So I recieved a ton of positive feedback from the last post on The One Attribute. I was forwarded a video from the original founding members of Next showing a great inside view of the interaction of a startup. Hard lines in the psychological, financial and physical aspects of creating a sucessful company. At 13:00 Steve discusses all the problems and shows the reality. Everyone also is skirting the issue of taking the requirements and locking them down. While passion does have a ton to do with it all shutting the hell up and getting something done is what seperates pros from posers.
Recently I received an award for best presentation at a BarCamp entitled “Quick and Dirty Startups.” I had a blast both creating the slideware and presenting it – although during the presentation the projector was intermittently shorting out which I feared would cause the audience to enter into epileptic fits. Maybe the gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands during my presentation was that or maybe the audience members realized how damn difficult it is to create company from the spark of an idea. In the presentation I said do not create a company if the number one reason is to make a ton of money (that confused many…).
Hail to the Champ
At the same time I have been in varying degrees of discussions in and around the T’s of a Startup: Talent. Most who have followed my blog realize the importance I place on talent. I have also been speaking with various software engineers of varying skills sets from those who love CSS, to those who love HDFS, to those who love creating ensemble machine learning algorithms. These two events had me reflect on something that I used to consider seperate entitites. It was though I had an epiphany. What if what you do to create and who you are – in fact are one in the same?
I wrote another blog on the great human endeavor of software. I would also consider music to be in that league as well. The two closely align. There are rules yet there are no rules. There are fundamental symbolics and syntactics that allow singular and crowd sourced orchestration to create great works of art. Those that truly create great music and software have one thing in common: Passion. Which is the number one attribute I look for when either wanting to work with someone or adding someone to a team. I also reflected on the views people have of software engineering writ large and realized that most like the music world look at as us as though there is no work involved. Why? If you look at anyone who loves what they do and who they are within the same instance performing a task for the pure desire of doing it – is notwork. It is what you do and who you are that create that perception. I have had the extreme pleasure of working in many aspects of the music industry as well as the software industry and in fact some cases one in the same. No one sees the 25/8 (25 hrs a day – 8 days a week) schedule. All anyone sees are the end results: Concert: On stage women and men throwing themselves at the stage, Software Company: Pulling up to your yacht in your Modena with a personal assistant. They do not see the massive amount of preparation, practice and planning involved. However while it is grueling for those that love the process it is not work. On the contrary for us it is pure adulterated freedom. Why do i say adulterated? Many would consider that to do what we do with as much fun as it is – IT MUST BE A CRIME! Sure there are incredibly difficult situations, many that are life changing, but what of it? For those that are truly passionate about creating we really dont know what else to do. I will leave you with a great clip by a legendary guitar player Steve Vai as he discusses the secret to his success. Know what you want. See it happen and the “Is To Be” will ring true.
“Get into a line that you will find to be a deep personal interest, something you really enjoy spending twelve to fifteen hours a day working at, and the rest of the time thinking about.”~ Earl Nightingale ~
Recently I received an award for best presentation at a BarCamp entitled “Quick and Dirty Startups.” I had a blast both creating the slideware and presenting it – although during the presentation the projector was intermittently shorting out which I feared would cause the audience to enter into epileptic fits. Maybe the gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands during my presentation was that or maybe the audience members realized how damn difficult it is to create company from the spark of an idea. In the presentation I said do not create a company if the number one reason is to make a ton of money (that confused many…).
Hail to the Champ
At the same time I have been in varying degrees of discussions in and around the T’s of a Startup: Talent. Most who have followed my blog realize the importance I place on talent. I have also been speaking with various software engineers of varying skills sets from those who love CSS, to those who love HDFS, to those who love creating ensemble machine learning algorithms. These two events had me reflect on something that I used to consider seperate entitites. It was though I had an epiphany. What if what you do to create and who you are – in fact are one in the same?
