I generally interpret strategy to refer to thinking about broader goals and general approaches for achieving these goals; conversely I think of tactics as finer-grained methods for effectively completing smaller tasks (that hopefully contribute to fulfilling one’s strategic goals). As a software engineer who works with databases, strategic concerns could be “the database should be able to serve requests quickly”, or “you shouldn’t be able to shoot yourself in the foot too easily”; tactics could involve using B-trees or clever data structures, or being careful about what APIs one exposes respectively.
For individual endeavours and also at work, I often need to play both a strategist and a tactician. I’m responsible both for determining what to seek at a high level and for implementing the required steps. There’s some tension in devoting resources towards getting better at either of these; I’d say the skills are certainly distinct (though not independent; good strategic thinking requires knowledge of what may be tactically plausible, and one should implement suitable tactics to optimise for outcomes that one strategically favours).
Strategically things have been a bit foggy this quarter. To some end there has been progress in terms of general quality as a developer, at least by some metrics. Getting better technically is good, though it seems to have been more of a focus than I remember prioritising it to be.
I have to some extent been struggling to find satisfaction in things, as well (there was a very relevant series of sermons on contentment in church – but practical application is often much harder than theory). I think some of this was a change from working with a preponderance of ‘shiny’ features leading to patent applications or other forms of explicit external recognition. I even forgot about some features that were clearly valued by other teams or people until they reminded me that I wrote them when discussing what I’d been working on in general!
Outside of work, also, I need to find strategic direction (there hasn’t been very much). With regard to computer science, I need to think where I go from here. AAMAS’18 in Stockholm is coming up and I’ll be presenting there about model checking LDLK on finite traces. This paper was very challenging to write; differently from the first two, I actually had to develop a substantial amount of novel content. I found myself guilty of excessive handwaving in the original proof presented in the thesis – there was a detail which I claimed to be trivial that turned out to require a full column of argument! I also have one more paper to write. I’ve also not been doing as much independent study of both computer science and software engineering as I would like.
In terms of finance, one of the good things about index investing is that there isn’t that much to do once the system is set up. There’s even less if you’ve automated some of the workflows (as I have)! After that, much return is subject to the random walk of the markets – with the (I’d say justified) belief, of course, that that walk trends upwards. The main ‘action’ required then is to stay the course, which requires patience and persistence.
Markets have been a bit of a mixed bag. Equities have gone up a lot apart from emerging markets, but a good chunk of this is likely to be currency effects as the pound fell hard. The usual table follows:
(Disclaimer: I hold the Fidelity World Index Acc, Vanguard LS80, iShares EM index, iShares property index, BTC, GBP and USD in various quantities, among other things.)
Spending has exploded (well, relatively) this quarter. Some of this is due to periodic expenses with a period greater than three months coming in in this quarter – renewing the servers and domain name for this website and brokerage fees. There is also some (I’d say permissible) lifestyle inflation too – frugality or cheapness to the detriment of daily happiness is usually not something worth doing unless one is forced into that position.
My budget also has a category called ‘Learning and Development’, which includes books for reading and fees for various educational activities (such as conferences, lessons, exams and the like). This swelled in Q2. I haven’t been reading substantially more. Most of this was the fees for AAMAS’18, FLoC’18 (more logic!) and music lessons.
I’ve made a conscious decision to spend more time outside of work on various recreational pursuits (even if the precise details of these aren’t clearly directed). I’ve gotten faster and better at solving logic puzzles and Sudoku; it’s difficult to come up with clear performance metrics, but I’m usually able to score in the 70th percentile or so in online contests, and can occasionally squeak into the 80s in broader contests (where the average skill level is slightly lower). I know that I was in the 20s or 30s when I first started trying these. I ranked 42 of 157 in the UK Sudoku Championship 2018, and less impressively 50 of 141 in the UK Puzzle Championship 2018.
I’ve continued writing here – a bit less frequently than I would like, admittedly. I also had my first vocal lesson in about three years or so – it’s good to be back. To some extent I strive for quality in what I do, even in recreation (I told my teacher “I enjoy sounding good” – I didn’t go as far as “I only enjoy it if I’m sounding good”, though that’s probably more true than I like to admit…)
I traditionally feature a song I’ve listened to a lot over the quarter in these reviews; I’ve done this for about five years now, and it can be interesting to see what I was listening to several years ago. In many cases I liked most of the songs then and I still do now; I tend to select quite heavily for a meaningful message or idea, and I like to think I’m quite resistant to faddish qualities in songs.
I first heard this song on a plane (like many others!) when flying from London to Singapore for a one-week vacation in May. I have listened to a couple of songs by the British boyband The Wanted before. One of their heavier pieces, Warzone (about leaving an abusive relationship) featured in my 2014 Q2 review, where I decided the 90- and 100-hour weeks I worked then were a bit too much of a cost. I also quite like Chasing the Sun, and a couple of their album-only tracks as well.
Unfortunately, the band dissolved a few years ago. They weren’t quite as successful as One Direction, so as far as I know only one member, Nathan Sykes, has continued with a solo career. I didn’t actually know this until I came across his new album Unfinished Business (yes, quite apt). The opening track is titled Good Things Come To Those Who Wait. It reminded me a fair bit of James Arthur’s Back From The Edge both aurally and thematically.
The second verse is relevant to some issues I’ve been thinking about this quarter:
Some people run and fall
They don’t even walk at all
There’s nothing to prove, just to feel you exist
It’s important to balance aggressive implementation (“running”) with careful evaluation of whether what one’s implementing is relevant to what one wants to do – especially if the path ahead is unclear. In some cases, it can be better to move more slowly and carefully.
The last line sounds weird, but in context is a reason why the speaker takes his time with things. The converse of feeling a need to prove oneself to others is understandable. I do fall into that trap sometimes, though I know it can be a dangerous thing to do.
More generally, the idea that good things come to those who wait can be contentious. I think it depends on what kind of waiting is involved – waiting to strike when opportunity arises is great (which I think is the point of the song – “I prefer to stick when the others would twist”), but idle, muddled waiting might not work so well.
As far as the album is concerned, I also found I Can’t Be Mad to be excellent. There were also a number of other good songs; I think it was a reasonably strong offering.
