It’s been almost a year since my current team, Paycunia, inspired me to think about this question. I’d been on poorly functioning software development teams in the past, and I felt lucky to be part of a team that operates so effectively now. More than that, I felt compelled to share my perspective, which could potentially help those who find themselves on teams that are swimming upstream. However, it was only two months ago that I began actively searching for concrete answers to the question: What makes a good software development team?

Not the best time to go away; having just heard "yes" from my new fiancé.
But promises made on another day cannot be broken, not today.
So for better or worse, let's get on the train; then catch the plane and not complain.
It's early still as we land on Saturday; get ready, Greece, we're here to play.

It's been nearly two years since I moved to the Netherlands, and I have no regrets. Living here during this time in my life feels right, and the more time I spend here, the more it feels like home. But it remains a home away from home. South Africa is still where my heart belongs, and sometimes I miss it. When I do, these are the things I miss...

Last year, I wrote a blog post titled “Uninspired.” And it was, by all means, uninspired. Today, I sit here feeling uninspired again. There’s really nothing that I want to write about. If I’m honest, my last few posts have felt this way. I’ve just picked something and forced it. But rather than force something that isn’t there, I’m going to explore this lack of inspiration. Why is there now nothing, where previously there was something? Why do I feel like nothing’s worth writing about? I think I know where to start…

I'm not a boy, I'm a man! I wake up on time every morning, make my own bed, and pick my own clothes. I brush my teeth, shower, and comb my hair. I eat a good breakfast and take my daily vitamins. I clean the dishes, take out the trash, and do my own laundry. I'm not a boy, I'm a man! Am I not?

For a year and a half now, I've been learning Dutch. Before moving to the Netherlands, I had no desire to learn another language. But, my employer pays for the lessons that I'm required to take. With Afrikaans as my home language, getting started with Dutch was easy. And then, it wasn't. Through the struggle, I'm now registered to write my B2 exams in June and have a greater appreciation for what it takes to learn a language. More than that though, I understand now that learning a language is so much more than just learning a language. And, I'm more open to learning another language. Next time though, I'd like to choose it, rather than for it to choose me.

A hop away from where I now stay; a leap, maybe, from the Dutch way.
Less bikes, less trains, less roads are paved; but room yet still, for a rainy day.
With no clear plan; but a will for exploring, keen to expand.
With a bag in the back, and steering wheel in hand; let me tell you, about my trip to Ireland.

I'm not a superstar athlete, but running track has been an integral part of my life. Perhaps even the integral part of my life. From childhood to adulthood, it's been there. Through highs and lows, it's been there. It's been there as a discipline, and it's been there as a leisurely activity. It doesn't matter where I am in the world, or who I'm with, if I'm on a 400m track, I feel at home. But what do I talk about when I talk about track?

In October 2022, I moved my life to The Netherlands. I left the world I'd known my whole life behind: family, friends, places, things. I spent 2023 in a new place, with new people, and new experiences. I went home (still home) to South Africa in December. In January, I returned to The Netherlands. On my arrival back, things no longer felt scary and unfamiliar. I felt at home, away from home. These are my tips for settling into new and unfamiliar places.

A year ago, I wrote a blog post about what encompasses a good goal. And, this year, I set out to achieve 10 good goals. Spoiler alert: I didn't achieve all the goals I set out to achieve this year.  However, I did achieve some of them. And, in many ways, I achieved so much more. Of course, some of these goals are too personal to share. But, here's a little peep hole into what I set out to achieve; what I did achieve; what I didn't achieve; and, most importantly, why progress is more important than perfection.

Over the course of the past four years, I’ve fallen in love with hiking. From the Drakensberg, to the Cedarberg, to Outeniqua, and the Amatola mountains, all the way to Mallorca, Spain. Hutted, and tented. With a large group, and alone. 2-day, 3-day, 4-day, and 5-day hikes. This is, from my (likely, limited) perspective, a brief report of the essentials for a hike.

I did it. I finished my first marathon. On the 15th of October, at 12:52, in the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, with a time of 3 hours, 33 minutes, and 51 seconds, I finished my first marathon. I was exhausted, yes. But I was elated. A rush of positive emotion flooded through me. Joy - the purest of joys. Pride. Gratitude. Humility. And now, now that the dust has settled, I want to reflect. Why did I do this? And why was it so good for me?

