Execution Is a Dash, Planning and Project Management Is a Triathlon

Move fast and break things. Unless you break things, you aren’t moving fast enough.

Mark Zuckerberg’s adage gets thrown around all too quickly. There’s some truth to it—if you’re never breaking things, maybe you’re not taking enough risks. And without risk, there’s no innovation, and no profits.

But aspiring to break things can make us bad engineers. It leads to half-baked products, brittle code, and software that falls apart with the next update. Execution requires speed, but speed alone isn’t enough.

The Sprint Versus the Triathlon

Execution is a sprint—a dash to the next release, milestone, or customer. Speed matters.

But product development is an endurance sport. It is not about version 1. Version 1 is often the easiest product you will create. No customer-reported bugs. No requests for enhancements yet.

Like a triathlon, product development requires balance. A triathlon is about balancing your energy between three disciplines: swimming, cycling, and running.

Planning and managing a project works the same way. You balance between various aspects of the product: adding new features, maintaining the product and supporting existing customers, and evolving the development and deployment infrastructure. Optimizing one area while neglecting another will eventually hurt your product’s overall performance. Planning is finding that balance.

Training for the Long Game

It is important to include rest days and tapering periods in your endurance training schedule. The same is true in product development. Take time to reflect, conduct a retrospective, or allow the team to recharge between releases or sprints. Technical debt is like muscle fatigue - ignore it too long and you’ll face bigger problems.

Long endurance races demand preparation for changing conditions. Triathletes train in various weather scenarios—from choppy waters to sudden downpours while on the bike. They adapt.

The same is true for product development. The team needs to be ready and flexible to adapt to changing market conditions or competitor moves.

The product lifecycle shares many parallels with triathlon competition: equipment maintenance (infrastructure upkeep), understanding different terrain (market segments), nutrition plans (resource allocation), and mental training (team resilience).

While developers often feel they’re sprinting, product and project managers should approach building products like triathlon coaches—with an eye on both immediate performance and long-term endurance.

February 19, 2025

Gathering Steam

January is a challenging month to train. It rains in Northern California. There are birthdays and wedding anniversaries. There is an all company weeklong gathering.

And yet, I was able to get a few Saturday rides in, in between the rain and spun indoors with Mary. I spent plenty of time in the pool. And, I got my new (used) road bike fitted.

ALC 2025 is becoming more real. I went to the NorCal Expo and saw so many excited faces. This is no longer a next year endeavor. This is in a few months! Argh. I need to get more out on the bike. May the weather gods be benevolent.

Fundraising Update

I’ve raised $2,993, thanks to donations from friends and some compassionate anonymous angels. Thank you!

In terms of putting that on the ALC course: I made it out of Santa Maria and meet up again with the Pacific Ocean in Ventura. With a little push, I’ll make it around Point Dume to the Santa Monica finish line.

February 13, 2025 alc2025

Defending Tradition: The Cultural Battleground in Sheridan’s America

The past presidential election results hardly surprised anyone paying attention to Taylor Sheridan’s hit shows on Paramount+. Through Yellowstone and Landman, Sheridan portrays a traditional America under siege — one where rugged Montana ranchers and hardworking Texas oil workers fight to preserve their way of life.

These shows resonate because they capture the mounting pressures facing rural and working-class communities:

California’s new rich descend on cattle country, eager to replace working ranches with golf courses and ski resorts. Down in Texas, oil workers face a pincer movement of climate activists and criminal cartels making their work nearly impossible.

Meanwhile, Wall Street poses its own threats. Banks and financiers reduce generations of tradition to spreadsheet calculations. Corporations and foreign investors circle family operations like vultures, viewing American resources as mere commodities to be traded. Bureaucrats who’ve never worked a day on the land pile on regulations that strangle honest labor.

With law enforcement stretched thin across vast territories and borders left vulnerable, these communities find themselves alone in their struggle. The government offers no help. In Sheridan’s America, taking the law into one’s own hands — through legal means or otherwise — becomes not just justified but necessary.

Enter John Dutton and Tommy Norris, reluctant warriors who step up to fight the good fight. These men stand as the last defense of traditional America, protecting multi-generational ranchers and oilmen who truly understand the land against foreigners, immigrants, cartels, and coastal elites. Bring in the marines, the wrestlers and the clowns.

