Two little antipatterns spotted recently:

1. Complaint Driven Development

The loudest complainer gets to decide what gets fixed – and how.

2. Shipment Driven Development

Product isn’t released when ready, but on the date the shipment is scheduled.

In an ironic twist of fate, I’m writing this while sitting in a house right between Harvard and MIT – and in an environment like that, you just can’t not think. Today was full of excitement, expectations and certain jet-lag zombiness – and even though we we’re terminally tired, we can’t just slow down and stop; almost every second is filled with discussions about the future of our company. I’m going to get my fair share of melatonine-induced sleep in a few minutes – and then: more thinking, more talking, more figuring stuff out.

I hope I’ll be able to steal an hour or so tomorrow so that I can go pillage the art stores at Central Square.

There was very little culture shock associated with my visiting USA for the first time ever. One of the guys we met today called Boston “the America’s most European city” and he’s probably right: frankly, I feel at home here. Except it’s all very different. One year ago I visited Spain and England; I came back tired and glad I was finally home. This time I’ll come back inspired; I’ll come back yearning for more.