8 ms·

At 83, I Decided to Develop an App

38 points by dangoldin 11y ago

zanewill9 11y ago
Inspiring.
colinbartlett 11y ago
App Store link: https://appsto.re/us/UvnC9.i https://appsto.re/us/UvnC9.i
to3m 11y ago
WSJ article: http://www.wsj.com/articles/former-defense-secretary-marches-into-new-territory-videogames-1453483137 http://www.wsj.com/articles/former-defense-secretary-marches... Mr. Rumsfeld can’t code. He doesn’t much even use a computer. But he guided his young digitally minded associates who assembled the videogame with the same method he used to rule the Pentagon—a flurry of memos called snowflakes. As a result, “Churchill Solitaire” is likely the only videogame developed by an 83-year-old man using a Dictaphone to record memos for the programmers. [...] “We need to do a better job on these later versions. They just get new glitches,” reads one note from Mr. Rumsfeld. “[W]e ought to find some way we can achieve steady improvement instead of simply making new glitches.” Related reading? - http://research.swtch.com/discover-debug http://research.swtch.com/discover-debug
- sopooneo 11y ago
  To me, this seems like the sort of project that would benefit greatly by putting an experienced project manager between the client (ie Rumsfeld) and the dev team. Other than planning meetings, I really think non-technical stake holders should never communicate directly with developers. I say that as a developer.
  - voltagex_ 11y ago
    Sometimes, especially in smaller teams, devs also have to act in a business analyst role as well as coding - I've got to know how to talk to business as well as other developers and managers.
  - briandear 11y ago
    So, we add another salary to the team for something that amounts to a small project? If devs don't have the acumen to deal with "clients" directly, then they ought not take on projects that would require working with clients. I see this all the time, especially with offshore development. I was the lead for a US project with an additional India team. We had a US-based PM for the Indian contractor. Then we had an India based PM, then we had 3 developers. Any time I needed to discuss something, I had to consult with the US PM, the US PM consulted with the India-based PM and the India based PM would then ask the devs. Then the answer would go through that path in reverse. A simple question like, "Where is the setup script file in the repo?" That took literally 6 emails, with delays of several hours between responses. Needless to say, that arrangement didn't last long before I fired the company. My point is that you don't always need an experienced project manager depending on the scope of the project and the number of developers. 10 devs -- yes absolutely. But 2 or 3 devs? Not necessarily.
    - sopooneo 11y ago
      I agree with you completely. I think there is definitely a minimum project scope before a PM becomes a good investment. But I also think there should be a multiplier for how scattered/non-technical/crazy the client is.
- SyneRyder 11y ago
  The description of that development process is dangerously reminiscent of an Oatmeal comic panel: http://s3.amazonaws.com/theoatmeal-img/comics/design_hell/8.png http://s3.amazonaws.com/theoatmeal-img/comics/design_hell/8.... Rumsfeld himself is interesting, though. There's a documentary about him currently on Netflix, directed by Errol Morris: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2390962/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2390962/ [Comic panel was from http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell ]
melling 11y ago
Rumsfeld has used a standing desk for decades, standing all day: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A946-2004Jun23.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A946-2004Jun23...
