tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33042626.post2953036595332698178..comments2008-04-29T13:31:40.134-07:00Comments on Paul Buchheit: The secret to making things easy: avoid hard problemsPaul Buchheithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08521809827597159995noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33042626.post-52746295210614103472007-12-26T03:08:00.000-08:002007-12-26T03:08:00.000-08:00Dude, I couldn't disagree with you less! However r...Dude, I couldn't disagree with you less! However right you are.<BR/><BR/>I'm that guy! I'm the guy that sees what seem to be the most difficult problems and fool-heatedly, take them on with daring spirit and little or no since of self-preservation or office politics (like the guy who shoots everything down with that security crap before you've even presented a solution.<BR/><BR/>I've achieved much fan-fare, earning many a propeller beanie solving important problems with the simplest solutions. Those are the best!<BR/><BR/>I try not to avoid any problem, especially the "hard" ones. In fact, in my experience, the hardest problems have a single glaringly obvious solution: ditch the process that creates it. <BR/><BR/>Unnecessary data-entry somewhere in the system is a typical culprit in this regard. Someone is entering data or extracting, editing and re-loading data in some manual process because they need to work with it in some other format, and it grows into a "HARD" problem to fix because over time the chain of inefficiencies has grown uncomprehensibly complex. When anyone sees you're going to eliminate that problem, they see it as an attack on them, because the work is unnecessary, then they may also be unneccessary and eliminated along with the problem...<BR/><BR/>I could be wrong... I've often made the mistake of taking on hard problems and somehow became responsible for the problem's existence in the first place. Once you commit to a hard problem, you become responsible for it. That sucks! <BR/><BR/>Sad but true.Revin F Floydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12512357411751695082noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33042626.post-17874165116112256732007-04-30T12:39:00.000-07:002007-04-30T12:39:00.000-07:00Shanti,They probably used a variety of languages, ...Shanti,<BR/><BR/>They probably used a variety of languages, especially now that they've grown so big. Their job posting for "Senior web developer" asks for PHP experience though.<BR/><BR/>As for Mailroom, it looks pretty nice. It might be helpful to have a video or something to make it easier to see exactly what it does though.Paul Buchheithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08521809827597159995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33042626.post-77648353171599054502007-04-30T09:29:00.000-07:002007-04-30T09:29:00.000-07:00Great post, Paul.Just a nit: I believe YouTube was...Great post, Paul.<BR/><BR/>Just a nit: I believe YouTube was written in Python. (I remember reading a post by Guido a while back saying that...)<BR/><BR/>ps. would be interested to hear your thoughts sometime on Mailroom (sproutit.com) if you've ever taken a look. I did most of the backend development for it. =)Shanti Brafordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13580092328655756719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33042626.post-68734648612844658772007-04-24T14:31:00.000-07:002007-04-24T14:31:00.000-07:00"in my experience most engineers prefer to focus o..."in my experience most engineers prefer to focus on the hard problems."<BR/><BR/>I love that. I am taking some senior design courses for my aero/mechanical engineering degree and this has happened constantly. Smart people love to design complicated things, but often all that's needed is something simple. <BR/><BR/>Thanks for writing, I have been enjoying everything so far.keizohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15288254777857863104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33042626.post-50334424815022292602007-04-24T12:00:00.000-07:002007-04-24T12:00:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03834842045481497858noreply@blogger.com