible irony/ignorance “Wiki4CAM has been started to provide the Complementary and Alternative Medicine community its own space, where it can build its knowledge base without any undue skeptical diversions. ”

Of course, no one needs skeptical diversions? Why bother ourselves “unduly” with the burden of efficacy? Unfortunately this does have a serious side and has often proven deadly.

• In 2007 a PA boy dies from Chelation Therapy whilst being treated for Autism LINK]
• 40 year old Jacqueline Henson and mother of 5 died after consuming too much water [LINK]
• Just 9 days ago 11 year old Madeline Neumann died from diabetes. Her parents refused to get her medical attention and instead tried to “pray” her diabetes away [LINK]. Disgusting.

As one doctor said, “do you know what they call Alternatative Medicine that works? …”Medicine!”

I suppose the lure of these treatments is that they are “Natural” and how could anything natural be bad for you? Well quite easily for example Deadly Nightshade is natural or Arsenic is naturally occuring, both will kill you quite naturally.

This is all part and parcel of the move towards Organic food because non-organic food has chemicals and chemicals are bad. This is pure nonsense but let’s dig in. The basic premise in this case is flawed: Chemicals are not bad. Might I remind you that you’re breathing chemicals right now! Yes, Oxygen is a chemical, Nitrogen is a chemical, both essential to life which is based in our case on…Carbon! Oh no, another chemical!

Somehow there’s a feeling that food grown without chemicals (pesticide or fertiliser) is better than food grown with chemicals. Not true. In fact a study was just published which states

“Organically grown food is no more nutritious than conventionally grown food when it comes to the amount of certain important nutrients”. [LINK]

Organic food is smaller due to less fertiliser being used, there are more losses from pests, takes more land to cultivate (the yield per square foot is less), tastes the same and costs MORE.  Penn and Teller claimed recently that if all the world grew organic food, there’d only be enough to feed 4 billion people. 3 billion would have to go hungry. Nice.

Finally there’s Genetic Modification. Folks don’t like genetic modification because it sounds creepy. Genetic Modification is a process whereby the genetic material of foods is modified to enhance it in specific ways. Examples are strawberries that can survive frost, potatoes that absorb less fat when fried or apples that can fight blight.

The jury’s still out on this one but if you think about it humans have been genetically modifying food through selective breeding and agriculture for thousands of years.  For example, some evidence suggests the modern day “domesticated” carrot started out life a thousand years ago in Afghanistan as a small purple-yellow root.  Most flowers are products of genetic modification, same thing with domestic cats and dogs.

Is GM food safe? I don’t know but let’s base decisions off the evidence.

P.S. The image this time is of Donald Duck, a long time proponent of Quackery.

I’m no expert but it makes sense that we’d be best at recognizing faces better than say less frequently viewed patterns since there’s an obvious evolutionary advantage to that. So the next time you think you see a ghost in a smudged photo or the Jesus in the bark of a tree [LINK] realize that it’s just your visual cortex trying to help you out.

Same thing with that EVP nonsense “Electronic Voice Phenomenon”. Ghost hunters claim the white noise on a low quality recording is actually the voice of dead people “crossing over”. Sorry, just audio pareidolia .

Most people think they have a good memory but actually have a terrible memory. Our memory is NOT good at remembering, especially specifics. We remember generalist type things and our brain fills in the gaps. Often times our brain will make stuff up. Don’t believe me? Let’s check it.

First grab a pen and paper. You’re going to memorise a list of words then write down as many as you can in 60 seconds. Don’t cheat, here’s the list, time starts when you read the last word. Read each word once and out loud then minimize the browser window.

“sour, nice, candy, honey, sugar, soda, bitter, chocolate, good, heart, taste, cake, tooth, tart, pie”

STOP!!! look away and go write down as many words as you remember.

Ok, here’s a 2nd list, do the same thing:

“mad, wrath, fear, happy, hate, fight, rage, hatred, temper, mean, fury, calm, ire, emotion, enrage” *

If you’re done you can relax. We’ll get to the answers in a minute.

Memory is very malleable. Memories are stored in neural pathways within our brain, unless those pathways are revisited and re-activated they grow weak and the recollection grows fuzzy. The memory might even merge with another and make us think we remember something that never happened.

There are plenty of examples of studies of this phenomenon. Psychologist Ulric Neisser took this account from a student in 1986 right after the shuttle Challenger exploded:

January 1986: “I was in my religion class and some people walked in and started talking about the [explosion]. I didn’t know any details except that it had exploded and the schoolteacher’s students had all been watching, which I thought was so sad. Then after class I went to my room and watched the TV program talking about it and I got all the details from that.”And this account 3 years later from the same student:

September 1988: “When I first heard about the explosion I was sitting in my freshman dorm room with my roommate and we were watching TV. It came on a news flash and were we both totally shocked. I was really upset and went upstairs to talk to a friend of mind and then I called my parents.”

Memories can also be implanted falsely into our minds through suggestion and there are many documented examples of this: Whilst under hypnosis Nadean Cool was made to believe she had been a member of a satanic cult as a child. This turned out to be false and she was awarded a few million. Beth Rutherford was made to remember that her father had raped her repeatedly. The father was disgraced and Beth was later found under medical exam to be a virgin at age 22.

In their paper, Loftus and Pickrell showed [LINK] they were able to “implant” a false memory of being lost in a shopping mall or large department store at about the age of five.

“We prepared a booklet for each participant containing one-paragraph stories about three events that had actually happened to him or her and one that had not.”

“The lost-in-the-mall scenario included the following elements: lost for an extended period, crying, aid and comfort by an elderly woman and, finally, reunion with the family.”

“in the two follow-up interviews six participants (25 percent) continued to claim that they remembered the fictitious event.”

That’s a statistically significant result. The lesson there; don’t trust your memory and don’t trust psychiatrists. Ironically eye-witness testimony in a trial is often used to trump circumstantial evidence!

Let’s get back to your memory test; take a look at your memorized word list, if you wrote down “sweet” or “anger” you’ve fallen victim to a false memory. Neither of those words were in the original lists.

* This is taken from Brian Brushwood’s lecture on memory which you can find here:

The image on this post is a portion of Ulysses and the Sirens by Herbert James Draper. The “fool” connection is a little obscure but one of my favourite songs is “Tales of Brave Ulysses” by Cream. Eric Clapton played a guitar known as “The Fool” on this track.