Heroes

Who are the people I think I would most like to emulate?

Well, there’s Barbara McClintock.  She was a Nobel Laureate Biologist.  Not for her the bombast of Watson and Crick.  She did her research on Maize and came up with Transposons — jumping genes.  She was convinced the genes sometimes jumped when the rest of the scientific community didn’t.  Her funding dried up and she spent a large part of her career isolated and not respected very much.  And many years later, her conviction was recognized.  The legend of the long-suffering scientist has been disputed, but it doesn’t matter to me because it’s the legend I admire more than the person.  I think about what it was like for her to have stuck to her guns.  I would have moved on to a more lucrative field, perhaps gone into Big Pharma to make my mark — or a few bucks, anyway.

Then there’s Ray Davis.  He was a physicist who did experiments trying to measure neutrinos from the sun.  His measurements showed a number only one third of what had been theoretically predicted.  He spent decades trying to prove that there was no error in his experiments.  In 35 years following his experiments, his stick-to-it-tive-ness had contributed a new understanding of the nature of elementary particles and the origin of the universe.  By the time he got his Nobel Prize, in his late 80’s, he had Alzheimer’s.  It’s not clear how much he appreciated the recognition.

I wonder what people like that are like to live or be friends with.  Compromise isn’t in their mind set.  I have a close friend whom I won’t identify, who is blessed with the courage of her convictions.  People laugh at her nuttiness sometimes but the disapproval implicit in being laughed at doesn’t faze her a bit.  No, she’s not headed for the Nobel or anything.  But dear reader, if you know someone who marches to a different drummer and has the courage of their convictions, hold back the snickering.

The rest of us can only aspire to that level of courage.  The courage is its own reward – the success may never come.  Or, like Ray Davis, come when it is too late.

It is still Engineering

There is a parallel between starting Quantitecture and doing a project of the type that would need our services.

• The projects we want to help are trying to pull all the pieces together — somehow connecting all the dots that need to be connected in time for the launch, not knowing for sure if the project will perform well, if it will scale, etc.
• Quantitecture, same thing.

I have started out with the same error that I am trying to help my clients not make!

I know there is a difference: one is about technology and the other is about business.  But really, shouldn’t the same philosophy apply?  Shouldn’t I try to size the market and the marketing approach?  Of course, it should.

So here’s the plan.  I will construct a quantitative model together and organize a demo around it.  The demo will be useful on other counts as well.  It will integrate a number of elements I have been writing about:

1. Clouds: the demo will be based on Google App Engine.
2. It will serve as the next chapter of my technical blog.  That blog hasn’t had any writing into it in a while, perhaps just waiting for the right confluence of motivations and methods.

I spent the day yesterday formulating the model and going through present-day textbooks.  It is gratifying — in a sad sort of way — to observe that the field has not had a disruptive change since when I was actively practicing it twenty years ago.  Gratifying because the techniques I have been using since then are as current as they ever were.  Sad because it hasn’t become more of a science.

Performance Engineering has been overshadowed by the new buzzwords, like the internet, in the last couple of decades.  But it’s still Engineering.  Ignore it at your own peril.

Is Eeyore Necessary?

Yesterday I rewrote the Case Studies page on my web site. It had been one of the first pages I had written, way back when, and it was starting to feel very wooden. Boring, even. Case studies are supposed to provide color to the presentation and make it more real. Mine had been doing just the opposite. The old version is still around for comparison but nothing^† refers to it any more.

Case studies written as marketing literature, to put it bluntly, can be variations on “how I rescued the maiden” theme. I wanted to project a higher level of authenticity. Here’s my first question, dear reader: does it read as authentic or as self defeating, in a way? How much “best foot forward” is appropriate and when does it become a fairy tale?

If you were to find a common theme in the stories, what would you say? Hubris is the kiss of death? The Worriers Win?

As Eeyore would have said in his sad voice: if you ask me, not that anyone did…

On a related subject, most people know my passion for The New York Times as I freely quote from it. I will also admit to reading Barron’s. Among others, I admire Tom Donlan for his ability to write though he can be a bit right-wing.  This week he wrote:

We also pause to mention to new readers that Barron’s, sometimes known on the Street as “Bear-ons,” prides itself on offering accurate negative news about companies as much as it does about passing on accurate good news. Good news is plentiful, and therefore cheap. Bad news has to be dug up, and indeed there are many who try to keep it buried, or bury those who make it known. Short-sellers read Barron’s with special interest, and they also make good sources of information that our reporters can check and publish if true.

And that’s my second question: my line of work is a truth telling business and it sometimes goes counter to the popular sentiment. How would Eeyore sell his services?

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^†By referencing the old page in this blog I made it possible for Google’s robots to find that page. It will live in Google’s cache forever!