Sheridan has done more than create entertaining television — he’s tapped directly into the zeitgeist of rural and blue-collar America. His shows don’t just reflect the cultural divide; they may have helped shape the 2024 election results.

February 13, 2025

Not an Unauthorized Guest Post by Ron Howard

The following letter goes around on Facebook as written by Ron Howard. It is not written by Ron, nor is it recent.

As usual these days, little that is freely posted on the internet or that is amplified on social media is what it seems. It might as well have started with “The untold truth about”, “What mainstream media doesn’t want you to know” or have been written by a retiree-now-turned-sleuth.

Nevertheless, labels aside, there is a lot in the letter below I subscribe to.

Below is the letter as I saw it on Facebook.

“I’m a liberal, but that doesn’t mean what a lot of you apparently think it does. Let’s break it down, shall we? Because quite frankly, I’m getting a little tired of being told what I believe and what I stand for. Spoiler alert: not every liberal is the same, though the majority of liberals I know think along roughly these same lines:

1. I believe a country should take care of its weakest members. A country cannot call itself civilized when its children, disabled, sick, and elderly are neglected. PERIOD.
2. I believe healthcare is a right, not a privilege. Somehow that’s interpreted as “I believe Obamacare is the end-all, be-all.” This is not the case. I’m fully aware that the ACA has problems, that a national healthcare system would require everyone to chip in, and that it’s impossible to create one that is devoid of flaws, but I have yet to hear an argument against it that makes “let people die because they can’t afford healthcare” a better alternative. I believe healthcare should be far cheaper than it is, and that everyone should have access to it. And no, I’m not opposed to paying higher taxes in the name of making that happen.
3. I believe education should be affordable. It doesn’t necessarily have to be free (though it works in other countries so I’m mystified as to why it can’t work in the US), but at the end of the day, there is no excuse for students graduating college saddled with five- or six-figure debt.
4. I don’t believe your money should be taken from you and given to people who don’t want to work. I have literally never encountered anyone who believes this. Ever. I just have a massive moral problem with a society where a handful of people can possess the majority of the wealth while there are people literally starving to death, freezing to death, or dying because they can’t afford to go to the doctor. Fair wages, lower housing costs, universal healthcare, affordable education, and the wealthy actually paying their share would go a long way toward alleviating this. Somehow believing that makes me a communist.
5. I don’t throw around “I’m willing to pay higher taxes” lightly. If I’m suggesting something that involves paying more, well, it’s because I’m fine with paying my share as long as it’s actually going to something besides lining corporate pockets or bombing other countries while Americans die without healthcare.
6. I believe companies should be required to pay their employees a decent, livable wage. Somehow this is always interpreted as me wanting burger flippers to be able to afford a penthouse apartment and a Mercedes. What it actually means is that no one should have to work three full-time jobs just to keep their head above water. Restaurant servers should not have to rely on tips, multibillion-dollar companies should not have employees on food stamps, workers shouldn’t have to work themselves into the ground just to barely make ends meet, and minimum wage should be enough for someone to work 40 hours and live.
7. I am not anti-Christian. I have no desire to stop Christians from being Christians, to close churches, to ban the Bible, to forbid prayer in school, etc. (BTW, prayer in school is NOT illegal; compulsory prayer in school is - and should be - illegal). All I ask is that Christians recognize my right to live according to my beliefs. When I get pissed off that a politician is trying to legislate Scripture into law, I’m not “offended by Christianity” — I’m offended that you’re trying to force me to live by your religion’s rules. You know how you get really upset at the thought of Muslims imposing Sharia law on you? That’s how I feel about Christians trying to impose biblical law on me. Be a Christian. Do your thing. Just don’t force it on me or mine.
8. I don’t believe LGBT people should have more rights than you. I just believe they should have the same rights as you.
9. I don’t believe illegal immigrants should come to America and have the world at their feet, especially since THIS ISN’T WHAT THEY DO (spoiler: undocumented immigrants are ineligible for all those programs they’re supposed to be abusing, and if they’re “stealing” your job it’s because your employer is hiring illegally). I believe there are far more humane ways to handle undocumented immigration than our current practices (i.e., detaining children, splitting up families, ending DACA, etc).
10. I don’t believe the government should regulate everything, but since greed is such a driving force in our country, we NEED regulations to prevent cut corners, environmental destruction, tainted food/water, unsafe materials in consumable goods or medical equipment, etc. It’s not that I want the government’s hands in everything — I just don’t trust people trying to make money to ensure that their products/practices/etc. are actually SAFE. Is the government devoid of shadiness? Of course not. But with those regulations in place, consumers have recourse if they’re harmed and companies are liable for medical bills, environmental cleanup, etc. Just kind of seems like common sense when the alternative to government regulation is letting companies bring their bottom line into the equation.
11. I believe our current administration is fascist. Not because I dislike them or because I can’t get over an election, but because I’ve spent too many years reading and learning about the Third Reich to miss the similarities. Not because any administration I dislike must be Nazis, but because things are actually mirroring authoritarian and fascist regimes of the past.
12. I believe the systemic racism and misogyny in our society is much worse than many people think, and desperately needs to be addressed. Which means those with privilege — white, straight, male, economic, etc. — need to start listening, even if you don’t like what you’re hearing, so we can start dismantling everything that’s causing people to be marginalized.
13. I am not interested in coming after your blessed guns, nor is anyone serving in government. What I am interested in is the enforcement of present laws and enacting new, common sense gun regulations. Got another opinion? Put it on your page, not mine.
14. I believe in so-called political correctness. I prefer to think it’s social politeness. If I call you Chuck and you say you prefer to be called Charles I’ll call you Charles. It’s the polite thing to do. Not because everyone is a delicate snowflake, but because as Maya Angelou put it, when we know better, we do better. When someone tells you that a term or phrase is more accurate/less hurtful than the one you’re using, you now know better. So why not do better? How does it hurt you to NOT hurt another person?
15. I believe in funding sustainable energy, including offering education to people currently working in coal or oil so they can change jobs. There are too many sustainable options available for us to continue with coal and oil. Sorry, billionaires. Maybe try investing in something else.
16. I believe that women should not be treated as a separate class of human. They should be paid the same as men who do the same work, should have the same rights as men and should be free from abuse. Why on earth shouldn’t they be?

