March Madness or December Dementia

Every March, the USA goes wild with something called "March Madness," a pair of college basketball tournaments. The format of the tournaments is called "single elimination," which means that candidate teams are dropped out of the tournament when they lose. Eventually, one team remains, and they are the "winners."

So, what is the overall effect of this type of tournament? The men's tournament starts with 64 of the best teams in the nation, and when all is done, 63 of them have become "losers." No matter how good their season's record may have been, they ended that season with a loss—something to remain on their minds until next year.

I enjoy watching March Madness, but I think it could be improved. At least, there could be another tournament with a much more satisfactory result. Here's how it would go:

First, we choose the 64 worst teams of the season. Then we pair them off to play one another. The winner of each game is dropped out of the tournament, and the losers are paired for the next round. 

This elimination of winners is continued until only one team remains. They are the winners of the tournament. And, notice, that every other team has ended their season with a victory. Doesn't that feel much better?

Now perhaps this sounds like a stupid idea, but in fact it's extremely popular in the business world. Managers devise award systems that select one or a few individuals (rarely teams) as "winners." In doing so, they have managed to make everyone else feel like "losers."

I guess the theory is the these "losers" will be motivated to work harder or smarter for the next award cycle, and I suppose that sometimes that happens. What I've seen, however, is quite the opposite. Most people respond to "losing" by losing their motivation in the next round.

I've noticed that many of these management awards are given at the end of each year. Maybe a few smart managers could come up with not a March Madness but a December Dementia system that would positively motivate all their employees.

www.geraldmweinberg.com

How do I fix a really difficult bug in programming?

Here was the question:

"How do I fix a really difficult bug in programming?"

Here was my first answer:

There is no such thing as a “difficult bug.”

I suspect my answer requires further explanation. First of all, I doubt that you have experienced actual bugs in your computer, the kind with 8 legs that bite and swarm. I have, a couple of times, but they are rare, and usually not difficult to eradicate.

Perhaps you are talking about errors, but using inaccurate language. In that case, I will assert “there is no such thing as a difficult error.” The same error might be handled easily by a different person. I have seen that circumstance often. For instance, I once spent a month trying to pinpoint a coding error. When I finally asked the help of a colleague, she found it in less than two minutes.

No, there are no difficult errors, but there are people who have difficulty with an error. We have all been there, and we tend to want to blame the error rather than ourselves.

So, the first thing you need to do to handle a “difficult bug” is to ask yourself,

“What is it about me that is making this error so difficult to handle?”

Perhaps you are having difficulty because you are impatient, or think failure to handle the error will make you look bad to your boss or colleagues.

Perhaps pressure to handle the error is throwing you off your center, distorting your thinking.

Perhaps you do not know enough about the system with the error, or the language in which the program is written.

Perhaps your mind is on other things in your life, things distracting you because they are more important to you than this darn “bug.”

Maybe you should discuss this error with a colleague or two, What is it about you that is keeping you from doing that?

Anyway, good luck in your quest for resolution.

Take a look at Errors: Bugs, Boo-Boos, and Blunders