Ditch the politics and see people as people

Like it or not, politics is a part of most offices. The games that people play for getting a project or advancing up the career ladder are somehow part of the nature of every company with more than just a few employees.  In my opinion, the culture that this breeds is poisonous. Friends collaborate but individuals compete. The biggest problem that I see is when your co-workers and managers stop being your friends and become the competition.  This is most destructive in engineering organizations where collaboration is the real goal to building something awesome. By focusing on building friendships in a company, you can create a culture where politics are minimized and productivity is increased. It doesn't take some complicated team building exercise, just a few minutes to get to know someone and to treat them as you would like to be treated.

The challenge of new technology isn't new

a favorite theory of mine—to wit, that no occurrence is sole and solitary, but is merely a repetition of a thing which has happened before, and perhaps often.

- Mark Twain

Books, radio, and TV all share the distinction of being inventions that have changed society. Likewise, they have each been demonized as corrupting children and harming society. Today, it seems laughable that people would fear the printing press as something negative, but you try going back in time and printing a Bible in English. In many respects, the internet is the modern day printing press in its ability to change society. It also plays the role of whipping-boy for traditionalists who fear the possible outcomes. There is some aspect of our nature that always leads groups to think that this new invention will destroy the next generation, only for the naysayers to forget when their fore-bearers said the same about them. Still, they aren't completely wrong either. Change is exciting and the desire to be a part of whatever nouveau technology can be addicting and consuming. To me, the message is simple: use caution and reason in your use of technology and avoid excess.

Think Bigger

Death schedules are deadly

Finishing the Masters of Doom made me grumpy. It brought back memories of my own "death schedule" and lead me to question whether or not our industry is fundamentally screwed up. I love what I do and I am passionate about it. That passion when left unbridled however, comes at a price. This cost is often in the form of friends and family and a loss of contact with the world outside of software.  The key players in the Master of Doom ultimately do okay, but not without leaving a trail of broken relationships behind them.  We as an industry worship people like John Carmack for their brilliance and work ethic, but after learning about more of the past of "Engine John", I wonder if he really is a role model for what we want in the industry.

The software industry historically has a tendency towards overworking its assets and we as developers often take on the burden to get ahead or to be the person who saves the day. If we don't stop this trend, I fear we will burn ourselves out, not just as individuals, but as an industry. Last year, for about 5 straight months, I worked 60-80 hour weeks in order to help ship a product where I played a critical role. I took me a while to realize it, but the stress that built up had a long lasting impact on me that I still have painful memories of.

I am passionate about software and would love to be recognized for what I do, but I am not going to do it at the cost of my family or other obligations. I think this attitude towards a balance between work and family is something that we need to work to cultivate and to put on a pedestal those who successfully manage a career and family. This problem obviously isn't exclusive to software, but our industry is perhaps the most capable to achieve this goal as we can leverage technology to work in a fashion that keeps us close to our families and productive in our careers.

We aren't diverse, but we aren't exclusionary either

I will be the first to admit that the tech industry, particularly in Utah Valley, can be quite the mono-culture. If you aren't a white Mormon male from a middle class family, then you better at least be prepared to be surrounded by them. That said, I am not always sure the criticisms of the tech culture as being hostile or unfriendly towards women are always fair. At least in my experience, I have never heard disparaging comments towards women or their programming abilities. Historically, computers have been seen as the playthings of misfits and social outcasts, and those who enjoyed tinkering with software were immediately labelled as such, regardless of its truthfulness. It should come at no surprise that an industry that has always been cast as full of socially awkward nerds would fail to attract a hugely diverse range of people. That isn't to say we can't do better in being more inclusive, and I think analysis of what we can do is important. However, before woman will feel comfortable joining the ranks, those outside of the computer industry must also recognize we aren't all basement-dwelling Star Trek fans.