This is not going to be a good one. And yes, I realize that saying it doesn't do anything to help the cause. For this blog post, I just feel hopelessly uninspired. I think everyone gets this feeling sometimes. Nevertheless, I have made a commitment: one blog post a month. And sometimes sticking to commitments is more important than feeling good about them. So here I am.

I was born and grew up in South Africa. During the 8th grade, all my friends had started watching the English Premier League. To be honest, I had no real interest. However, after every game week, when we returned to school, my friends would engage in endless discussions about matches, players, managers, etc. So, on Sunday, 16 October 2011, while scrolling through the sports channels searching for cricket or rugby highlights, I noticed a Premier League match: Newcastle vs. Tottenham. "Fuck it," I thought to myself, "Let's give it a try".

One of the reasons I immigrated to the Netherlands was to see more of the world. Thus far, I've been making good on that promise. Over the course of my first nine months here, I've seen various parts of the Netherlands itself. I've also traveled to Antwerp, Belgium; Düsseldorf, Germany; Monschau, Germany; and Mallorca, Spain. This month, I traveled to Vienna, Austria, and here's what I thought.

I struggle to touch my toes. When I step or hop, I usually do so with a thud or plonk. My posture almost always needs work. More often than not, when I close my eyes, my mind doesn't go to a place of peace and serenity. It goes to something that happened, or something that I want to happen, or something that I don't want to happen, or something funny, or silly, or stressful, or fun. It bounces around all over the place. And so, I am not what I thought a Yogi was. But, I am a Yogi.

One of my lifetime ambitions is to remain fit and healthy until I reach a ripe old age. Part and parcel of this, is exercise. Of course, there are many ingredients to holistic health, but, without a doubt, exercise is one of them. For me, it's the most fun. However, just because I enjoy it, doesn't mean it's immune from my neuroticism. In fact, specific exercises, workouts, and training programs have been subject to the worst side of my pedantic nature over the years, all in search of one great, big, spectacular, be-all, and end-all, personal fitness blueprint.

Once upon a time, there was a man, rigid in his regimen and routine. Every day, he woke up in the same way. He made his bed, brushed his teeth, and read the same newspaper he'd been reading for 20 years. One day, the newspaper stopped getting delivered. As a result, the man could no longer stick to his rigid morning routine. Consequently, he became frustrated and hopeless, questioning the purpose of it all and allowing his life to spiral into chaos. Eventually, he made peace with what was out of his control and decided to focus on what was within his control. He resolved that, no matter what, he would wake up every day with a smile. Certainly uncertain.

It wasn't asked to, but the morning came. It didn't have to, but the body responded. Awake. But, perhaps, unprepared for the day that it has to confront. Its weakness, exposed by the mind that drives it. A mind, itself so vulnerable, constantly deliberating over ways to take, choices to make. Choices, so often, made difficult by circumstances seemingly beyond the control of anything imaginable. But choices, after much deliberation, that are in control. Choices, the first of which is now. Under the shower head. Naked. Reluctant. Afraid.

Half past ten at night. In my pajamas. Already brushed my teeth. Said my amens. Here I am. Sitting in bed. Considering the day, as it was. The happenings, and the things unnoticed. The todos that got done, and those that went by the wayside. The thoughts, and feelings. What came easy, and what did not. Here I am. Sitting in bed. The warm glow of my bedside lamp accompanies my peripheral vision. The same glow shines on the pages of the little, hard-cover, black journal I have in my lap. Here I am. To put pen to paper.

A new publicly available, AI-driven, chatbot has come to be all the rave this month. It’s called ChatGPT. Since I’m currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Computer Science, and my research is focused on machine learning, I wouldn’t have expected to be taken aback by the capability of this bot. But, I was. I really, really was. Now, more than ever, it feels like the role of artificial intelligence in our lives will become increasingly prominent. Without speculating too much about scary futures that AI may bring, here’s a little exploration of its use to us here, now.

It's that time of the year again. When some of us like to convince ourselves that, as we enter a new year, we can forget who we were, and become who we want to be. Now. For some, the line that we step over to begin a new year is arbitrary. At the end of the day, it's just a number. And, they're probably right. But, I'd say, this moment. This moment that nearly all of humanity has chosen to celebrate as the onset of something new. This moment, is as good a moment as any, to take aim at the ambitions that you have for yourself, and go after them.