I think that about covers it. Bottom line is that I’m a liberal because I think we should take care of each other. That doesn’t mean you should work 80 hours a week so your lazy neighbor can get all your money. It just means I don’t believe there is any scenario in which preventable suffering is an acceptable outcome as long as money is saved.”

Ron Howard

February 12, 2025

A Strong Start of 2025

New goals, new bike, additional motivation. The year 2025 started strong with a sunny ride to Morgan Hill, along the Coyote Creek trail. This is becoming one of my favorite rides, with no cars, a relatively flat path, and beautiful scenery. With a refueling stop at The Running Shop and Hops brewery, and a climb to the Leroy Anderson dam, this is a great 30 miles workout.

Tridot

Tridot is a triathlon training platform, “The official Training Platform of Ironman”. They also run a great marketing campaign: Join our research program for free. This is basically a week trial + 2 free months for those who show interest. Brilliant.

I am impressed by their guidance and training videos. They offer swim, cycle, and run workouts straight to my Garmin devices. The swim workouts are perfect to kill the monotony of lap swimming. The run sessions keep you focussed on zone 2 training and going slow. The cycling workout was confusing. I couldn’t read the instructions on my Garmin Edge bicycle computer. Also, slow was just too slow to be fun.

My 2 month “research program” session starts on Tuesday. I do plan to give it a shot. To be clear, I am not aiming for an Ironman. My ambitious 2025 goal is finish an Olympic triathlon.

First Flat of the Year

I have been riding tubeless on my gravel bike for 2 years. The tubeless setup has served me excellently. The goo automatically plugged several punctures, only with one time, in the streaming rain. There is still a learning curve with the tape and refilling the goo. Yet, I’ve been a fan.

My new road bike has inner tubes. It is tubeless ready. But I didn’t go for that yet.

Today, on the third ride of the year, I got my first small puncture. I did struggle a bit with removing the tires. Yet, it all worked out eventually.

