by Annette
16. July 2007
I'm watching my kids relax from the pace of the school year and settle into a different way of life. They are doing the work of adolescence; laying around and complaining there is nothing to do. Call me crazy, but I organized it this way. I'm famous around my house for saying, "It's good to be bored". It's only when you've reached the end of the fancy schedule, that the real learning of discovering your native interests starts and you find what is really worth chasing.
A couple of weeks ago I had lunch with Ted Leung. I was introduced to Ted through Scott Rosenberg's book Dreaming in Code. Ted is a contributor to the Open Source Application Foundation's Chandler project. I was impressed by his wicked will to navigate the tangle of developing the Personal lnformation Manager product.
When I met Ted, his committment to community and collaboration was clear. I could tell from our conversation it was these principles that made the work matter and provided the ability to innovate. While his education at Brown and MIT surely provided a knowledge base for the hard work of software development, this internal drive can't be taught. It can only be discovered.
And so this summer I'm letting my kid's minds wander. Because discovering those driving interests is the only summer school that matters.
