When the Student is Ready…
…the Teacher will Appear.
I was drowning in a sea of doubt. I was flailing about, trying to find a guide. The problem was, I was looking in the wrong direction.
If you look about the software development landscape, you will see a crowd of nerds standing on the hill, chanting like possessed men. “UML, UML, UML,” intone the nerds around their disciple Scott Ambler. “Charts, charts, charts,” hum the nerds around their disciple Craig Larman. “Statistics, statistics, statistics,” recite the nerds around their disciple Jakob Nielsen. Walk into that crowd of zealots, and they will pound you over the head with the heavy books they carry.
If you turn your back on the crowd of nerds, you will see a few guys sitting quietly beneath a tree. They don’t chant. They don’t beckon you over. But if you go to them, they will provide you with words of wisdom. They will talk from their heart, and not from their head. They will not force their own ideas upon you, but will encourage you to have faith in your own ideas, and show you ways to bring those ideas to fruition.
I was ready for these teachers. I had my own ideas, but the zealets kept telling me I was wrong, and I fell into that sea of doubt. I would never have seen these teachers if it were not for Milan Negovan pointing me in their direction. The teachers are the guys at 37signals. Their blessed teachings are passed on in their little book, Getting Real.
What makes these teachers so great? I desperately want to say, “They keep their message simple,” but I think if I mention the s-word one more time you will all scream. Instead, I will demonstrate by using a couple of icons of popular culture.
Sergio Aragones is an artist who can tell a story in a single tiny drawing. He’s the guy who creates the little illustrations in the margins of Mad Magazine. He can tell a funnier story in one basic drawing than most writers could tell in a whole page of prose.
Bruce Springsteen is an artist who can tell a rich story in a few verses. In a single line he tells of the passage of time:
But now there’s wrinkles around my baby’s eyes
If you’ve ever read a book by Jean Auel, you will know that many authors need a whole page to say the same thing.
Well, the guys from 37signals are in the same league as Sergio and Bruce. They can say in one sentence what would take Scott Ambler and the other disciples on the hill an entire page to say. (By the way, I am not unaware that these rambling weblog entries mean that I, too, am just as verbose.)
As I write this, I have only read a few dozen pages of Getting Real. But already it has told me to have faith in my ideas, and to not listen to the fools on the hill. Starting with the next weblog entry, I am going to work through this book, and apply its wisdom to Charlie.
by Alister Jones | Next up: The Secret of Life →
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