Recently my son, wife and I had the chance to go to Hawaii for a family vacation. We were exploring Kauai's beaches and I was observing the surfers move thru the water easily. A surfer doesn't get to truly pick out how the wave goes when they begin to ride it. Those that are really good at surfing are able to adapt to the conditions dictated by the wave. They can dance among the waves on their board using different methodologies to maintain the control the waves are battling to maintain. It is like their surfboard is a water flow sensor. That's when it hit me. It looked so clear and obvious. I'm really not sure why it wasn't this clear in the past.
I believe this clearness basically started in an earlier conversation with a computer programmer, Mike Casto, while he was teaching a stick fighting class. Mike talked about how expectation and timing was more significant than the actual stick action as you were moving thru a fight. He revealed, "You must flow through the encounter ready to quickly adjust techniques to remain in control or take back the initiative when lost if you'd like to win the conflict. Your flow motion should put your stick in the proper position and support your stick action. It is this capability to flow or adjust that separates a good stick fighter from someone who just knows tactically how to stick fight." These comments didn't seem especially wise at the time.
My Zen moment was also supported by the fact that we took our child with us on our vacation which presented many similar scenarios. One example is that he was not ready to change his bedtime routine. So even though the remainder of Hawaii was 2 hours later than our home in Richland, Washington my son still awakened at 5 in the morning on the dot. Our hopes of getting 1 or 2 extra hours asleep in the morning were smashed. So we instinctually flowed.
Many pleasant things came from our ability to flow. As an example, since we were up so early every morning, we managed to walk down to the beach and watch the dawn with our feet in the ocean. This is a pretty experience and memory that will be with me for good. We were also some of the first to the breakfast bar at the hotel and therefore always had hot and fresh food. After breakfast our boy was ready to nap again so we used this time to be visitors and went sight-seeing around the island in our automobile while he slept.
When I was watching the surfers it dawned on me how much good engineering is dependent on this very same flow. Good engineers need to be able to look far enough ahead to see opportunities that can be included in their designs but they have to be ready to flow with new conditions and new info that were not foreseen. Good engineers need to pinpoint the right tools to accomplish tasks but have to be ready to consider feedback from the people utilizing the tools to achieve desired results. Good engineering requires a tactic that allows their colleagues to adjust methods as problems and opportunities turn up. Good engineering demands the facility to identify the sign flow gives you when are headed down the correct path.
But that wasn't my Zen moment. My Zen moment came after my thoughts on engineering. My moment of Zen was that this demand for flow permeates everything in life. It wasn't just important to surfing, stick fighting, parenting, and engineering. The ability to flow and adjust is a requirement for pretty much every successful venture be it sports, business or humanity. One can't be successful in life without the power to flow.
I believe this clearness basically started in an earlier conversation with a computer programmer, Mike Casto, while he was teaching a stick fighting class. Mike talked about how expectation and timing was more significant than the actual stick action as you were moving thru a fight. He revealed, "You must flow through the encounter ready to quickly adjust techniques to remain in control or take back the initiative when lost if you'd like to win the conflict. Your flow motion should put your stick in the proper position and support your stick action. It is this capability to flow or adjust that separates a good stick fighter from someone who just knows tactically how to stick fight." These comments didn't seem especially wise at the time.
My Zen moment was also supported by the fact that we took our child with us on our vacation which presented many similar scenarios. One example is that he was not ready to change his bedtime routine. So even though the remainder of Hawaii was 2 hours later than our home in Richland, Washington my son still awakened at 5 in the morning on the dot. Our hopes of getting 1 or 2 extra hours asleep in the morning were smashed. So we instinctually flowed.
Many pleasant things came from our ability to flow. As an example, since we were up so early every morning, we managed to walk down to the beach and watch the dawn with our feet in the ocean. This is a pretty experience and memory that will be with me for good. We were also some of the first to the breakfast bar at the hotel and therefore always had hot and fresh food. After breakfast our boy was ready to nap again so we used this time to be visitors and went sight-seeing around the island in our automobile while he slept.
When I was watching the surfers it dawned on me how much good engineering is dependent on this very same flow. Good engineers need to be able to look far enough ahead to see opportunities that can be included in their designs but they have to be ready to flow with new conditions and new info that were not foreseen. Good engineers need to pinpoint the right tools to accomplish tasks but have to be ready to consider feedback from the people utilizing the tools to achieve desired results. Good engineering requires a tactic that allows their colleagues to adjust methods as problems and opportunities turn up. Good engineering demands the facility to identify the sign flow gives you when are headed down the correct path.
But that wasn't my Zen moment. My Zen moment came after my thoughts on engineering. My moment of Zen was that this demand for flow permeates everything in life. It wasn't just important to surfing, stick fighting, parenting, and engineering. The ability to flow and adjust is a requirement for pretty much every successful venture be it sports, business or humanity. One can't be successful in life without the power to flow.
About the Author:
Authored by David Krantz, Industry Director - Engineering at UsersUnite. David's blog will debate issues and news related to engineering software. If you have got a subject that you want to see David write about please send him a mail with the details at david.krantz@usersunite.com.
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