dopamean 11y ago
Maybe I'm wrong for thinking this but I can't this man seriously anymore. I look at him in the same light as a common criminal. He should be in prison.
- briandear 11y ago
  He and Hillary Clinton care share a cell.
flashman 11y ago
Then there's Rumsfeld Solitaire, in which upturned cards are known knowns, downturned cards are known unknowns, and unknown unknowns, which are cards slipped into or removed from the deck.
- _yosefk 11y ago
  Unlike the other political comments, this one is on topic and, in my humble opinion, very funny!
at5 11y ago
Guess someone should have pointed it out to him, that his childhood hero was an avowed racist ("I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion". Also see the Bengal famine; right up there with Holomdor.) Why not call it Stalin solitaire then? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943
- briandear 11y ago
  Really? Let's find the perfect among anyone in history. You'll be looking for a very long time.
  - at5 11y ago
    Big difference between perfection and a monster no? I mean he's known for the same thing Stalin is. Interesting that my comment sits in the negative. Says a lot about the crowd around here.
    - poof131 11y ago
      Thanks for posting your comment and showing another side of Churchill that I was unaware of. [1] But I think you are being down voted because the comparison with Stalin is ill chosen. Churchill seems to have been a bigger racist than was common for his time, and although he played a roll in the tragedy you link to, it was in the middle of WW2 and placing all the blame on him for 3m lives seems unfair. And to then compare him to Stalin, who inflicted tyranny upon large parts of the word and who killed between 20-60m people with possibly the worst “machinery of killing” ever created does an injustice to the point you where trying to make.[2] [1] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/not-his-finest-hour-the-dark-side-of-winston-churchill-2118317.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/not-his-finest... [2] http://www.ibtimes.com/how-many-people-did-joseph-stalin-kill-1111789 http://www.ibtimes.com/how-many-people-did-joseph-stalin-kil...
      - at5 11y ago
        Making the point that views of Stalin and Churchill are quite far apart from each other despite similar actions. Churchill denied food aid from other allied countries that wanted to feed the starving in Bengal. His role went beyond prioritizing his country over the colonies; he actively prevented the Indians from being helped. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2031992,00.html http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2031992... The point you're making is that they can't be compared because Stalin killed more people? I suppose there is a minimum number in millions that must die to be considered a terrible person? You should read up on the relish Churchill took in killing "savages". Read Late Victorian Holocausts too.
applecore 11y ago
The aphorism "pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will" is actually a quote by Antonio Gramsci, a Marxist theoretician, citing Romain Rolland.
erikpukinskis 11y ago
I love the message that you can understand and do work in this space late in life. Props for that. But I find his valorization of war really disturbing given his role deceiving the public into increased warfare. The way he writes about this game makes it seem like he has a fetish for callous, take-no-prisoners violence. I think it's an outdated mindset and it disturbs me to think about the human bodies that were burnt to a crisp under Rumsfeld's direction. So many people lost their lives and will lose their lives because of his war perversion.

