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  • The Shortest Path To Solve A Problem

    The Shortest Path To Solve A Problem

    Velocity and speed come in two ways. You can increase power, or you can reduce drag. We can find ways to address both of these aspects to solve a problem faster. Some of these may be obvious. However, I often find many to be overlooked regularly. That may come from rushing through the process or even institutional and cultural limits.

    More Than One Way To Solve A Problem

    Most problems have multiple solutions. Likewise, some are going to be better than others. Therefore, do not let perfect be the enemy of good. The first solution is at least a solution. That is more than you started with. That may be all that is needed. A better solution may be the goal—however, version 1.0 of a solution is better than nothing at all. There is also the option to build on that first solution. When you keep going back to the drawing board, you limit what you start with. Sometimes getting close to a solution provides a foundation or watershed moment. When that happens, you can start the next effort closer to the end. It is like climbing a mountain in stages instead of one herculean effort.

    Remove Drag

    We can start by removing drag on our problem-solving approach. However, let’s first think about what drag is. It is anything that causes friction or otherwise slows down an object or process. That includes things that may take the progress off course. For example, a river may re-route itself if something causes enough drag. Likewise, your GPS may re-route you if there is too much friction in the form of a traffic jam or accident. Now indirect progress may not exactly be a drag, but it works for our purposes.

    The biggest drag I have found in all my years of work to solve a problem (big or small) is misdirection. That may come in the form of going down the wrong path or even solving the wrong problem. The simplest example of this is trial-and-error. Every error (wrong path) slows your speed to a solution. The sooner you get on the right path, the quicker the problem is solved. That brings us to our first key point.

    Ensure You Have The Correct Problem

    That may appear to be an obvious starting point. Nevertheless, it is a common mistake. Humans are known for confusing cause and effect. Likewise, we all have moments of focusing on the wrong aspect of a situation missing the root cause. We sometimes even solve a problem that does not exist. We assume trends where there are none. Start your process by stepping back and examining how the problem arose or manifested. It is easy to get off track and lose a lot of time chasing after requirements that are not needed. When possible, ensure you can reproduce the problem/error. Then, verify the solution actually addresses it.

    A tangent struggle to this is assigning blame. There are many times blae is chased down first. However, that does not solve the problem in most cases. Therefore, work on the problem first, then worry about heads rolling. Reviewing why a problem occurs or occurred can have limited use. Rather than focus on what happened, keep the focus on how to avoid it in the future.

    Fail Fast Fallacy

    The idea of failing fast is popular among some circles. That often is used as a way to remove analysis and push to try things out. Yes, trial-and-error can be useful. However, random is not as good as a focused approach. We have to find a balance between quickly verifying potential options and overthinking their value. We are not going to increase velocity to solve a problem by quickly removing options unless they were valid in the first place. Each successive failure should be methodically moving us toward the solution. Thus, we can think of it as a mortar fire walking in the charges to the target. There will be attempts that take us away from a solution, but that means we go back and try another direction.

    The Single Step

    The is an old saying that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. That is true every step of the way. We can think about a problem and discuss it, and even rehash it. However, we are not going to make progress on a solution until we start work on that. There is a time to think and time to act. Make sure you understand what time it is and you will get to that solution faster. You might even reach it faster than you thought.

  • Building a Code Review Culture

    Building a Code Review Culture

    I was recently in a conversation about software development and asked about my thoughts on doing a code review. The assumption was that a code review is a good thing. However, there was a question as to how they can be done properly. It may sound like a cliche, but that is an excellent question. There are billions of lines of code written each year, from scripts to full-featured languages. We need to be aware of how to write and produce better code. The review process helps us do that.

    What Is A Code Review?

    We should start with the goals of this practice. Of course, companies vary in their official objectives. Nevertheless, code reviews almost always have the same list of goals.

    • Reduce bugs
    • Improve Quality
    • Verify Adherence to Standards
    • Cross-training/Leverage Expertise

    There are nuances and details to each of these items. However, a process that addresses these is off to an excellent start. We should not do anything simply to be busy or conform to a norm. We want to have concrete value in our work, and the above items give us that.

    Developer peers typically do a code review. There can be any number of participants, and it may be direct and in-person or performed off-line. There are tools to assist in a review, or “paper and pencil” approaches might be used. The highest level description of a code review is a person (or persons) walking through source code with an eye for improvement or errors. We can look to the above objectives to help us flesh out this process to make it more effective.

    Reduce Bugs

    It is frustrating to developers, but many bugs are easy to detect. There are typos and simple logic flaws we miss while cranking out code. The second set of eyes can often help us quickly spot these issues and address them. A code review that aims to assess logic and scan for inconstancies can help us squash bugs sooner and faster. This is not a process without cost. It takes an investment of time to review code and provide feedback. However, it is worth the effort. We gain in quality but also productivity as we work together to implement solutions that are peer-reviewed. The things I am most attuned to are not the same as your experience. That means a few minutes of your time may easily determine bugs that take me hours to track down. Minutes for hours is always a worthwhile trade.