I wrote another blog on the great human endeavor of software. I would also consider music to be in that league as well. The two closely align. There are rules yet there are no rules. There are fundamental symbolics and syntactics that allow singular and crowd sourced orchestration to create great works of art. Those that truly create great music and software have one thing in common: Passion. Which is the number one attribute I look for when either wanting to work with someone or adding someone to a team. I also reflected on the views people have of software engineering writ large and realized that most like the music world look at as us as though there is no work involved. Why? If you look at anyone who loves what they do and who they are within the same instance performing a task for the pure desire of doing it – is notwork. It is what you do and who you are that create that perception. I have had the extreme pleasure of working in many aspects of the music industry as well as the software industry and in fact some cases one in the same. No one sees the 25/8 (25 hrs a day – 8 days a week) schedule. All anyone sees are the end results: Concert: On stage women and men throwing themselves at the stage, Software Company: Pulling up to your yacht in your Modena with a personal assistant. They do not see the massive amount of preparation, practice and planning involved. However while it is grueling for those that love the process it is not work. On the contrary for us it is pure adulterated freedom. Why do i say adulterated? Many would consider that to do what we do with as much fun as it is – IT MUST BE A CRIME! Sure there are incredibly difficult situations, many that are life changing, but what of it? For those that are truly passionate about creating we really dont know what else to do. I will leave you with a great clip by a legendary guitar player Steve Vai as he discusses the secret to his success. Know what you want. See it happen and the “Is To Be” will ring true.
“Get into a line that you will find to be a deep personal interest, something you really enjoy spending twelve to fifteen hours a day working at, and the rest of the time thinking about.”~ Earl Nightingale ~
So recently I saw a H I L A R I O U S post on Quora: What do all of the Mediocre People Do In Silicon Valley? I was so pleased by this that I decided to write yet another blog on what I am now calling Elite Computing. As a matter of fact this is a moniker that I cannot claim. Someone who I had a long discussion with said and I quote, ” I like the fact that you talk about Elite Computing and acknowledge people when they are smart.” They went on to discuss the differences between The Valley and almost everywhere else was that in The Valley you better know and show your smart or else.
“They work in less important roles at larger companies. Certain parts of Yahoo, AOL, Oracle, Microsoft have lots of these people. The companies actually make reasonably productive use of them. They generally have structures in place that prevent them from doing too much damage and make sure they are always making forward progress, even if it’s slow”
Then if you go down in the comments there is the usual bitching about “Why do you have to have over confidence? So what IF just WHAT IF? The same pathetic atitude existed in 1) The Military 2) The Police Force 3) Sports.
Stronger Better Faster More. You want a 1x return on your investment or you want a 10x? Think about that the next time some of the top performers seem overly intense, passionate or crazy.
It put the whole 99% and 1% argument in a different light.
To the victor go the spoils. May the best company win and live large.
So recently I saw a H I L A R I O U S post on Quora: What do all of the Mediocre People Do In Silicon Valley? I was so pleased by this that I decided to write yet another blog on what I am now calling Elite Computing. As a matter of fact this is a moniker that I cannot claim. Someone who I had a long discussion with said and I quote, ” I like the fact that you talk about Elite Computing and acknowledge people when they are smart.” They went on to discuss the differences between The Valley and almost everywhere else was that in The Valley you better know and show your smart or else.
“They work in less important roles at larger companies. Certain parts of Yahoo, AOL, Oracle, Microsoft have lots of these people. The companies actually make reasonably productive use of them. They generally have structures in place that prevent them from doing too much damage and make sure they are always making forward progress, even if it’s slow”
Then if you go down in the comments there is the usual bitching about “Why do you have to have over confidence? So what IF just WHAT IF? The same pathetic atitude existed in 1) The Military 2) The Police Force 3) Sports.
Stronger Better Faster More. You want a 1x return on your investment or you want a 10x? Think about that the next time some of the top performers seem overly intense, passionate or crazy.
It put the whole 99% and 1% argument in a different light.
To the victor go the spoils. May the best company win and live large.
I have been doing some work lets say ‘out of the ordinary’ as of late. I have also been extremely honored to be working around some former people who were directly involved “when peace broke out” during the Cold War. I have also had the opportunity to work with people who have backgrounds in literature who now work in the technical industry. Also, dear readers, as most of you know I am fond of the entrepreneurial spirit. This led me to thinking about how they all interrelate and then like magic! Submarines, Shakespeare and Startups.
