Lesson for software engineers from a filmmaker

Picture from: Shekhar Kapur's Website

 

What could a filmmaker say to CEO’s attending a software conference?

Probably very little, unless you are Shekhar Kapur and unafraid of opening up your thoughts to scrutiny by strangers.

 

Giving up Control

Mr Kapur started by asking how a symphony is created? Does it happen by exercising control or by giving it up?

He didn’t provide an answer but rather hinted at it by asking more questions and describing his own experiences.

For instance, he recalled body surfing—something he did in his younger days. And he cited the experience of filmmaking, for which he is acclaimed now.

He says he prefers to work from loose scripts because the rigid ones leave little room for creativity. How do you create anything, when all you do is follow instructions?

His method is to be obsessed with the subject, and to do all the hard work and research in the preparatory phase. And then to panic!

This serves to disrupt the stranglehold of earlier preparation and frees him to live in the moment and make his decisions on the fly. It’s not unlike being in the zone, which is what breathes life into his work.

Just like with body surfing, his other example. You need to learn how to control your body in water. But you really surf only when you give up control.  It happens in the moment when you allow your body to follow the wave, rather than controlling anything. That’s when you cease to exist because you’ve become one with the wave.

It is, perhaps, also how symphonies are created. Beethoven’s fifth (my example), has a very precise structure in terms of group theory. But no mathematician has created a comparable work following the discipline of mathematics. And Beethoven, who created the masterpiece, is no mathematician and wasn’t following a mathematical procedure. 

We all know that Beethoven never really studied advanced mathematics. Yet he incorporates a surprising amount of math in his music, at very high levels. The beginning of his Fifth Symphony is a prime case, but examples such as this are legion. He "used" group theory type concepts to compose this famous symphony. In fact, he used what crystallographers call the Space Group of symmetry transformations! This Group governs many advanced technologies, such as quantum mechanics, nuclear physics, and crystallography that are the foundations of today's technological revolution. At this level of abstraction, a crystal of diamond and Beethoven's 5th symphony are one and the same!

Source: Chapt. One, IV.4, Mozart, Beethoven

Yes, the mathematics is there. But it was formed into the symphony when Beethoven let his imagination discover its structure, unfettered by any control. If there was discipline, it was went into training the musician and composer that Beethoven was, not in the actual act of creation of the symphony.

Okay, so what is the lesson for the software engineer?

Here, it is (and I hope Mr Kapur agrees):

Great software doesn’t come from following the detailed SRS that you or someone created. It is more likely to emerge when you do an obsessive amount of preparatory work, but respond to the requirements as you see them when the action begins.

 

Technorati tags: Shekhar Kapur, Catalyst2008, software development, SOA, filmmaking

Making Office Ergonomics actually work

Originally uploaded by Pollona.

If you work in an office, you know the aches and pains that come with a day at the computer. But it doesn't have to be that way.[1]

Yes, that’s true. There is a correct way to place your monitor, keyboard, mouse, arms, shoulders and head in the natural and neutral position. (Besides taking regular breaks, of course.)

My questions are:

1. Why doesn’t the anatomically natural way come naturally?
2. Why the relapse into painful, dysfunctional postures, after being taught the correct neutral one?

Perhaps, the answer lies in loss of strength and calibration.

Take a different example. Simply being told to hold the head erect sometimes doesn't work. That’s when doctors prescribe a Cervical Collar to ease the pain, and exercises to strengthen the involved neck and shoulder muscles.

The best to way to avoid postural problems, whether in office or otherwise, is probably to develop adequate body awareness and strength. And nothing helps you get there more easily than the Ancient System of Exercise called Yoga.

It was two years ago that I got introduced to yoga and enjoyed the learning experience.

Started on it again after a longish break. It's been as wonderful all over!

 

Technorati tags: Yoga, exercise, calibration, strength, ergonomics, office chair, computer injury

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[1] Office Ergonomics presentation created by Prometheus Training Corporation, winner of the Articulate Guru Awards 2007.