During my 26 year-long life, I have had 4 years of being the center of attention. Those were the first four years. Since then, I have been blessed and cursed with a younger sister. Or, depending on how you want to look at it, a destiny-bound nemesis. Likely, one of the most complicated individuals that I know (she shares my genes, after all). She both vexes me, and impresses me. I absolutely, unreservedly, love to hate her. And, hate to love her. These are what I imagine to be 5 rules that she maintains in carrying out her role as my, self-proclaimed, "awesome" little sister.

On new years eve last year, I told myself, by the end of next year, I will be living in another country. Well, it's the 31st of October. Yesterday, my plane landed in The Netherlands. Today, I'm writing this blog post from an apartment in Utrecht, where I'll be staying for the next 12 months. I did it.  I'll tell you this much, it wasn't easy. It takes a lot of time and energy to move your life to the other side of the world.  But, I made it. So, here's a look back at what it took. And, a little look forward at my hopes for what it may bring.

I'm back where I was - on a stunning beach, near a wonderful little place in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. A few times now, I've come here for no other reason other  than to balance a pile of rocks, one atop another. It didn't start off that way; but, as is my nature, a year ago I ended up trying to pile these rocks as high as I could. And, may I say, it was quite an impressive pile of rocks in the end. Probably around two meters high. It was so impressive that a small group of passers by, decided to stop and take a look. And, one of them said something that really stuck with me.

Sometimes, I open my eyes and see a world that's bound to fall apart, as soon as I stop playing my role. A house of cards, so to speak, that's resting on my back and destined to come falling down the moment that I flinch. When I find myself looking for security, I find myself looking for a way to keep it all in order, without having to work so damn hard for it. Of course, it's all a fallacy. Of course, true security comes from realizing I have no hand to play at all. Accepting everything will be just fine without me, but wanting to do my part, anyway.

I'm fresh off the bat from feeling like death. See, I fell ill. And, I didn't want to listen to my body. I told my snot nose where to get off and proceeded to live my life in the way I'd been living it when I was healthy. Doing exercise. Eating what I want. Saying no to rest. And then, I got really ill. More than once. It was awful. The kind of illness that has you asking for your mom. So, while I'm still aware of what that feels like, I thought I'd write five rules for myself to help avoid it in future. Because, I have a tendency to forget that I'm vincible. Maybe someone else finds them useful too.

A year ago I wrote a blog post titled, "Staying".  At the time I was growing increasingly restless with constant deliberations over whether to continue to live and work in South Africa; or, endeavour to exploring pastures new. Eventually, my restlessness capitulated in a proverbial putting down of the foot. I'm staying was my steadfast conclusion. And "Staying" was my attempt at explaining why. Of course, a year later, life has done its thing and I've changed my mind. I'm going. In contrast to my thoughts of a year ago, here's why...

Recently, I've been blessed enough to look up at the night sky from a point of view that had previously eluded me. In all fairness, I'd never had access to a telescope with a 14" aperture and a computerised equatorial mount. But, from a lonely little town, in the midst of the Great Karoo, I looked through a lens that would make very real, just how unreal a world I find myself in. When one becomes two, becomes two thousand, becomes one again...which eyes to believe when when my own gainsay?

Driving along an eternal road, I find myself approaching my destination - or, my beginning. In looking at my rear-view mirror, I see a long and arduous road. Well-paved, as many have travelled here before. In looking over my steeering wheel, I see the same thing...in fact, one could be forgiven for getting front and back mixed up. When I look around, I see vast stretches of veld, left untouched...with interludes of artifacts of human incentive...like forlorn fences, absurdly dividing nothing from nothing. 

A tiny raindrop. Here I am. Just been born. From mother - big, and grey. The world looks so far, far away. But I’m coming for it; or, it for me. Falling fast, with gravity at my back, and the wind beneath my wings - the world begins to reveal itself. I see birds flying high, fish in the sea. I see people staying dry, but one remains free. Amongst an ocean of umbrellas, there’s a girl who looks so…so…at liberty. I’m heading straight for her. Now I see, she’s dancing - dancing in the rain. Watch out girl, here I come. Closer…closer…closer…splat!

What is love? Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me...no, I'm only kidding. But, if you instinctively sang along, I want to make the case that the thing which prompted you to sing along - that's love. The thing that could only have been derived from interacting with the world around you, and having it interact back in a way that reassures you that what you're doing is right, whatever right means. And so, in this month that the universe has reassured us that love should be a focul point, what better time to elaborate.