Submarines
So lets pick the first one: Submarines. Some of submariners that I know were directly involved with designing, building and operating submarines. Specifically Nuclear Powered submarines. In listening to the stories I noticed how much in common Submarines have with Startups. Let me be specific herewith: I am referring to fast attack nuclear submarines. Here is a wikipedia page for reference: Fast Attack Nuclear Submarines – Los Angeles Class. I am also referring to problems areas posed as to why Russian Submarines were quieter than USA submarines (if your interested do the google grunt work).
So first let me explain why I believe in this day and age of Lean Startup mentality why we can learn a great deal from those that travel below the ocean surface.
Submariners are consumate planners.
Submariners are by definition – independent operations. From the perspective of information and physical support the design, building and operation places a premium on planning. The Commanding Officer (CO) must “go with what they know and have got”. Efficiency is key. Space is a premium. Intelligence at the highest level are mandatory across all aspects of the design, operation and mission.
Submarines are the epitome of stealth
Submarines have been recognized as the preeminence of contributions to stealth and survival. For instance the greater degree of enemy’s knowledge of the submarine – in both space and time – the greater the diminsihment of the submarines effectiveness. Stealth relates to safety and the mission of the ship relates to efficiency. Signature Management is the term given to the ability to lower the footprint of detection. It ia also known as Stealth Technology. Stealth technology also termed LO technology (low observable technology) is a sub-discipline of military tactics and passive electronic countermeasures,which cover a range of techniques used with personnel, aircraft, ships, submarines, and missiles, to make them less visible (ideally invisible) to radar, infrared, sonar and other detection methods. Stealth Startup anyone?
Submariners are Concise and Focused
Submariners need to be extremely consice in all matters of communication. In most cases receiving communications may always be accomplished but it may need to be managed around mission critical requirements. These mission critical requirements are in most cases time sensitive In many cases communication transmission may not always be available without mission impact. Thus one needs to be concise and make decision in-situ at the moment and go with what they know. Communications are minimized while maximizing the ability to war-fight.
Shakespeare
Nowadays, literature folks abound in the technical sector. I also include english majors and people who dig 17th century poems like Milton’s Paradise Lost in the group. Why? They know how to communicate and weave disparate information. They also know how to tell a story. They also know how to use commas accordingly. Shakespeare being the preeminent example of author and playwright wrote stories that naturally mirrored life’s twists and turns. What does this have to do with startups? Let us take an example from Hamlet (NOTE: this a cliff notes exceprt from SparkNotes)
” On a dark winter night, a ghost walks the ramparts of Elsinore Castle in Denmark. Discovered first by a pair of watchmen, then by the scholar Horatio, the ghost resembles the recently deceased King Hamlet, whose brother Claudius has inherited the throne and married the king’s widow, Queen Gertrude. When Horatio and the watchmen bring Prince Hamlet, the son of Gertrude and the dead king, to see the ghost, it speaks to him, declaring ominously that it is indeed his father’s spirit, and that he was murdered by none other than Claudius. Ordering Hamlet to seek revenge on the man who usurped his throne and married his wife, the ghost disappears with the dawn.” ~ SparkNotes on Hamlet
Ok so how does this relate to startups? Or submarines for that matter? Inquiring minds want to know! We have Stealth, Revenge and Strategy all rolled into one simple paragraph! Notwithstanding the whole sword fighting thingy (technical term) between Hamlet and Laertes! This! This is the stuff of true competition! Moreover Shakespeare mirrors life, life is about humans, humans are bat-house crazy, ergo startups are crazy!
So lets look at three aspects of many of the characters in Shakespeare’s plays and stories:
Shakespeare characters are consumate planners
Revenge usually takes planning. Lets take the character Fortinbras, who has led an army to Denmark and attacked Poland earlier in the play, enters with ambassadors from England, who report that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead (ok think all that took some planning by Fortinbras or he just waltzed in?) . Fortinbras is stunned by the gruesome sight of the entire royal family lying sprawled on the floor dead (Ok Fortinbras time to make a quick decision). He moves to take power of the kingdom. Horatio, fulfilling Hamlet’s last request, tells him Hamlet’s tragic story (how nice of him).
Well they are when it comes to salient aspects such as revenge, de-throning and well murder! Things that carry high price tags if you really that can go off the rails – people get really motivated. Kind of like startups.