Body's own logic

In the process of testing a theory of his, Scott Adams of Dilbert fame narrates:

When I cross my legs, right-over-left, and sit on my left ass-cheek, my brain doesn't work right. In order to think well enough to do work, I either have to have both feet on the ground (and both ass cheeks), or have my legs crossed left-over-right and sit on my right cheek. I discovered this years ago. I have no idea what causes it.

Source: The Dilbert Blog: The Ultimate Test

Here's a story of my own, about a mystery that got solved.

My father used to complain about a dull pain at the base of his left thumb. Nothing was ever found wrong, but the pain was there on and off. Just a pain with no identifiable cause.

He never found out the reason. I stumbled upon it recently, almost a decade after he is no more--yes, when I mysteriously developed the same symptoms.

Enlightenment struck one afternoon while I was drifting in and out of sleep. I tend to fix my thumb snugly between the other arm and body while sleeping. The hand stays like that for hours, and as I lean on to it, the thumb is stretched further! Yes, my father used to sleep like that too!!

Since the discovery, the pain is gone. It recurs when I unconsciously slip into the same comfortable posture.

Just how much we inherit! Even the way we acquire our pains!!

 

Technorati tags: mystery, inherit, pain

Dry Eyes--what your doctor may NOT suspect!

liquid eye
Originally uploaded by Pacito.

The annual physical is fun if they don't find any heart problems, or diabetes or any of the other serious illnesses.

Doctors must be nice to those who have the option of walking out. And they must work harder to show something for a whole morning of efforts. For instance, last time the ophthalmologist told me I had dry eyes.

He prescribed a lubricating eye drop, which I ignored. It could be the strain from looking at the computer screen for hours or, perhaps, something that happens with the age. Who cares?

However, my eyes got progressively itchy and tired, even in the mornings when they should be rested. So I bought the eye drops and, wow, they helped. But that's not the story!

Here's Mayo Clinic on likely causes of dry eyes, and there are hundreds of other web sites that give similar reasons:

For some people, the cause of dry eyes is an imbalance in the composition of their tears. Other people don't produce enough tears to keep their eyes comfortably lubricated. Eyelid problems, medications and other causes, such as environmental factors, also can lead to dry eyes.

Source: Dry eyes: Causes - MayoClinic.com

But my problem turned out to be entirely different and took me months to figure out.  While putting it on the face, I was getting a bit of the moisturizer into the eyes as well!

Can you imagine doing that? If you can’t, but have itchy eyes, do pay attention to how you apply the moisturizer, or cream or whatever.

Technorati tags: dry eyes, diagnosis, cause, moisturizer

A Control Systems Explanation for Yoga

A control system is often designed to reduce the difference between the actual and desired output (error) by using the error signal itself to  modify the input.

This is the principle of closed-loop feedback control.  Engineers use it to design systems that control everything from the flight path of a cruise missile to the temperature of your living room.

Please read the two paragraphs above again, if you are unfamiliar with this stuff. They present the essential ideas in a few sentences, even if the description could be faulted.

(And if you are really good at this, please, help describe the ideas in simpler terms in the comments. Thank you.)

There are two important elements in a control system:

Sensors to measure the appropriate variables

Without sensors, it's like flying an aircraft without knowing your altitude, location, speed, the orientation of the craft, etc.

A model of what is being controlled

Without an appropriate model, it's like handing over the aircraft to your refrigerator thermostat, which doesn't understand (has no model appropriate for) aircrafts in flight. But more about it in a later post.

Now, much the same thing happens within our body, which has an enormously complex control system.

Do you slouch? Or know someone who does? How easy it is to be unaware of the slouch. Or the fact that we habitually lean to one side, or slide forward in the chair, or keep the shoulders pushed up while typing. And most importantly, we are seldom aware any of these postural defects.

We think that we are sitting straight in a comfortable, neutral pose and discount the information about the slouch that our senses send in. Over time, the sensory information gets degraded by repeatedly being modified (discounted) and we lose the calibration. We no longer have reliable information for efficient and effective control.

Yoga makes you aware of your body: How well is your weight distributed? How straight is your spinal column? That sort of thing. And this give the body an opportunity to recalibrate the sensors periodically.

You already know from the aircraft analogy, just how important accurate information is. I leave you think how its lack affects your body.