Fundraising Update

Before the end of 2024, I reach the $1500 ALC fundraising milestone. That brings me at 42% of meeting the participation minimum. With a little bit of help, and I will be half-way to Los Angeles.

January 5, 2025 alc2025

My 2024 Sports Year in Review

I didn’t start 2024 with lofty fitness goals. I wasn’t joining my teammates on the ride to Los Angeles. I hadn’t signed up for any one-day rides either.

My plan was simple: steady progress, in the gym and as a Training Ride Leader for the South Bay Blaze team.

I am proud of the results: 285 active days. I walked over 219 miles, often around the neighborhood in a 1:1 meeting. I lifted weights for 70 hours and joined plenty of fitness group classes at the gym, including shadow kickboxing and dancing. I swam a total of 44 miles in the pool, in a few lakes, and in the Mediterranean Sea. I bicycled over 2,024 miles. I went an entire year without alcohol, and that includes a visit to Belgium.

2024 was also a year of firsts: my first organized gravel ride, Everybody Loves Raymond in Raymond, CA; my first Tierra Bella, Grizzly Peak, and the Marin Century rides; my first triathlon(!).

My plantar fasciitis is doing better. I got back into running and completed the 10K Turkey Trot.

In September, as word spread that, after 30 years, 2025 would be the final AIDS LifeCycle Ride, I recommitted. That also meant that my training for the ride started in October. See you at the finish line in Los Angeles in June next year.

Lastly, I got more serious about my training and recovery. With a new Garmin Fenix 8 watch, I am very in tune with my body battery, my recovery, and sleep.

Christmas came early when a used and well-maintained Trek Domane SL7 road bike fell into my lap for a price among friends (thanks, Steve!). Wow, this is a fast machine. I am already shattering PRs.

I do have a few big fitness goals for 2025 already. More to come on that soon.

December 28, 2024 alc2025

Chip Wars

I’ve spent over 25 years in Silicon Valley, starting my career at VLSI Technology in San Jose creating specialized silicon chips called ASICs. With my background in electronics, I thought I knew a bit about the history and business of silicon, including how this area became Silicon Valley.

In Silicon Valley on the Couch, Malcolm Gladwell explores why William Shockley, inventor of the transistor, winner of the Nobel Prize, father of Silicon Valley, set up shop in the Bay Area.

Shockley didn’t invent the transistor in Northern California. He invented it in New Jersey, at the famous Bell Labs in Murray Hill, about 10 miles outside of Newark. Then he left Bell Labs and took a teaching job at Caltech in Pasadena, just outside of Los Angeles. And after a stint there and a stint at the Pentagon, he decides to strike out on his own. He lines up a wealthy backer. He starts a company called Shockley Semiconductor, and he recruits the best and the brightest from all around the country. Everyone comes from somewhere else to a Quonset hut on 391 San Antonio Road in Mountain View.

But why Mountain View, CA?

The telegram is addressed to Mrs. W.H. Shockley 261 Waverly Street, Palo Alto. Let me read that to you again, in case you missed it. 261 Waverly Street, Palo Alto, California. William Shockley’s mother, May Shockley, lived in Palo Alto. You could walk from her house to 391 San Antonio Road, where Shockley so mysteriously chose to launch his revolution. Why did the Santa Clara Valley become the birthplace of the computer age? Because someone wanted to be close to mom.

However, reading Chris Miller’s ‘Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology’ revealed significant gaps in my knowledge. The book introduced me to crucial figures, places and companies I’d never encountered.

For example, Jack Kilby, working at Texas Instruments, is as key to the invention of the integrated circuit, as Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor.

After being passed over for CEO at Texas Instruments, Morris Chang moved to Taiwan and founded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Today, TSMC produces the world’s most advanced chips for Apple, Nvidia, and others - making it crucial to both Taiwan’s economy and security. Morris Chang is considered the father of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry.

But there are so many more characters I didn’t know: John Bardeen, Patrick Haggerty, the Parkinsons, and Irwin Jacobs.

The book also covers big failures, such as Zelenograd, and surprising successes, like, San Diego’s Cymer.

This book is much more than a history of the transistor. It puts the recent headlines about the trade war with China in context.