38 points by dangoldin 11y ago

zanewill9 11y ago

Inspiring.

colinbartlett 11y ago

App Store link: https://appsto.re/us/UvnC9.i https://appsto.re/us/UvnC9.i

to3m 11y ago

WSJ article: http://www.wsj.com/articles/former-defense-secretary-marches-into-new-territory-videogames-1453483137 http://www.wsj.com/articles/former-defense-secretary-marches... Mr. Rumsfeld can’t code. He doesn’t much even use a computer. But he guided his young digitally minded associates who assembled the videogame with the same method he used to rule the Pentagon—a flurry of memos called snowflakes. As a result, “Churchill Solitaire” is likely the only videogame developed by an 83-year-old man using a Dictaphone to record memos for the programmers. [...] “We need to do a better job on these later versions. They just get new glitches,” reads one note from Mr. Rumsfeld. “[W]e ought to find some way we can achieve steady improvement instead of simply making new glitches.” Related reading? - http://research.swtch.com/discover-debug http://research.swtch.com/discover-debug

sopooneo 11y ago
To me, this seems like the sort of project that would benefit greatly by putting an experienced project manager between the client (ie Rumsfeld) and the dev team. Other than planning meetings, I really think non-technical stake holders should never communicate directly with developers. I say that as a developer.
- voltagex_ 11y ago
  Sometimes, especially in smaller teams, devs also have to act in a business analyst role as well as coding - I've got to know how to talk to business as well as other developers and managers.
- briandear 11y ago
  So, we add another salary to the team for something that amounts to a small project? If devs don't have the acumen to deal with "clients" directly, then they ought not take on projects that would require working with clients. I see this all the time, especially with offshore development. I was the lead for a US project with an additional India team. We had a US-based PM for the Indian contractor. Then we had an India based PM, then we had 3 developers. Any time I needed to discuss something, I had to consult with the US PM, the US PM consulted with the India-based PM and the India based PM would then ask the devs. Then the answer would go through that path in reverse. A simple question like, "Where is the setup script file in the repo?" That took literally 6 emails, with delays of several hours between responses. Needless to say, that arrangement didn't last long before I fired the company. My point is that you don't always need an experienced project manager depending on the scope of the project and the number of developers. 10 devs -- yes absolutely. But 2 or 3 devs? Not necessarily.
  - sopooneo 11y ago
    I agree with you completely. I think there is definitely a minimum project scope before a PM becomes a good investment. But I also think there should be a multiplier for how scattered/non-technical/crazy the client is.
SyneRyder 11y ago
The description of that development process is dangerously reminiscent of an Oatmeal comic panel: http://s3.amazonaws.com/theoatmeal-img/comics/design_hell/8.png http://s3.amazonaws.com/theoatmeal-img/comics/design_hell/8.... Rumsfeld himself is interesting, though. There's a documentary about him currently on Netflix, directed by Errol Morris: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2390962/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2390962/ [Comic panel was from http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell ]

melling 11y ago

Rumsfeld has used a standing desk for decades, standing all day: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A946-2004Jun23.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A946-2004Jun23...

dopamean 11y ago

Maybe I'm wrong for thinking this but I can't this man seriously anymore. I look at him in the same light as a common criminal. He should be in prison.

briandear 11y ago
He and Hillary Clinton care share a cell.

flashman 11y ago

Then there's Rumsfeld Solitaire, in which upturned cards are known knowns, downturned cards are known unknowns, and unknown unknowns, which are cards slipped into or removed from the deck.

_yosefk 11y ago
Unlike the other political comments, this one is on topic and, in my humble opinion, very funny!

at5 11y ago

Guess someone should have pointed it out to him, that his childhood hero was an avowed racist ("I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion". Also see the Bengal famine; right up there with Holomdor.) Why not call it Stalin solitaire then? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943

briandear 11y ago
Really? Let's find the perfect among anyone in history. You'll be looking for a very long time.
- at5 11y ago
  Big difference between perfection and a monster no? I mean he's known for the same thing Stalin is. Interesting that my comment sits in the negative. Says a lot about the crowd around here.
  - poof131 11y ago
    Thanks for posting your comment and showing another side of Churchill that I was unaware of. [1] But I think you are being down voted because the comparison with Stalin is ill chosen. Churchill seems to have been a bigger racist than was common for his time, and although he played a roll in the tragedy you link to, it was in the middle of WW2 and placing all the blame on him for 3m lives seems unfair. And to then compare him to Stalin, who inflicted tyranny upon large parts of the word and who killed between 20-60m people with possibly the worst “machinery of killing” ever created does an injustice to the point you where trying to make.[2] [1] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/not-his-finest-hour-the-dark-side-of-winston-churchill-2118317.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/not-his-finest... [2] http://www.ibtimes.com/how-many-people-did-joseph-stalin-kill-1111789 http://www.ibtimes.com/how-many-people-did-joseph-stalin-kil...
    - at5 11y ago
      Making the point that views of Stalin and Churchill are quite far apart from each other despite similar actions. Churchill denied food aid from other allied countries that wanted to feed the starving in Bengal. His role went beyond prioritizing his country over the colonies; he actively prevented the Indians from being helped. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2031992,00.html http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2031992... The point you're making is that they can't be compared because Stalin killed more people? I suppose there is a minimum number in millions that must die to be considered a terrible person? You should read up on the relish Churchill took in killing "savages". Read Late Victorian Holocausts too.

applecore 11y ago

The aphorism "pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will" is actually a quote by Antonio Gramsci, a Marxist theoretician, citing Romain Rolland.

erikpukinskis 11y ago

I love the message that you can understand and do work in this space late in life. Props for that. But I find his valorization of war really disturbing given his role deceiving the public into increased warfare. The way he writes about this game makes it seem like he has a fetish for callous, take-no-prisoners violence. I think it's an outdated mindset and it disturbs me to think about the human bodies that were burnt to a crisp under Rumsfeld's direction. So many people lost their lives and will lose their lives because of his war perversion.