Better planning

Something I've been thinking about a lot this year is planning and programming. 

 Our daughter turned one this year.  She's awesome.  So fun and lively.  And she's walking now.  Prior to walking, she was crawling.  Prior to crawling she… was a plant.   She just sat there and was perfectly content with the toys in her immediate reach.

 During the "plant" phase, my wife and I knew that we'd have to start child proofing because she would eventually be crawling.  So we went through and child proofed the whole house.  Or so we thought!   Sofia starts crawling and is getting ahold of things that we didn't even know existed.  So our childproofing plan, as well thought out as it was, was useless.  Because she's still wrecking our stuff and putting herself in danger.

 So one day I decided, instead of trying to get ahead of her.  I'll let her show me what she was interested in and what she was going to go after.  I pick a room, sit her down and let her run free to see what she'd do.  And lo and behold she'd start going after things.  And I'm taking notes.

 She's giving me this information and I'm making the adjustments as we go. And at the next stage of her growth when she starts walking I do the same thing.  She's a little bit higher up, can reach a bit more.  I'm not sure exactly what she wants.  I have my ideas, and did what I know I could do but I let her show me the stuff that I couldn't see.  And I'm happy to say that thus far, we've been able to keep this kid safe and our stuff isn't wrecked - Parent's of the year ;).

 How does this apply to programming?  Well, it's easy to get stuck in the letter of the law of a program.  As if that sheet of paper, or that app is taking into account different aspects of life  that hasn't happened yet.  Basically, you don't know what you don't know and the variables that can deter or assist you from reaching your goal.  Of course there are things that you do know and you add that into the programming.  But you always want to leave room for the unexpected.  And using that unexpected information to improve your position within your program.  Which ultimately is to get you to a goal.  In our case it was to keep our child safe and to keep her from wrecking our stuff.  We succeeded in both, you can succeed too.

 I hope this was helpful.  Have a happy, healthy, safe, strong week!