So let me be specific here on startups. I really like the terminology Lean Startups. The book is great if you havent read it. That said its really nothing new. Incremental feedback based on whether a customer could really use something is a basic business premise. We all have gotten caught up in making something “kewl” because we could but so what? A little known fact is that process doesnt make great companies or great software. Getting stuff done is about making a great startup. Also having the ability to NOT PANIC is a good attribute for your founders and initial team. Think a submariner stuck under the ice can afford to panic? What good will panicking do?
Which in turn leads me to another issue on a recent development in the startup arena and that is the issue of Aegism and Founder Prejudice. Yep I said it. It also cuts both ways. Older founders and employers are seen as dinasours or cannot go the distance and younger persons do not have the pedigree to get through the tough times. You need both. Its a syncopated system. I do prefer to work with those that have been stuck under the ice and do not panic. If your in a startup you will get stuck under the ice. Then what? I dont care how many lines of ruby,perl,python etc you can write. So can the next person. Be calm. Always remember to breathe and use the restroom, head or latrine. Take your pick.
Remember: To do a dangerous thing with style is the mark of a professional. – #TCTRules.
For those that are interested here are some references:
Today I spoke at BarCampCHS. After many requests I decided to upload my deck. Here is my pitch deck pitching How To Do A Quick and Dirty StartUp – BarCampCHS: DirtyStartups. I have been pretty busy lately but have been taking a ton of notes for several blogs in the future. Also note please follow me now @tctjr.
Visualization has come into vogue in the past years. Historically this was the world of straight reporting and key performance indicators. This is not the case now. FlowingData has brought interactive data analysis to the forefront. This is due to the ability for us to process massive amounts of data and the uptake in what I like to call fluid data systems. If you have seen the books Beautiful Visualization, Data Analysis or Visualize This then you know there are several choices of frameworks and libraries to choose from in this area. As of late I have been asked a ton of questions about what/why/when of these libraries so I decided to put them all in one place. While no means comprehensive (e.g. I didn’t include Haskell, MATLAB,’R” et al) Here is the list. Hit me up if you find something else as I will keep a running list.
Although Axiis claims open source Flex is not open source. Axiis is an open source data visualization framework designed for beginner and expert developers alike. Whether you are building elegant charts for executive briefings or exploring the boundaries of advanced data visualization research, Axiis has something for you. Axiis provides both pre-built visualization components as well as abstract layout patterns and rendering classes that allow you to create your own unique visualizations.
Axiis is built upon the Degrafa graphics framework and Adobe Flex 3.
Prefuse:
We have used prefuse in the past and it is very flexible. JAVA based and can be modified to run extremely efficient. That said one must have a programming background.
Prefuse is a set of software tools for creating rich interactive data visualizations. The original prefuse toolkit provides a visualization framework for the Java programming language. The prefuse flare toolkit provides visualization and animation tools for ActionScript and the Adobe Flash Player.
Prefuse supports a rich set of features for data modeling, visualization, and interaction. It provides optimized data structures for tables, graphs, and trees, a host of layout and visual encoding techniques, and support for animation, dynamic queries, integrated search, and database connectivity. Prefuse is written in Java, using the Java 2D graphics library, and is easily integrated into Java Swing applications or web applets. Prefuse is licensed under the terms of a BSD license, and can be freely used for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.
Protovis composes custom views of data with simple marks such as bars and dots. Unlike low-level graphics libraries that quickly become tedious for visualization, Protovis defines marks through dynamic properties that encode data, allowing inheritance, scales and layouts to simplify construction.
Protovis is free and open-source, provided under the BSD License. It uses JavaScript and SVG for web-native visualizations; no plugin required (though you will need a modern web browser)! Although programming experience is helpful, Protovis is mostly declarative and designed to be learned by example.
The toolkit implements advanced features of information visualization like TreeMaps, an adapted visualization of trees based on theSpaceTree, a focus+context technique to plot Hyperbolic Trees, a radial layout of trees with advanced animations -called RGraph and other visualizations.
Processing.js is the sister project of the popular Processing visual programming language, designed for the web. Processing.js makes your data visualizations, digital art, interactive animations, educational graphs, video games, etc. work using web standards and without any plug-ins. You write code using the Processing language, include it in your web page, and Processing.js does the rest. It’s not magic, but almost.
