Today I would like to talk with you about those little things that could make your life fun or miserable beyond belief. Those things, that are so insignificant, and therefore so easy to ignore, could become your major headache.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is all about tune-up!

One of the few things I like about winter is downhill skiing. Considering 45 minutes drive and high-speed quads Wachusset is our place of choice for a one-day trip. Last weekend we took the boys and went skiing. After several good runs we decided to go inside for a cup of tea.

If you want to see a picture of me on skis 15 years younger, 20 pounds lighter and with 40% more hair in Chimgan, Mountains of former Soviet Republic Uzbekistan, follow this link.

On the way in we passed a ski-shop with familiar smell of hot ski wax. It reminded me the good old times of cross-country racing and tuning my skis everyday, which is always a pain, but sometimes it is what stands between you and the victory! Being an experienced skier I was already noticing that my skis could use a tune-up. But I was ignoring the signs, just because it was not that bad yet. That day, thanks to my flash back, I finally dropped off my skis for a tune-up. 20 minutes later I was flying down the mountain. That run was incredible. Performance improved 600%! I then realized what I was missing!

As my body was enjoying the tuned-up skis, my mind got back to business. I was thinking that just like me with the skis a lot of development organizations overlook those "little, insignificant" details that do not seem to be important at the moment, getting lost in the big picture. These "little" things if neglected may become a major problem, such as, for example, a slower time to market. So, Ladies and Gents, do your timely tune-ups or it maybe your competition at that finish line!

To help you diagnose potential problems I asked our Chief Architect to put together a multiple-choice quiz. Don’t worry the results of the quiz will not affect your GPA!

For those of you who are still reading and really interested in improving the productivity of your development/QA organization drop me a line and I will send you that quiz. (Please, follow this link to receive the free quiz.)

Thank God, it’s Friday! Hopefully there’s not too much traffic heading to New Hampshire tonight, as we are heading north, destination Gunstock! I will be looking for you on the slopes!