Life Lessons from Programming

Life Lessons from Programming:

1. It is all about decision-making...

If..then...else...

Know the conditions for success and those for failures.

Study the consequences.

Learn from the mistakes. Don't blame. Don't complain. Those actions are futile. Such a concept in management is called 'above the line' thinking.

2. Errors happen at the boundaries.

Two types of errors --- starting and ending.

Type 1 Starting: Forget to initialize the variables.

Don't just anyhow start. Many people failed because they heard that "Entrepreneurs must take risks." But the truth is that "Successful serial entrepreneurs minimize risks first before they start." That's why they are serially successful. Sun Zi tells us, "Winners calculate first and only fight the war that they can win. Losers start a war first and then try to win.". So you know the secret of "hundreds of batters hundreds of wins". Initial the variables rightly. Compute and start only if you can still make it even if the worse happens.

Type 2 Ending: Don't know how to stop.

The program runs without end or until it crashes with an error.

Sun Zi tells us that we must stop when there are no more benefits. Many gamblers wishfully hope that one more attempt will win back all after a long series of losses. They became bankrupt. Must know the conditions for stopping when enough is enough. Sunk costs are lost costs, don't try to invest more good money to recover sunk costs. Face the facts, read the trends, and stop with contentment. Rest that you may go even further.

3. It is about Data Types:

A string '123' is not the same as an integer 123. They operate differently. '123'+'456'='123456', whereas, 123+456=579.

People are of different types. No way to treat them the same. They are good for different types of jobs. So key in human capital management is the matching of people-types and job-types. Got them right and the company will do well. Got them wrong, you will be spending time solving relationship and productivity problems and living a stress-filled life.

So learn from programming well.

Lim Liat (c) 7-Mar-21

opSdronest1

7