    Improve Quality

    Quality and bugs are related but not the same. You can write low-quality code that is bug-free. Yes, I mean that. There is a lot that goes into quality. It has to be correct, maintainable, scalable, stable, and more. A code review helps bring the team to the same page. The programming standards can be reviewed and feedback given on specific code rather than just functionality. That leads to better developers, tighter code, and a consistent style throughout the application that makes it much easier to maintain. You get a reward today and in the future for going through this process.

    Adherence To Standards

    Every organization needs a standards cop. There is value in everyone on the team rowing in the same direction. This objective is partially addressed by standards. While there are automation tools that enforce these rules, not everything can be reduced to a rule. The code review process allows the team to go over processes and standards with an eye towards to enforcing and improving them. It is easy to take a short cut in a rush to solve a problem or forget to “clean up” a quick code snippet. That is where this process comes in. The author has someone to follow behind and provide accountability for the work before it is committed up the chain.

    Cross Training

    Another benefit of going through this effort is cross-training. Team members are at least exposed to areas they may otherwise never see. There is always a cost to cross-training in terms of time. However, a code review adds value immediately while still moving forward the breadth of experience in the team. Members that are completely ignorant of a section of the solution can gain insight and even familiarity through this process. They not only see code, they are brought into the discussion as features are created, bugs found, and decisions made. They also have a context to work with in terms of code that has been reviewed in the past.

    A Worthy Investment

    My goal through all of this is to show that there is value in doing code reviews. However, it is not something you can magically start and immediately do fully. There is an art to being able to walk through code and provide insight. That takes time and experience. Therefore, the best time to start this process was last year, but the second best time is now. Get out there and bring the team into your coding.

  • The Mid-Year Review

    The Mid-Year Review

    A New Year always includes a flood of articles on planning and assessing for the year gone by and the one ahead. However, annual planning is not enough. That is why a mid-year review and adjustments are valuable. In particular, we need to adjust during the journey rather than wait until the end. They should also be much less investment than year-end as your course is set. It just might need some modification.

    Where Are We

    The middle of the year is a good point to see how you are doing. You should be about halfway through your goals or progress set in January. If you are ahead of schedule, then keep forging on. When you are off-track, then review options for getting back on track or even adjusting goals. Six months is a lot of time for a correction to “bake in” and turn a loss into a win. The modern business world moves fast. Your mid-year review may point to goals that need to change. A new product idea may appear to be a better direction to take, or the window of opportunity may have passed for a flagship goal of the year. Do not throw good resources after bad. If it is time to call it quits, then do so and move on.

    What Works, What Needs Change

    Another benefit of assessing progress at this point is that you should have a solid track record of success or challenges so far. Your adjustments made in January have now been in place long enough to evaluate them. The processes and tasks that have not paid off can be replaced with options that will hopefully serve you better. You might also be able to double down on the things that have worked well. Consider things like A-B testing and that you might know have a clear direction with either A or B. At this point, the evaluation period can end. There is no need to keep checking the score once a winner has been decided.

    Looking Ahead

    It never hurts to start to position yourself for the next race or objective. You can wait until November or December to start planning for the next year, or you can start today. There are often things you can do to help inform decisions to be made down the road. First, consider what sort of options you want to assess for the next year. Then keep an eye out for articles or other ways to get a jump start on assessing whether an option is worthwhile or if it is better to pass. When you put something on your mental radar and let it sit, you can often end up with a lot of material for that decision almost for free. You will find that you pay more attention to passing articles and discussions than you would otherwise.

    Adjust and Execute After A Mid-Year Review

    Once you have assessed where you are and where you want to be, it is time to make adjustments. These can be as little and simple as changing metrics or reporting up to scrapping a plan and going back to the drawing board. Do not be afraid to make big changes at this point. There is nothing to be gained by dragging out a losing cause. No one likes bad news. However, when you take the big step of re-assessing your goals and plans, you can properly set expectations for the remainder of the year. We all have seen situations where the goal line is adjusted multiple times in minor ways. These “corrections” can lead to frustration and wasted resources. A mid-year review is a perfect occasion to take a larger step and make a more significant course correction.

    The good news in all of this is that you have enough time to make these changes and still evaluate them at year-end. Our mid-year review and adjustments provide an opportunity to cut losses and start forward on a path to success six months sooner. However, that does require us to take a hard look at where we are and how we got here with an eye towards improvement. As with annual planning and review, look to change as a path to improvement rather than merely accepting failure.