Merry Christmas Everybody !!!
been a while since my last post, kinda cramped with projects, two hands, two sore eyes, and insufficient sleep seems not enough, even with 24 hours a day working time.. :)
Anyway, I wish you, and myself, all of us, a happy merry Christmas... may the Force be with us always...

Sabtu kemaren gw jalan di terminal blok M, di depan gw jalan segerombolan mahasiswa dengan baju seragam, bukan seragam resmi, tapi sepertinya baju angkatan... tulisan di punggungnya :
"Born to be enterpreneur - STEKPI"
Huahaha...
Gw jadi inget, iklan stekpi di tv, yang ditekankan lulus dari situ siap kerja, jadi eksmud, bla bla...
Ini malah dengan bangga mau jadi enterpreneur, declare kalo udah dari lahir jadi enterpreneur pula... wakakaka... dasar mahasiswa... suka ngasal...
Kebayang begitu deket2 mau lulus, pada kalang kabut nglamar nyari kerjaan di perusahaan perusahaan besar, lupa deh dengan tulisan di punggung yang dengan bangga dipajang pamer di jalan2...
Gw gak tahu sekarang gimana, tapi memang sepertinya kurang banget pendidikan kewirausahaan... Sewaktu gw kuliah dulu, kewirausahaan cuma dapet satu semester, sisanya diajari ngitung duit dan strategi perusahaan seakan-akan semuanya kalo lulus bakal jadi direktur perusahaan multinasional... padahal gw kuliah di ekonomi, kebayang gimana minimnya pendidikan wirausaha di fakultas ilmu lain...
Secara umum memang banyak salah kaprahnya di negeri ini, apalagi dengan sistem pendidikan yang berantakan dari dasar...

Sedikit tentang skill dan pilihan pekerjaan :

...

Of course, that’s a ludicrous thing to suggest. HTML and CSS are
foundational technologies of the Web, and no-one is suggesting that web
developers shouldn’t have to know them. In fact, a “web developer” who
didn’t know HTML and CSS has no right to the title.

But here’s the thing: JavaScript is just as foundational as HTML and CSS.

Now, granted, when I first got into this business JavaScript was
something of a red-headed stepchild; 99% of all the JavaScript deployed
on the public Web was devoted to making images change when you rolled
your mouse over them, and the other 1% was written by scary people who
called it “DHTML”.

But now… now it’s 2006, and we’re slowly realizing that those

“DHTML” guys were really onto something. The rich interaction
possibilities opened up by JavaScript are being recognized for what
they are, and have even spawned a whole raft of new buzzwords and new
toolkits. And even though it was always technically that way, we’re
coming around to see (or, in some cases, being dragged kicking and
screaming into seeing) that the Web really is based on three
technologies: HTML for structure, CSS for style and JavaScript for
behavior and interaction.

Which means that here and now, in 2006, if you call yourself a “web developer” you have absolutely no excuse for not knowing JavaScript. And if you don’t know JavaScript, you have absolutely no right to call yourself a “web developer”....

The B-List: Django and AJAX

Kalo dipikir-pikir ini sama dengan :

• Web designer yang gak bisa nulis HTML kalo gak ada Dreamweaver
• Photoshop artists yang gak bisa bikin drop shadow kalo gak ada plug in nya
• Jagoan 3D Max yang gak bisa bikin walk cycle tanpa Character Studio
  

Huehehe... Memang sih teknologi seharusnya mambuat kehidupan lebih mudah, tapi coba deh... yang gw sebutin diatas itu kan bener2 konsep dasar...
ie :

HTML itu text file yang bisa diedit bahkan dengan text editor sederhana seperti Notepad, asal kita tahu ,biarpun sedikit, tentang tag dasar HTML

Bikin drop shadow di Photoshop ? hmm... gw berani taruhan, anak2 design keluaran baru itu gak ada yang tahu apa itu "CHOP" alias "CHannel OPeration"... inget, jaman dulu photoshop gak ada layer, cuma
bisa multiple channel mask, itupun kalo udah banyak makin berat karena memory PC standard jaman dulu yang cuma 16 meg ( segitu juga udah bisa jadi kebanggaan :P )

Walk cycle ? waktu gw masih jadi 3D animator, character animation could boost you up to the top of the food chain ... timing, timing, timing... rigging, skinning, bla bla... even the basics could take considerable effort and time to learn fully... sekarang, klik sini, drag sana, klik klik klik... jadilah makluk itu jalan dengan penuh keluwesan... jadi inget waktu multiped plugin buat softimage dirilis, semua orang langsung rebutan pengen bisa pake...

