Don’t Play It Like the Flute An Article by Matthias Ott matthiasott.com Don’t play it like the flute. Play it as if it was the wind whistling through the desert dunes. No matter what you love to create, there is something to be learned from the way Hans Zimmer approached the Dune score. We are all striving to create work that is novel, innovative, memorable, and inspiring. To get there, however, we tend to focus on getting things right, on avoiding mistakes, on “being professional”. Yes, it is important to have the commitment, dedication, and attention to detail of a professional. But being right? That will only take you so far. What is much more important is to approach the problem in front of you with curiosity and an open mind. With an urge to explore what can be found beyond the ordinary, beyond the right way of doing things. If you want to create something that nobody has come up with yet, it is important that you try out all the crazy ideas others are afraid to try, that you build prototypes, improvise, and freely play with the materials and the technologies you have at hand. musiccreativitynoveltyexplorationcuriosity
Painting With the Web An Article by Matthias Ott matthiasott.com So much about [Gerhard Richter's painting process] reminds me of designing and building for the Web: The unpredictability, the peculiarities of the material, the improvisation, the bugs, the happy accidents. There is one crucial difference, though. By using static wireframes and static layouts, by separating design and development, we are often limiting our ability to have that creative dialogue with the Web and its materials. We are limiting our potential for playful exploration and for creating surprising and novel solutions. And, most importantly, we are limiting our ability to make conscious, well-informed decisions going forward. By adding more and more layers of abstraction, we are breaking the feedback loop of the creative process. A constant dialogueConstant reflection and refinement How do you know when your paintings are finished?Designing with code artwwwcreativityprocesscode
Manifesto for Agile Software Development A Definition agilemanifesto.org We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more. Deliver early and continuouslyWelcome changing requirementsSelf-organizing teamsTechnical excellence and good designAgility and sustainability+7 More agileprocesssoftware
Deliver early and continuously Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
Welcome changing requirements Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage. A late change in requirements is a competitive advantage planning
Self-organizing teams The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
Technical excellence and good design Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility. craft
Agility and sustainability Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
The amount of work not done Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential. -2000 Lines Of Code simplicity
Build projects around motivated individuals Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done. On ValueOn Talent
Deliver working software frequently Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
Business people and developers Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. collaboration
Face-to-face conversations The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. teamwork
Reflect, tune, adjust At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.