If you sit here
Or here
And things aren't running as smoothly as you would like.
You may be thinking that the Product Owner is the source of your woes.
Perhaps your Product Owner really is Evil.
But it's more likely that your problem lies...
Elsewhere.
Hi.
This is Gary
Welcome to "Development That Pays"
The mind works in strange ways.
(As least, mine does)
A few weeks ago, I was walking through the Inns of Court here in London.
Headphones on, listening to a podcast.
An actor was being interviewed.
I don't remember his name.
Might have been Albert Finley.
Someone of that ilk.
Whoever it was, he talking about a new role.
I wasn't really paying attention.
They were saying something about spectacles (glasses).
How the choice of style was important in establishing the character
And also, due to his advancing years
to be able to see the other cast members clearly enough
to be able to read their expressions.
And then he said something that stopped me in my tracks:
"I can't wear my own glasses, because of the reflections."
That line was enough to jolt my brain into action
In a matter of seconds
I got from there...
all the way to Product Owners.
My first thought was:
"Of course reflections from actor's glasses would be a problem."
I wondered why I'm never though of it before.
My second thought was a picture like this.
(I should point out at this point that I'm a physics grad... so pictures like this are
often in my brain!)
This what happens whenever light encounters a boundary:
a portion is reflected and - assuming the second material in translucent -
a portion in transmitted.
the proportion that is reflected is determined by the refractive indexes of the two materials.
My third thought was
"I know how to reduce the reflection".
Imagine adding a layer of material with a refractive index
roughly half way between that of air and glass.
We've replaced a large step change with two smaller step changes.
Although this adds an extra reflective surface,
when all the calculations are done,
more of the light gets through...
and reflections are reduced.
I know what you're thinking: why stop at one layer?
Why indeed!
Turns out that you can get even more light through
by applying a coating that continuously varies the refractive index.
More light is transmitted.
Less light it reflected.
My fourth thought
- and this one is particularly weird -
was... Impedance matching.
(I told you there were some strange thoughts in my head.)
Here's a electronic component
It sends a signal to a second electronic component.
at the boundary, a certain portion of the signal from the first component
makes it to the second.
That's a good thing.
And a certain portion is reflected.
That's a bad thing.
The proportion that is reflected
is determined by the DIFFERENCE in the RESISTANCES
- more correctly the IMPEDANCES -
- of the two components.
Sound familiar?
Yep, it's another discontinuity / step change.
In this case, the solution is different to solution used for the glasses.
The components are designed so that
the OUTPUT resistance of the first component
is as close as possible to the
INPUT resistance of the second component.
My fifth thought was...
I wondered what else is like this?
What other things where there is an interface
- a discontinuity -
- a step change -
where performance can to improved
by smoothing ... like the glasses
or matching ... like the electronic components
My brain provided a perplexing response.
This scribbled drawing.
A drawing that I'd done MONTHS earlier.
It's not quite as abstract as it looks:
the sketch represented a real life team.
A team ... of which I was a member.
A team... that was struggling.
There was no shortage of talent and ability.
But somehow this group of people
was producing very ordinary results.
And then I understood.
Boundaries!
Step changes!
The problem wasn't with anything I'd drawn.
the problem lay in the GAPS BETWEEN THEM.
Like materials with different refractive indexes
... or electronic components with different resistances
There are "discontinuities" between each of these players.
Next time,
I'll spill the beans on the "discontinuities" in this particular team
and talk more about what can be done to smooth the steps
And what can be done to reduce the size of steps
Thank you very much for watching.
I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I enjoyed making it
There's a new episode of Development That Pays each and every Wednesday
By far the easiest way to get it is to subscribe to this channel
Hit the big red button and I look forward to talking to you again very soon.