I mean, I couldn't care less if you say "no time to learn" or "as long as the job done"... but IMHO, good knowledge on basic concepts is a MUST... i don't know about you, but for me, it saved me a whole lot
of valuable time , producing better results with less work, and most of all, I don't get dependent to my tools...

imagine this ( or don't, because this happens nearly daily these days ):

"I wan't this logo to have drop shadow"

"errr... sorry sir, this PC is only being used for preview only,
it does have Photoshop installed, but without drop shadow plugin...
please, give us more time, let's setup another meeting later then "

"???"

Interesting, not just for geeks but business in general, about glorious multitasking :

The longer a task switch takes, the worse the multitasking penalty.

That, in and of itself, is not so earth shaking, is it? Pretty soon I'm going to be getting irate email from morons accusing me of being "against" multitasking. "Do you want to go back to the days of DOS when you had to exit WordPerfect to run 1-2-3?" they will ask me.

But that's not my point. I just want you to agree with me that in this kind of example:

a) sequential processing gets you results faster on average, and

b) the longer it takes to task switch, the bigger the penalty you pay for multitasking.

OK, back to the more interesting topic of managing humans, not CPUs. The trick here is that when you manage programmers, specifically, task switches take a really, really, really long time. That's because programming is the kind of task where you have to keep a lot of things in your head at once. The more things you remember at once, the more productive you are at programming. A programmer coding at full throttle is keeping zillions of things in their head at once: everything from names of variables, data structures, important APIs, the names of utility functions that they wrote and call a lot, even the name of the subdirectory where they store their source code. If you send that programmer to Crete for a three week vacation, they will forget it all. The human brain seems to move it out of short-term RAM and swaps it out onto a backup tape where it takes forever to retrieve.

How long? Well, my software company recently dropped what we were doing (developing a software product codenamed CityDesk) to help a client with a bit of an emergency situation for three weeks. When we got back to the office, it seemed to take another three weeks to get back to full speed on CityDesk.

On the individual level -- have you ever noticed that you can assign one job to one person, and they'll do a great job, but if you assign two jobs to that person, they won't really get anything done? They'll either do one job well and neglect the other, or they'll do both jobs so slowly you feel like slugs have more zip. That's because programming tasks take so long to task switch. I feel like when I have two programming projects on my plate at once, the task switch time is something like 6 hours. In an 8-hour day, that means multitasking reduces my productivity to 2 hours per day. Pretty dismal.

As it turns out, if you give somebody two things to work on, you should be grateful if they "starve" one task and only work on one, because they're going to get more stuff done and finish the average task sooner. In fact, the real lesson from all this is that you should never let people work on more than one thing at once. Make sure they know what it is. Good managers see their responsibility as removing obstacles so that people can focus on one thing and really get it done. When emergencies come up, think about whether you can handle it yourself before you delegate it to a programmer who is deeply submersed in a project.

Human Task Switches Considered Harmful
By Joel Spolsky

Of course this article does not address other things such as scarce developer resource, lack of financial resources, etc. which become an obvious ( and easiest ) reason to justify why employer put one too many tasks on employees.
And among that specifics, I saw something that is very distinctively common, that is, lack of sense of responsibility on most Indonesian employees.
We talk too much about motivation, ethos, and so on and so on, only to see that is just a buzzword to make the chanters get a notch higher in credibility scale.
Well, maybe I wasn't a good motivator to my former staffs, but up to this moment, I still see that they lack that true sense of responsibility. I still remember one of them say that I could have give them any task at once, and he will do it without question, but... if any or all af those tasks couldn't be completed in time, then it is all mine to take all responsibility and consequences...
Haha... weird statement huh...
Sounds like it's okay to put blame on somebody especially superordinates when things goes wrong due to one's mediocre works, and get away with it... such a nice life huh...
then I thought where does the true meaning of "responsibility" go ? wasn't it not only to your employer, but the most important thing is to yourself ? and moreover, where was the "interactivity" part go here ? Strange...
Hmm, at that moment, I guessed that maybe it was just a statement based on tipical employee's anger and dissapointment, but when I look back, I also believe that I've tried hard enough to make them working in most comfortable environment possible, but then again , I was wrong...
I strongly believe that multitasking is very much possible, with certain consideration mentioned by Joel above, plus put those mental and psychological factors like self discipline and self responsibility, along with willingness to interact in team work and being open to others...
Cut things short, I still believe and still have faith that Indonesian human resources are good, and also not too difficult to spot high performing resources from anywhere around, the only thing is nobody teaches Indonesian kids about self responsibility and most importantly, durability and resilience in life...