It's the 2nd of January - a Sunday. I've been driving for 8 hours. I have at least 5 more to go until I'm back in Pretoria. The road is long and anaemic. Nothing like the coastal roads I've become accustomed to along the garden route. This juxtaposition is enough to convince me to turn around. The thought of returning to a concrete jungle just feels so humdrum. But then...then I remember...I remember that the ring of an alarm clock in the dark can make me smile just the same as waking up to the rising sun.

For the first time, I feel like I understand why most of the world is so inlove with music. It's not something that's always resonated with me. I don't have any favoured genres - in fact, I'm left confused by what types of music the different genres are supposed to represent. I struggle to remember the words of songs. And, I rarely feel the desire to hear a specific sound or melody. But, every now and again, rhythm makes sense out of everything in a way that nothing else could.

Society says addiction is a disease. Worse even, addiction is hell. A prison. It will distract you from what's important. By making you selfish, it will destroy your family and your friends. Tarnish your reputation and your future. That is, unless you use another word -  dedication - then, for some reason, people think they're talking about something entirely different. Are they though? And, if so, what's the difference?

I've been staying at the ocean for a few weeks now. The opportunity availed itself to me and it just felt right. Things have been pretty normal. I still work remotely. I run in the mornings and attend a group yoga or pilates class on most afternoons. I've met some interesting people. It's a beautiful little community here. Most importantly though, I've made peace with the tides coming in, and going out. How simple it would be if I was just talking about the tides of the ocean.

What do you hear? When you stop speaking, and begin listening - what do you hear? When there are no voices and only sounds - what do you hear? When even the sounds are gone. When the mind begins to wonder. When the thoughts take over. Tell me, what is it that you hear?  Do you hear  your worries and concerns - let them go. Do you hear your hopes and ambitions - let them go. Do you hear 'him'. Or 'her'. Or 'them'. Let them go. Now tell me once more, what is it that you hear?

Steve Jobs said that “focus is about saying no”. This has become increasingly apparent to me over the last while. With a hankering fear that I’ll choose the wrong path, I often end up choosing no path at all. See, the problem is, my learnings so far have genuinely helped me to treat things non-preferentially - I’m now able to see the beauty and appeal of everything. And that’s great. However, it’s left me overwhelmed with choices.

Yesterday I got a tattoo. The tattoo depicts Sisyphus - a symbol of the absurd - juggling the koi of the Yin and the Yang - a concept with its roots in the philosophy of Taoism. It's been said to me that Absurdism and Taoism are schools of thought that don't usually go together. But in my mind the connection is clear. Let me try articulate how these two, seemingly different, philosophies come together in the labyrinth of my thoughts.

Corruption. Poverty. Lawlessness. Racial divides. Failing education systems. Poor service delivery. The list goes on, and on. All interrelated causes and symptoms of the increasingly negative sentiment surrounding the state of South Africa. All also the reasons many have pointed to in finding motivations to leave the country. Today I make my very personal case for why staying is the seemingly illogical path that may be better to follow.

It seems futile to use logic to reason about things beyond the reality on which logic itself is based. However, I think it is precisely the arbitrary pursuit of inconsequential answers that inadvertently leads us to insights about the indescribable. In the spirit of this opinion, I am going to try describe how the science of computing - a domain driven entirely by absolutes - has led me to answers to questions I didn't even know I was asking.

You will say you don't have time, money or equipment - just shut up, and walk. You will claim to have more important things to do or people to see - just shut up, and walk. You will express concern about your fitness, your lack of experience or your need for comfort - just shut up, and walk. Stop looking for excuses - just shut up, and frickin walk. I am, of course, trying to bully you into going on a hike.

All things are exactly as they should be. In perfect balance. In perfect harmony. Previously, I explored the principle of being open to foreign ideas and experiences, because being open allows one to grow. However, I acknowledged that - in some cases - being open is difficult. Now, I'd like to promote the idea that a true understanding of the relationship between Yin and Yang makes it easy to be open - to everything.

Have you ever witnessed a child being fed brussel sprouts for the first time? Often times, the child will cringe from disgust before even trying to eat them. If they finally allow the sprouts to enter their mouth, they are so traumatized by the entire experience that they cannot consume more than a bite or two - sometimes even spitting them out. Better yet, they'll walk away convinced that they've now tried brussel sprouts, and they hate them.

For a while now I've had an inkling to start blogging about my personal thoughts and experiences. However - as with most things - I wanted my motivations to be powerful enough to follow through and dedicate time towards putting them into action. Well, after much thought and deliberation, here I am; and, what better way to start this off than to explore why I eventually made the leap.