Bringing Leadership to Market

Today's post begins relating less to the daily going-ons in the classroom; but, I thought it worth sharing Simon Sinek's insight on leadership and its effects in the public space:

http://blog.ted.com/2010/05/04/how_great_leade/

While I'm currently focused on piecing together additional tools for my ASP.NET arsenal to build better usability in projects, I think it's increasingly important to understand the 'Why' during a build phase.  For example, when adding scope to a project I often ask whether extra features simply contribute to a 'What' we can provide our clients with, or if they represent a key elements in defining 'Why' those pieces are integral to our build.

This process of scope screening and limitation remains one of the processes I enjoy most as a new coder. It blends together a combination of critical thinking that reminds me of some literary methods, or perhaps proclivities, I've developed over the years.  As such I describe myself as subscribing to the Ernest Hemingway school of short-story writing, who once offered the advice (I'm paraphrasing) that, "if you're writing a short story, you better use every fucking bullet in your gun." In essence, what I take that to mean is, 'keep it clean, make your words effective, and don't waste my time.'

Same in coding--Understand your project, write it cleanly, make it effective; and, as a consequence your audience (clients) will understand 'Why' your code exists.

-Max