Akhirnya Bush datang juga, tadi sore gw liat di tv, biasa2 aja, gak ada
yang heboh... Bogor hujan, jadi kayanya suasana lebih adem...

Hanya satu yang gw masih gak ngerti juga... masih ada yang demo,
ngerahin ribuan massa, mendesak mau mendekat ke Istana Bogor... Mau apa lagi sih ????

Barusan ada berita kalo segerombolan ormas islam berhasil menembus barikade dan mulai ada perlawanan dengan Polisi, dengan tuntutan yang sama : membatalkan pertemuan antara SBY dengan Bush...

Say what ??? .... gila ya... waktu gw lihat di tv yang keliatan cuma segerombolan ( ribuan ) dogol gak berotak yang rela berhujan-hujan melawan polisi untuk sebab yang gak jelas, dan makin gak beralasan... mengapa gw bilang makin gak beralasan... liat aja kenyataannya... Bush bakal bertolak pulang jam 8 malam, sementara gerombolan dogol itu menembus barikade dengan tuntutan yang sama jam 6... coba deeeehh...
dasar dogol gak punya otak... tinggal dua jam lagi Bush pulang, sekarang juga udah tinggal ngobrol remeh temeh sama SBY sambil ngopi2 kaleee.... apalagi sih yang dibatalin ? jalana diblokir, udah, sekolah libur udah, pasar libur, udah, jalur angkot dialihkan, udah... malah bentar lagi itu semua akan dikembalikan... apa artinya coba masih minta dibatalin sekarang... huehehehe....

Kaya orang naksir cewe, tapi masih datang ke resepsi prnikahan cewe itu sama orang lain, dan masih minta dibatalin ... dogol tenan... jelas2 namanya resepsi, orang tinggal makan2 salam2an, gak ada yang penting, ijab udah lewat... hehehe... kalo kata teman gw : "goblok kok berjamaah"...

Komentar ibu2 dijalan juga aneh... katanya: "boleh aja datang, tapi jangan kaya gini, pake demo dan heboh rame2..." ... Wait a second... knapa demo ? hey.. Bush juga gak mau didemo, tanya dong ke yg pada demo itu... trus kenapa penjagaan demikian ketatnya ? Ya jelas dong, wong jauh hari jelas2 banyak orang yang mau mendemo... coba kalo kita ini jadi bangsa yang pinter sedikit... biarin aja Bush datang, gak usah didemo macam2... secara politis juga kalo kita yakin bahwa Indonesia ini punya wibawa, ya gak akan ada masalah kok... negara lain masih menghormati kita sebagai bangsa yang netral dan bijak... malah kalo demo2 dogol gini neh, yang bikin negara ini malu, bikin negara ini jadi negara bodoh dan gak punya martabat, karena diisi dogol2 gak berotak...

Yang tinggal sekarang, gw merasa malu, karena gw jadi warganegara yang
penghuninya sebagian besar dogol gak berotak... sigh ... hixzz

Tolak Bush... Buat Apa ?

Makin rame aja orang demo nolak Bush datang, padahal udah tahu bakalan gak direwes... Orang Indonesia memang aneh, dan konyol...

For one, the reason to despise Bush is a bit too artificial... I know
this will be a biased opinion of mine cos I ain't a moslem, but I trust
me, I couldn't care less about religion at this point. I will agree
with all that fuzz if, considering the circumstances, we Indonesian has
really enforce a good order.

Let's take a look :

Public transports drivers protest because temporary trajectory
realignment for several hours during Bush visit, hahaha... that's
funny, because public transport in Bogor is notoriously considered as
culprit causing chaotic traffic in such small town.. while they said
that such detour will cause severe traffic jam...

