Brian Eno is well-represented in iOS. His other apps like Bloom, Trope and Air invite listeners to touch the screen to make their own composition. Reflection ($30.99) is different, there is no interaction for the listener. The interface has three buttons: a pause button, a sleep timer, and AirPlay. Reflection produces endless permutations of Eno’s 2017 album, an hour and five minute long title track.
“Just calling it an app is akin to saying Falling Water is just a building,” writes one app store reviewer. “I would not call this an app,” agrees another, “Between the music and visuals it’s more like sonic architecture.” The visuals consist of slowly morphing rectangles that only seem to change in the split second you look away from the screen.
In software development deadlines are a necessary evil. It is important to understand when they are necessary, and it is important to understand why they are evil.
Estimation: When estimating engineering work a substantial time investment is required by an engineer in order to get an accurate estimate.
Misaligned Incentives: There is an incentive to lie and give estimates much longer than the feature is truly expected to take.
Low Morale: Deadlines are likely to be missed often. Repeated failure has a cost to the morale of the team.
Micromanagement: Deadlines are wielded by middle managers as a whip to harass and annoy engineers working on features.
High Stress: When engineers feel the pressure of other stakeholders holding deadlines over their heads it creates an environment of high stress.
High Turnover: On teams with high turnover rates the best engineers have an easy time finding new work and leave quickly, the worst engineers have a difficult time finding work and remain. This selects for a lower quality team over time.
The resolution is simple. Never have internal deadlines. Operate on a prioritized and ordered list of features. Estimate only when necessary to prioritize and do so in a t-shirt sizing way. Trust your engineers and they will begin to love their work. Engineers who love their work are happy and productive.