While more of a diagraming solution than a visualization mxGraph/JGraph is used in conjunction with the Swing library. JGraph has been providing leading diagramming software components since 2001, first with ever popular JGraph Swing library, then in 2006 with the leading edge development of mxGraph. The libraries are designed to drop in and offer you the complete range of functionality required to add complex diagramming to your application or web site.
We have had good experiences with Flot. It is fast and flexible with low overhead. Flot is a pure Javascript plotting library for jQuery. It produces graphical plots of arbitrary datasets on-the-fly client-side. The focus is on simple usage (all settings are optional), attractive looks and interactive features like zooming and mouse tracking. The plugin works with Internet Explorer 6+, Firefox 2.x+, Safari 3.0+, Opera 9.5+ and Konqueror 4.x+ with the HTML canvas tag (the excanvasJavascript emulation helper is used for IE < 9).
If your into snake charming and use Python then MatPlotLib is for you. While the installation is not straightforward the flexibility is there from a user perspective. I see a huge uptake in this library and personally use it.
This library works extremely well for development on the iPhone. If you need a complete graphing functionality that is cost effective download this lib.
Core Plot is a plotting framework for Mac OS X and iOS. It provides 2D visualization of data, and is tightly integrated with Apple technologies like Core Animation, Core Data, and Cocoa Bindings.
Written in C++ the framework enables the development of algorithms, visual encodings, interaction techniques, data models, and domain-specific visualizations. One of the goal of Tulip is to facilitates the reuse of components and allows the developers to focus on programming their application. This development pipeline makes the framework efficient for research prototyping as well as the development of end-user applications. They have libraries for several implementations (Python,Open GL etc).
We tried out ggobi a long time ago. While it does appear noteworthy we opted not to utilize it on the respective project. GGobi is an open source visualization program for exploring high-dimensional data. It provides highly dynamic and interactive graphics such as tours, as well as familiar graphics such as the scatterplot, barchart and parallel coordinates plots. Plots are interactive and linked with brushing and identification.
Mondrian is a general purpose statistical data-visualization system. It features outstanding interactive visualization techniques for data of almost any kind, and has particular strengths, compared to other tools, for working with Categorical Data, Geographical Data and LARGE Data.
All plots in Mondrian are fully linked, and offer many interactions and queries. Any case selected in a plot in Mondrian is highlighted in all other plots.
Currently implemented plots comprise Histograms, Boxplots y by x, Scatterplots, Barcharts, Mosaicplots, Missing Value Plots, Parallel Coordinates/Boxplots, SPLOMs and Maps.
Mondrian works with data in standard tab-delimited or comma-separated ASCII files and can load data from R workspaces. There is basic support for working directly on data in Databases (please email for further info).
Mondrian is written in JAVA and is distributed as a native application (wrapper) for MacOS X and Windows. Linux users need to start the jar-file. It is heavily used and leveraged against ‘R’.
http://rosuda.org/mondrian/
Once again while this is not a comprehensive list it is more than adequate to get your feet wet in the world of visualization and datascience. One of the most salient things you can do for your self is a little scripting or programming. Also a little math doesnt hurt either. So do not be scared of a summation sign. Dust off those old stat books and get to it then you can start delving into more advanced topics in BigData.
Most will consider 9/11 as remembrance of an atrocity that occurred within our nation. Some cried. Some died. Some cheered. I think 9/11 as it is commonly known within the vernacular and as “The Event”, was a pathetic display of religion and government gone awry. I personally know people who made it out of the towers – they are near and dear to me. Their stories are gut wrenching. Running till they puked with bodies flying like rain, splattering on pavement, with an additional hailstorm of aviation gas, fumes and concrete. Yet in elite fashion the people that I know rebuilt their lives both in terms of monetary success, physical and mental performance.
That said I know September 11 as another day. Over the years since September 11, 2005 I continually think about my comrade at arms: Steven Swenson (aka Sven). For those that do not know he died in a free diving accident in Costa Rica on this day in 2005. Many will say that one should “move on” and forget. Yet I say Time can be crystallized much like a wound that is cauterized with high heat. Time is a construct – we can stop time at a moment of our affinity – surrounding yourself with what you enjoy. Many of you who “follow” my blog, tweets or facebook pages will have a succinct understanding of my views on life. The elite perform. There are no free lunches and the aspects of Lex Talionis are alive and well at certain echelons of life for those that love the game within the game.