People protest on the plan of 10 hours jamming of cellular network...
once again, why bother, cellular drop calls is a daily daily
happenings, while weak signals, out of coverage and blank spots are
also things we couldn't live without, then, why bother... i suggest
just sit tight at your office and wait for your colleagues call you via
good old landline phones :)

But the most moronic ever is the habibs and those self proclaimed
moslem leaders... one just come out of nowhere, nobody knows him or
where he's from, but he manage to get to Bogor Palace and doing some
mambo jambo with his staff chanting prayers that he believed will make
Bush goes nuts, or at least get gastritic pain whenever he steps in the
Palace... other said that they will not come if they we're invited...
Wait !!! you say what ??? invited ?... Huahahahaha.... doesn't it sound
like a hipothetical statement from popularity-seeking-jerks ? hey man,
even Bush ( and his oxymoron troops ) doesn't know you're exist... if
he does, forget it, he won't even bother asking for your names... other
weird stuff done by some paranormal, he said he could remotely drive
Bush and his people nuts by chanting some mambo jambo while killing a
black crow and a snake using a bamboo stick, and not to forget, buying
a 20.000 dollars car and asking people who wants Bush to die to sign on
the car body... I mean, hey, Bush is a crazy man already, even his
people didn't trust him that much anymore, then why would you want to
make him gone mental ? if he does get even crazier, then you're on, but
what if the effect ( if there is any ) is a negating effect, then Bush
get sane... hehehe... think about it... he will get all the support he
can get, then wouldn't it hit you ? ...

haah...

this could only happened in Indonesia , no ?

Diantara berita-berita protes menolak kedatangan pak Bush ke Bogor, gw jadi inget sebuah lagu masa kecil gw dulu, lagu jawa, kira2 gini ( ya mendekatilah, banyak kata yang gw lupa, jadi maap kalo ada yang salah, yang penting artinya sama ) :
e dayohe teko
e gelarno kloso
e klosone bedah
e tambalen jadah
e jadahe mambu
e paka'no asu
e asune mati
e buangen kali
e kaline banjir
... ( maap lupa terusannya... hehe )

terjemahan bebas indonesianya :

lihat tamu sudah datang
gelarlah tikar
tikarnya robek
tamballah dengan juadah
juadahnya bau
jadikan makanan anjing
anjingnya mati
buanglah ke sungai
sungainya banjir
...

sebagai anak-anak yang suka sembarangan nyanyi dan mengubah lagu 'on the fly', lagu ini bisa berubah susunan kalimat dengan berbagai kombinasi, sekaligus arti, contohnya :

e dayohe teko
e paka'no asu

( lihat tamu sudah datang
jadikan makanan anjing )

atau

e dayohe teko
e tambalen jadah

( lihat tamu sudah datang
tamballah dengan juadah )

dst..
Yang jelas artinya sudah berubah extrim dari yang tadinya menggambarkan keramahan menjadi ketidak sopanan terhadap tamu yang datang berkunjung ..
Sekarang gw jadi berpikir, apakah bangsa kita memang sedemikian kekanakannya dan tidak dewasa, hingga harus bersikap keras dan menolak tamu yang dianggap sudah berbuat jahat terhadap 'teman' bangsa ini ? Gw rasa konyol sekali, kok kaya anak2 abg, yang dengan gampang bilang 'gak solider' kalo salah seorang anggota geng kita ketahuan ngobrol dengan anggota geng lain yang ceritanya lagi musuhan.
Intinya gw merasa aneh waktu liat di tv, ormas2 islam menolak kunjungan bush dengan kata2 : 'menolak kunjungan bush, dan meminta dpr untuk menolak dan membatalkan kunjungan tersebut, karena bush telah berbuat jahat terhadap islam'
wait a second .. Gw tau bush memang sedikit banyak menyalahkan kaum fundamentalis timur, yang majoritas muslim, cuma apa hubungannya dengan kita ? Terlebih dengan kenyataan bangsa kita yang sangat plural ini, knapa tiba2 harus mengikuti jalan pikiran segelintir manusia yang mengatasnamakan bangsa padahal hanya menyentuh kepentingan semu sekelompok manusia yang gak jelas juntrungannya juga .. Ngurus negri sendiri, bersihin sampah di negri sendiri aja gak becus, kok udah akal2 mau bantuin negara lain.. Negri ini penuh dengan paradox, krisis identitas akut dan yang paling mengerikan adalah paranoia existensial, yang membuat prioritas jadi jungkir balik karena kepentingan2 yang berlawanan bahkan di level individual. Ruwet, bukan karena hidup ini memang ruwet, tapi manusia2 indonesia ini memang cenderung berpikir ruwet :P ( mulut gw juga jadi ruwet kalo ngomong yang barusan ... heheh )