My Moment of Zen and the Flow Game
This spring my family and I were able to go to Hawaii for a vacation. We were enjoying Kauai's beaches and I was watching the surfers move through the water gracefully. A surfer does not get to really select the way the wave goes after they begin to ride it. Those that are truly good at surfing are able to adapt to the conditions dictated by the wave. They may be able to dance among the waves on their board using different methodologies to maintain the control that the waves are attempting to get. It is like their surfboard is a water flow sensor. That's when it struck me. It seemed so clear and clear. I am really not sure why it wasn't this clear earlier.
I suspect this clearness really started in an earlier conversation with a computer programmer, Mike Casto, while he was teaching a stick fighting class. Mike talked about how anticipation and timing was more significant than the particular stick action as you were moving through a fight. He said, "You must flow through the encounter ready to swiftly adjust techniques to stay in control or take back the control when lost if you would like to win the conflict. Your flow motion should put your stick in the correct position and support your stick action. It's this capability to flow or adjust that separates a good stick fighter from someone that just knows tactically how to stick fight." These comments did not look particularly wise at the time.
My Zen moment was also supported by the fact we took our child with us on our vacation which presented many similar conditions. One example is that he was not able to change his sleeping habits. So even though the rest of Hawaii was two hours later than our home in Richland, Washington my child still woke up at five in the morning on the dot. Our hopes of getting 1 or 2 additional hours of sleeping in the morning were smashed. So we instinctually flowed.
Many good things came from our ability to flow. For instance, 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 water. This is a pretty experience and memory that will be with me for all time. We were also some of the first to the breakfast bar at the hotel and hence always had hot and fresh food. After breakfast our son was prepared to snooze again so we used this time to be tourist and went sightseeing around the island in our auto while he slept.
When I was watching the surfers it dawned on me how much good engineering depends 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 need to be ready to flow with new conditions and new data that were not foreseen. Good engineers need to determine the right tools to finish tasks but need to be prepared to incorporate feedback from the people handling the tools to attain desired results. Good engineering requires a method that permits their people to adjust systems as problems and opportunities turn up. Good engineering demands the adeptness to identify the sign flow gives you when are going down the best path.
But that wasn't my Zen moment. My Zen moment came after my thoughts on engineering. My moment of Zen was that this requirement for flow permeates everything in life. It was not just necessary to surfing, stick fighting, parenting, and engineering. The facility to flow and adjust is a requirement for virtually every successful venture be it sports, business or humanity. One can not be successful in life without the power to flow.
I suspect this clearness really started in an earlier conversation with a computer programmer, Mike Casto, while he was teaching a stick fighting class. Mike talked about how anticipation and timing was more significant than the particular stick action as you were moving through a fight. He said, "You must flow through the encounter ready to swiftly adjust techniques to stay in control or take back the control when lost if you would like to win the conflict. Your flow motion should put your stick in the correct position and support your stick action. It's this capability to flow or adjust that separates a good stick fighter from someone that just knows tactically how to stick fight." These comments did not look particularly wise at the time.
My Zen moment was also supported by the fact we took our child with us on our vacation which presented many similar conditions. One example is that he was not able to change his sleeping habits. So even though the rest of Hawaii was two hours later than our home in Richland, Washington my child still woke up at five in the morning on the dot. Our hopes of getting 1 or 2 additional hours of sleeping in the morning were smashed. So we instinctually flowed.
Many good things came from our ability to flow. For instance, 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 water. This is a pretty experience and memory that will be with me for all time. We were also some of the first to the breakfast bar at the hotel and hence always had hot and fresh food. After breakfast our son was prepared to snooze again so we used this time to be tourist and went sightseeing around the island in our auto while he slept.
When I was watching the surfers it dawned on me how much good engineering depends 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 need to be ready to flow with new conditions and new data that were not foreseen. Good engineers need to determine the right tools to finish tasks but need to be prepared to incorporate feedback from the people handling the tools to attain desired results. Good engineering requires a method that permits their people to adjust systems as problems and opportunities turn up. Good engineering demands the adeptness to identify the sign flow gives you when are going down the best path.
But that wasn't my Zen moment. My Zen moment came after my thoughts on engineering. My moment of Zen was that this requirement for flow permeates everything in life. It was not just necessary to surfing, stick fighting, parenting, and engineering. The facility to flow and adjust is a requirement for virtually every successful venture be it sports, business or humanity. One can not be successful in life without the power to flow.
About the Author:
Created by David Krantz, Industry Director - Engineering at UsersUnite. David's blog will debate issues and reports related to engineering software. If you have got a subject that you need to see David write about please send him a mail with the details at david.krantz@usersunite.com.
You are receiving this because you signed up for it on 2011-10-03 from IP 203.109.66.181
To fine-tune your selection of which articles to receive, just login here
using your username:
To unsubscribe please use the following link:
Unsubscribe
No comments:
Post a Comment