BMOW and Steve Jobs

Oct 21, 2010

Today while searching as to why my perfect little 0 - 100% PWM i/p to my imperfect little GAL ATF16V8B PLD became an interesting waveform of 'mountains and valleys' I stumbled upon the god of wires and computers. No its not Jobs or Gates. And yes you will see the BMOW.

So what is the point of it all?

A) Yes it can be done.
B) Yes you too can do it. (He was into journalism for God's sake!)
C) Yes it is worth it. ( More on this later in the article ... connecting the dots)

They always said love is blind and here is the perfect example. BMOW is practically useless but it was his dream, he loved it and created it.

And love reminds me of Steve Jobs (his Stanford commencement address specifically).

( Sorry for not daring to cut the article as per my needs, it would be equivalent to pissing on the Mona Lisa)

This is the text of the Commencement address given by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky - I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me - I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

The Wisdom of the Cube

Oct 20, 2010

When given the 3x3 multi-colored cube (you know the one which is supposed to be one color on one face but never was) as a kid way back in the early 1990s, I simply classified the cube after many futile attempts as a way to teach a child that most of us just dont have it. Grown up and the 'Pursuit of Happyness' didnt help either, how many people it said were able to solve it?

Anyhow after discussing the relative merits of 6N136 over 6N135 (higher CTR) and HCPL 2530 over 6N136 (dual channel) and discussing the possible uses of ATTINY25V-10PU, the Director Tech Affairs placed a sheet with strange codes in front of me FT-R to UBL = UFR- FUB etc etc and asked 'Understand?'. Now I am no stranger to codes and coding but this was simply too much, I had never seen such meaningless code and turned over the sheet to get more meaning. Alas! it empty. Dumbfounded I looked up with an asinine expression shook my head in denial.

Then he placed the cube on the paper and uttered 'Rubik Cube'. Not knowing my childhood bane had a name I nodded and smiled: a name to the enemy. He then proceeded to tell me what the code was; steps to solve the cube. The trick was, he said, to think and solve in layers. First the bottom / top layer, then the middle and then the last one. After doing one layer one essentially disturbs and re-disturbs the done layer(s in such a way that they come back to the 'ideal' state. Until all is done.

The wisdom of the Cube?

It is not whether one is able to solve the problem but whether one is able to think up of a strategy to attempt to solve the problem.

This is why one should never be taught to code; only taught algorithms. And thinking up of algorithms. Sadly this is never done. We are a nation of rote learners be it C, Java, ASM or OOP we are made to learn coding. Fortunately some people are born programmers, like yours truly and thus Pakistan manages to keep its name high. Of course then there too are the tortoises those who win the other way (and IMHO the only way) by hard work. Another lesson which needs to be taught, but in another entry.

P.S: Even with those steps the director couldnt solve the cube (one was still out of place).
P.P.S: Rubik Cube Champions do not do steps, they do it intuitively.
P.P.P.S: I find coding child's play and have almost given it up.

Pakistan does not need more BBAs & MBAs

Republished with permission from the lootmaar blog.

Last time I was in Karachi, Jehan invited me to a bloggers meet-up at t2f to honor Self Exile’s adventurous motorbike exploration of Pakistan. Other than Jehan and I, there about 4-5 other bloggers on the table – and as is usually the case with our generation, each one of them had a burning desire, veiled by light-hearted jokes and banter, to make the world a better place. Not necessarily in a touch-feely, NGO-type way, but by doing cutting edge work, fostering entrepreneurship and empowering others.

As the conversation veered towards education, one of the guys on the table asked me if one needs an MBA to be successful. To be sure, I’m only qualified to answer that question, not by any illusions of success, but the clarity of failure. That afternoon I gave an uncontroversial answer: it depends. If you want a career in management consulting or investment banking or brand management (i.e. In Pakistan: selling soap at Unilever), then an MBA might make sense. But you don’t NEED an MBA to be a successful entrepreneur: some would say its quite the opposite.

At the macroscopic level MBAs (and especially BBAs) do not significantly contribute to the competitive edge of a nation. That responsibility lies with engineers and scientists. It also rests with artists, writers and other cultural leaders – not MBAs. For any country, especially one like Pakistan, to be competitive, we need to build stuff to solve pressing problems in the world. Energy efficient water purification, pest resistant crop, natural language search, portable micro-labs, AIDS vaccines, implantable insulin pumps – that’s the kind of stuff we need to build. Paintings, movies, novels, calligraphy, ceramics, architecture, fashion – that’s the kind of stuff we need to export.

MBAs can help you re-engineer business processes. They can teach you about talent management. They can do a Porters 5-forces to help you understand the obvious. They can charge jaw-dropping amounts to underwrite your IPO. But they can only do that if you, mr. entrepreneur, set up a billion dollar business around patented technology that helps you solve real problems. We need more engineers, not MBAs.

An MBA is not a futile degree. If are you are a sitar maestro who has never read a balance sheet, an MBA can open a new world rich with business possibility and ambition. If you’ve spent 4 years researching the nuances of micro-biology, an MBA can accelerate your career through the business ranks. An MBA gives you the opportunity to build a network that spans the globe. But to derive real value from an MBA, you need to have substance going in. In Pakistan, however, this substance is often missing.

Most kids I come across want to study business management to take a “managerial position” right after undergrad. Often, you have a thousand kids competing for 4 odd MT positions at Unilever or P&G so they can push pre-formated marketing campaigns to the unwitting Pakistani populace. And the 996 who are the unable to get in then return to business school to learn more of what they will never need.

We need our smartest kids to take up engineering and science so they can solve the world’s problems and not squander their potential by enrolling into BBA/MBA programs.

- Adnan

Republished with permission from the lootmaar blog.

Giving Back ...

Oct 18, 2010

Two days ago the group whose FYP (Final Year Project) I am over-seeing from SSUET remarked that their teacher Mr X was taking 80k for doing the projects of the students ... my initial reaction was WTF! A major conflict of interests here (if he teaches well he doesnt get a dime extra) ... shouldnt the guy be enabling his students to do their project???

So it struck me that I could do the same for a lot less ... bring some much needed competition into the business go for 50k and start spreading the word! But 50k for something that is around 10k eats my soul so I let it turn over my head ....

Why not start a project consultancy? 10k the students do their project and I over-see thus enabling the students to become what they wanted (at least what some of them wanted) .... but most of them asses dont want to work .... just get the degree and get on with their lives .... whatever it may or may not be .... so 50k for them .....

Giving back .... offer 1st year students to come and work on the 50k projects over-seeing them ... giving them the much needed hands on training and imparting the much needed professional wisdom .... now thats something ..... by the time the 4th year rolls around they'd be much better than me ( I hope ... and bring much needed competition into this business as well?)

Anyhow the rape of our education system continues ...