Bugs in Software
I’m using Cue every day to plan now.
Which is great, until things go wrong.
And they did, yesterday.
I went from having a couple hundred plans in my archive to having none.
Fortunately, the data hasn’t been lost, just hidden. And it will take a bit of work to get it back.
In other words, a bug surfaced.
Bugs in software are impossible to anticipate. The bugs that get you, anyway. You can often prevent specific bad things from happening, just by thinking through the ways something could go wrong.
But when you do, the chaotic unknown encroaches from a different direction.
Always.
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But eventually, something goes wrong. And when it does, it is, by definition, unexpected.
At least in a specific sense.
But if, in a general sense, you recognize that things will go wrong, then you can expect it.
You won’t know the details ahead of time, of course, but it can make you more resilient to failures, mistakes, goofs, bugs.
And not just in software, but in life.
Bugs in Life
One of my sons signed up for flag football this year. His first year. The other kids he plays with, most of them, have been doing it for a couple or three years. So he’s the new guy.
And they made him the quarterback.
And things go wrong every game.
But this kid is so resilient, I wonder where he got it from.
He doesn’t get discouraged, he doesn’t get emotional. And somehow, he still strives to get better every single time.
He knows things will go wrong. He does his best, but handles the setbacks like a pro.
And guess what, last game, they went right.
Fixing the Bugs
His team played excellent defense. All the way until minutes before the end of the game, the game was tied 0-0.
And then, while his teammate rushed the other teams quarterback, my son got into the perfect position and intercepted the hurried pass.
And ran it all the way back.
For a touchdown.
Because when you handle the things that go wrong with grit and determination, you’re ready when things go right.
With that, it’s time for me to go fix a bug.