“US announces new export controls on China’s chip industry”

“China hits out at latest US effort to block Beijing’s access to chip technology”

“US to Launch a Third Crackdown on China’s Chipmakers”

“China warns it will take action if US implements new chip control measures”

This is a big deal to especially China, the USA, and surely Taiwan. As long as Taiwan produces the world’s most advanced silicon, it is relatively safe from China.

“Semiconductors had become the new oil - a crucial resource without which the modern economy couldn’t function.”

“Beijing’s semiconductor ambitions weren’t simply about economic efficiency. They were about political control.”

The timing of this book is impeccable. It is the guide to a major trade conflict happening before our eyes.

December 4, 2024

The Accidental Athlete: Trading Happy Hours for Healthy Miles

My healthy-lifestyle journey has unfolded like a gradual awakening over the past eight years.

Around 2018, I joined Hash House Harries, humorously known as A Drinking Club With A Running Problem. What started as casual social runs with beer stops evolved into a genuine passion for running, leading me to complete several 10Ks and a half marathon. (That full marathon training plan still sits on my nightstand, a reminder of adventures yet to come.)

The pandemic became an unexpected catalyst for change. I went back to my true love, cycling. I discovered the freedom of gravel biking and joined a training group. Two years later, I found myself completing an epic 545 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Since then, I’ve logged many thousands of miles in the saddle. It is great physical and mental exercise.

My commitment to fitness deepened last year when I joined a gym within running distance from home. Now, three to five times weekly, you’ll find me either pumping iron, gliding through lap lanes, or pushing through high-energy spin classes.

The evolution of my eating habits paralleled my fitness journey. I transitioned to a pescatarian diet, mastering the art of creating flavorful legume-based dishes. Beef, pork, and chicken have become distant memories, replaced by a vibrant array of pescatarian options that keep my palate excited and my body energized.

Inspired by Mark Suster’s weight loss journey, I embarked on what was supposed to be a one-month alcohol-free experiment last November. That month stretched into a 100-day challenge, which has now flourished into a full year without a single beer, wine, or cocktail.

One year sober — a milestone I never initially set out to achieve.

The journey continues, fueled by unexpected benefits: clearer thinking, abundant energy, and better sleep. Yes, I sometimes face puzzled looks, especially from my Belgian family, where beer is practically a cultural cornerstone.

It has been a fun ride with lots of new beverages. There are quite a few non-alcoholic “spirits”, and a vast selection of non-alcoholic beers. Non-alcoholic beers have been on the rise.

What started as curiosity has transformed into a lifestyle choice I’m not eager to abandon. Each step of this journey — from those first Hash House Harrier runs to my current alcohol-free path — has taught me something valuable. And perhaps that’s the most intoxicating discovery of all: the joy of continuous learning and growth.

November 29, 2024

November 27, 2024 Images

Bike-Marshalling Is Another Form of Low Intensity Training Too

Since last year, I am a volunteer bike marshall for various running events in the Bay Area: the Oakland Marathon, the San Francisco Ultra Marathon, and the Berkeley Half Marathon.

Unfortunately, being the bike marshal does not involve any silver star. Equipped with a radio, our job is to be the ears and eyes of the organization on the course. We typically ride with the lead male and female runners. We relay the mile markers where they are in the race. We call back about hazards, such as cars that entered the parkour, or runners that jump into other lanes.

It is stressful when cars enter the parkour, or when the cones or fences are misplaced. Runners call out “Where to?”. You don’t want to mess up their personal best or qualification chances for a bigger race.

It is also a lot of fun. The crowd not only cheers on the runners, they also love the bike marshals. And you get to ride on a closed circuit in the cities.

This past weekend, I was the bike marshal for the Berkeley Half Marathon. This run takes you to UC Berkeley Campus, into the hills, and along the Bay. The pace is fast as it is only a half marathon. And there are some hills, so you must anticipate the climb as runners tend to catch you on the hill.

While I didn’t do any hard rides this weekend, I did do some low intensity rides through Berkeley, both on Saturday and Sunday. My Garmin counted them as “Recovery”.

Looking forward to more cold weather rides and hoping that the upcoming atmospheric river heading to the Bay Area doesn’t ruin my plans in the coming week.

My fundraising is taking off too: I reached $500.

November 18, 2024 alc2025