Open source works in the real world

Open source software is misunderstood. To many, the logic behind the open source movement doesn't make sense. I have heard the phrase "Why do something for free when you can get paid?" many times, even from professors or experienced developers. The primary thing that many misunderstand is that open source is not about altruism or not making money, its about recognizing the nature of problems and their solutions. Closed source software assumes that problems are well defined and that a one-size-fits-all solution can be found. In reality, problems are rarely defined and those problems that are often have subtle variants that necessitate a tweaked solution. Open source allows me to leverage the efforts of others with similar problems and find a solution custom fit for me that I then can contribute back and help others. This process, when repeated, creates software that is more capable and more powerful than what any single company could create and has a side effect of creating an ecosystem that fosters growth and even profits for those who understand how to leverage the ecosystem. I have grown used to the inquiries about why I use and contribute to open source and still extoll the virtues, but I am confident that as our problems get more complex open source communities will continue to create solutions and prove me right.

A modern meeting place

It was only a few years ago that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seemed to have serious technology problems. The websites were ugly, the search results for the church were misleading, and the message that come across to the wider audience was fragmented. The technological transformation of the LDS church in the last few years is nigh unto miraculous. Today, church members have  functional and beautiful tools in the form of LDS.org and accompanying mobile apps. Gone are the days of the always out-of-date paper ward list. The church has greatly improved their presence on the web through mormon.org and good SEO - no longer does a search for 'mormon' lead only to the opinions of anti-mormons. More impressive is the way the members of the LDS faith have come together online to share of their faith in a consistent and friendly manner. Facebook is home to many missionaries, some even wearing name-tags. The fact that conference trends on Twitter every 6 months is incredible sign to the world that we aren't religious nut jobs incapable of reasonable thought, but normal, technology savvy people who just happen to have a strong faith. I used to think the church didn't "get" technology. It seems I was wrong, and I am glad I was.

A new age of IP

Much of the debate around copyright and patents is, at its core, really a debate on monetizing and protecting intellectual property, or IP. IP is not a new concept, but in the age where "property" is more often digital bits-and-bobs than physical goods, the way IP is approached is being radically challenged. As a proponent of open source everything, I see the moves of patent trolls as a desperate attempt by greedy organizations to capitalize on a future they simple don't understand. Likewise, the efforts to protect copyright by gigantic media companies through DRM and slow uptake of digital delivery methods is the result of a bloated industry that is clinging as desperately as possible to the old model. The way content and ideas are being created is changing drastically: it is cheaper, easier, and more collaborative. The process of changing IP will be painful, especially to markets that fail to adapt, but it is necessary and inevitable.

Networks of Trust and Distrust

Clifford Stole's The Cuckoo's Egg left me with a lot to contemplate. Stole's conclusion that hacking in all forms is bad and that trust is sufficient raises the question if this really is a viable option for today's internet. Looking at the recent events with the NSA, the use of private data by corporations, and the massive growth of the internet, I think not. In fact, I believe the scrutiny that hackers apply to the system is crucial to helping ensure that consumers are protected and power is not being abused.

The leaked NSA files by Edward Snowden are still slowly trickling out and each revelation exposes just how deep the intrusion of NSA programs is into the personal lives of both American citizens and non-citizens. From email metadata to tracking people in online games, the NSA has shown that there is little respect for privacy when it comes to internet surveillance. The ability of hackers and info-sec researchers to explore, discover, and even counteract these surveillance mechanism seems like a worthy, perhaps even necessary, practice in the modern age.  Much of the same applies for corporations who may abuse data without knowledge of the consumer. A recent episode that comes to mind is the social network Path who unknowingly uploaded the address book of iPhone users when installing their app. The abuse was discovered by a "hacker", who was trying to reverse engineer their API.

As the internet has grown, it is not enough to just "trust" that the network is safe, secure, or even protected by the organizations that created it. If anything, the government has proven to be the least trustworthy entity through the systematic destruction of privacy on the internet. Certainly, hackers who exist purely to annoy, pester, and scam entities on the internet are a scourge to the system. However, there are many positive aspects to the hacker culture. The pursuit of transparency, knowledge, and discovery have resulted in (arguably) positive results, helping systems become more secure, exposing corruption, and supporting worthy causes.

General Conference on Twitter

It is always funny to see mormons come out in full force around General Conference. There is an odd mixture of normal church goers, spam, and the occasional troll-bait mixed in, but all in all, its a very cool thing to see members of the church profess their faith in a public forum and to get a live pulse on what people are thinking. This isn't the first time I have followed General Conference on Twitter and it won't be the last.