I am continually asked about proverbial secrets of success and tales of certain times in my life – especially when a group of us banded together during the hay day of silicon valley (then not now).
Loose lips sink ships and dead pirates tell no tales. There are many tales that will never be told as half of them went to the watery abyss with Sven. Given his favorite hobby was free diving his ‘relaxation’ was focused around pushing limits and boundaries. Most of our copious free hobby time was usually spent in some discussion of philosophy, math,music or making money. He was the most intense nihilist that loved life and living “the great indulgence” more than anyone I knew. He continually said Schrodinger cat is eviscerated not just dead. His computer science skills are now tales of valley folklore. He read hexadecimal like a Dr. Suess book. He was also a very well trained martial artist and an obvious waterman.
Yet I will tell a tale that I remember as it were last week.
Late one night we were involved in a marathon session of billiards on the “purple monster” as we affectionately called my 9 foot purple tiger maple table.
We had a song list in rotation using some software that we created or were testing and laughing how stupid it was to be making money – making something so stupid. Yet I digress. On the playlist came Jimmy Buffet’s “That’s What Living Is To Me” which is based on Following The Equator by Mark Twain, of which both Sven and I would incessantly discuss how Mr. Samuel Clemmons was so beautifully scathing with pen and word. We turned the song up extremely loud and he was screaming the following stanza:
“Be good and you will be lonesome
Be lonesome and you will be free
Live a lie and you will live to regret it
That’s what living is to me”
So while this isn’t some prurient, lurid or debauched tale, it reflects many salient aspects of why I miss my comrade. He despised liars and loved life, as well as being extremely responsible.
One should never tell enemies anything, tell your friends everything and assume enemy until proven otherwise. Sven proved himself a true friend of like mind and for me there are few – as I prefer quality over quantity.
I recently had supper with his beautiful wife and two handsome sons. Amazing the older one looked just like him and the younger one was asking me technical programming questions (still a youngster) in the same cadence as SVEN. They were arguing with each other in the same point-counter point as their dad. I answered patiently and as best I could intently looking and listening to both of them.
I was attempting to catch that cauterized timeline, that time crystallization and for a brief instance – a flash: my comrade was there.
With that I will leave with you a quote, a Sven assertion and a song dedicated to my comrade:
“With heart and hand I pledge you while I load my gun again, you will never be forgotten or the enemy forgiven, my good comrade.”
I was having a moment of self reflection and truly thought about the essence of humanity. Without straying into a value or ethics system or some meta-physical looney tunes land, I have come to realize that the creation of software (besides being the quickest way to make a boat-load of money) is also one of the ultimate expressions of “being human”.
One interesting aspect of software is that it can realize an ephemeral idea into a novel useful process and at the same instance can easily be destroyed with a simple command such as this : rm -f -r {file-name} POOF! – all the ideas are gone!
It is in fact the creation and destruction duality that make this so human.
Humanity basically accomplishes two things: Creation and Destruction.
Software also exhibits a level of self determination and elitism that I must say these days does not exist in many aspects of our society. The intelligent, fast and strong usually make the mark. Software is stratifying – that alone is an outlier.
The balance and duality of software creation (and destruction) are not really addressed across the industry. I recently read Coders at Work. This is a great tome from some of the best-of-the-best in the software industry. The great ones interviewed in this tome continually discussed the creation and destruction aspects – as well as adapting of software. Also they eloquently discussed getting rid of the tripe or things that did not appear worthy of creation. Most are bothered by this duality. Most are bothered by the extreme individualistic nature of software creation/destruction.
No one needs to tell you that you “can” create a piece of software. Grab Eclipse or IDLE etc and go to it with your idea. Some of the best software ever written has never been experienced outside the compiler,interpreter,browser, desktop or mobile.
Why? Brutal Honestly – because some deemed that most cannot deal with the results of a piece of software. Just dont eat your own tail.
I was having a moment of self reflection and truly thought about the essence of humanity. Without straying into a value or ethics system or some meta-physical looney tunes land, I have come to realize that the creation of software (besides being the quickest way to make a boat-load of money) is also one of the ultimate expressions of “being human”.