Technorati tags: feedback, control system, body, calibration, yoga

An ancient system of exercise called Yoga

Lisa Peake has some interesting observations about her experiences with yoga.  An excerpt from her earlier post is given below and she has written about it again here.

"One of my current working theories is that people in this day and age have become extraordinarily disconnected from our bodies. [...] It seems to me that people are identifying more and more with our minds and emotions, and quite a lot less with our physical, bodily experiences."

Source: Lisa Peake: Waking up the body

I too have tried to understand how this ancient system of conditioning and exercising the mind and body works.

From an engineer's perspective, I think yoga achieves the following:

1. Calibration of sensors
2. Improvement in the brain's model of the body
3. Isometric exercise to strengthen the muscles
4. Stretching to improve the strength and flexibility of tendons and ligaments

Makes no sense?  

Okay, let me explain these points one at a time. (They shall become clickable links in this post, as I progress.)

Technorati tags: yoga, exercise, conditioning, disconnect

An Adventure called Yoga

Reasonably fit and in good health, there was no particular reason for us (my wife and I) to join yoga classes.

For me, it was largely a curiosity about this ancient system of exercise that involves slow stretching, some body postures and deep breathing. Not much of exercise, I thought.

We have spent the last few weeks with a group that practices yoga every morning for one hour--outdoors, in an area that is part of a golf course, all of which adds to the enjoyment.

It started out as a flirtation, but the magic of yoga has had me fascinated. It has been a tremendous learning experience so far and I intend to blog about it here, not as an evangelist, but rather as a student.

Stay tuned!

What triggers hunger?

Dave Munger in his blog Cognitive Daily reports research that memory of what we've eaten actually accounts for a significant portion of our hunger:

Rather than being solely a physical sensation, being "full" is largely a matter of recalling that we've eaten a meal appropriate for the occasion.

However, this is what a Reader's Digest book titled, "Making the Most of Your Brain" has to say on the same subject:

In regulating the appetite the brain can match calorie input to energy output almost perfectly. In practice, the region of the brain that controls food intake is frequently overridden by conscious desires for food created by social and other pressures. But left alone, the brain provokes hunger only when glucose levels fall below the optimum level. In this situation, a person's weight would vary less than 5 percent during their entire adult life."

Very interesting!

It appears that hunger is a composite signal based on several inputs, the most important of which is mealtime.

We are conditioned right from birth to regulate our eating pattern. Infants learn quickly to sleep through the major portion of the night, because their mothers discourage feeding during this period. Perhaps, infants that resisted such learning, or mothers that were inclined to be indulgent, were all eaten up by predators thousands of years ago, thus producing the current
race of "infants-trainable-for-feeding-time" humans.

Anyway, mealtimes for human beings, and for at least some other animals, form a stable and regular pattern. It probably conditions us to be hungry at such times, modified by memory of what we have eaten at (and since) the last meal.

Signals from sugar levels or feeling of fullness probably reinforce mealtime response. Over time, our response about all these gets conditioned accordingly:

1. Refractory period between meals, when the hunger-stimulus is suppressed.
2. How much constitutes a full meal
3. Which food items are appropriate at which meal

To the extent this description of hunger response is correct, it may explain the results reported in studies with amnesiacs. (Please see Dave Munger's post about the details. )

The results reported by Dave, however, crucially depend upon the assumption that the amygdala is not related in any way to hunger or satiety?

But amygdala is related closely to sense of smell, which turn is intimately connected with hunger and that complicates matters a bit.

The current issue of Reader's Digest (Indian Edition, June 2005) has an interesting article, "Follow your Nose", on the sense of smell.

It cites research by a Chicago neurologist, Alan R. Hirsch, and claims "... you stop eating a meal because your sense of smell and taste is satisfied, even if you don't feel full." It reports an ongoing study in which 92 participants lost an average of 15.25 kilos each in six months by stimulating their sense of smell! (More info is here.)

Another related question: "How do amnesiacs respond to sex?" Do they have no memory of it after a few minutes? Does that mean they can respond to sexual stimuli all over again, several times in a row?