Controlling the uncontrollable

This last week, the FBI triumphantly announced the arrest of Ross Ulbrict (aka Dread Pirate Roberts) in connection with selling illicit drugs through his online marketplace known as The Silk Road. The website, which generated over $1 billion of sales in 3 years of operation, was an anonymous storefront that operated on the Tor network and used Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. These two technologies, Tor and Bitcoin, are incredibly effective and easy in their ability to allow individuals to engage in anonymous communication and exchange, and Ulbricht, who only had moderate technical ability, was able to use them with great success. Stories like this will become more common in years to come as the desire to have a truly free internet is not waning. It will be interesting to see how society reacts. Personally, I support the development of technologies that allow for truly anonymous communication. While it might mean it is harder for the FBI to control the flow of drug-money, it also means it is harder for dictatorships to control their citizens or for organizations to squash whistleblowers.

Finding problems

Whenever I come across a situation where technology looks like it could help, I like to think I am pretty good at coming up with solutions to help alleviate the problems at hand. The more I learn about family history however, the more I realize how little I know about the problem space and the real issues that make the work difficult. Unsurprisingly, I am beginning to realize there are about a thousand other fields where I am helplessly clueless as well. It is stunning to me how brilliant it is that there are technologist that have interests in almost every field. Technology is transformative, but not in and of itself. Problems that people are passionate about is just as essential as the solution. The fact that someone woke up one day and thought that a computer could help people find their ancestors may seem obvious now, but I would put forth that this realization was as original an idea as Facebook. Realizing this, I feel compelled to go discover, go learn, and then go solve some problems that matter.

Elon Musk and SpaceX - worthy of emulation

Elon Musk, the man behind PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla Motors, and the HyperLoop concept has yet another reason to celebrate with the successful launch of the next generation Falcon 9 rocket. As a secondary goal, the SpaceX team had huge aspirations of having the booster stage safely return to earth for reuse. While this portion of the mission failed, SpaceX seems tantalizingly close to drastically reducing the cost to reach orbit with recyclable rockets. In an age of waning American dominance in innovation, Musk and SpaceX typify the bold thinking and solid engineering that needs to prevail in the years to come. Wherever I go in my career, I hope to be a part of organizations driven by ideas that truly have the possibility to transform society and not just turn a profit.

Steam Box

If you aren't a regular reader of gaming blogs, you may have missed the buzz regarding the pending announcement of Valve's first foray into gaming hardware, the Steam Box. While Valve's intentions haven't been exactly secret, the announcement of a Linux based "console" has many gamers giddy to see what exactly the Steam Box will offer. Steam has succeed in revolutionizing PC gaming, practically killing physical distribution through digital downloads, while also enabling independent developers to create and sell their creations to a large market with low overhead. The question is if they can shift the momentum of their platform to Linux (which has a poor history with games) while also challenging the console incumbents. Valve has also indicated that while they will make or spec hardware, other companies as well as individuals will be able to build their own Steam Box. As a believer in consumer choice and open-source software, I love this concept. Much as Android has carved out a market with the number of choices in hardware and software, Valve can do the same in breaking open the console ecosystem, offering more choice, more flexibility, and ultimately, more benefits to the consumer.

Coming up for air

As obsessive tech people are wont to do, I often get deep into the technical waters trying to solve some obscure problem. In this state, I am a pretty miserable person to try and associate with. Questions don't register until minutes after being asked and responses are started but never finished. My wife hates it. If there is one point of martial strife in our otherwise blissful marriage, it would be that I submerge myself and don't surface for hours. Observation tells me that I am most definitely not alone in this behavior. Whether it be Scheme, Skyrim, or Spotify, we humans generally suck at balancing our real world interactions with our digital distractions. I often brush off the opinions of those who warn of our ever more connected-yet-disconnected behavior as only applying to teens on Facebook. But when I come up for air, I see just how unrooted from the physical realm I can be.  The Singularity hasn't quite happened yet, and until that time, those of us who spend time staring at a screen all day need to swim for the surface occasionally and avoid getting completely lost.