Comments on: How to Catch a Balloon

By: Howard Yeend

Howard Yeend — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:00:14 +0000

Great post, smart kid

By: Jeff Kirsch

Jeff Kirsch — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:42:40 +0000

Mark – I think he would tell you not to put the sheep on the roof in the first place. Just wait for the next wind storm, it will take out the rest of the roof and then maybe the insurance company will cover it. Are you really that jealous of my lawn that you want me to mess it up

Rafal – It is so true that kids really have a lot to teach us, if we can get past our years of “experience”.

All – Thanks for the great conversation. I shared all your comments with my son and he was so excited. He asked me if this made him an Internet Celebrity. My response could not be anything other than “Of course!”

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:03:24 +0000

Excellent post Neighbor Jeff. All 3rd party accounts of your middle son surprise and amaze me. I am curious though what he would say about how does one go about removing a sheep from one’s roof? The wind itself is not reliable enough. This has been puzzling me. I am open to others ideas. Also, how does one get an insurance company to approve replacing the whole roof over here? Again, I am open to suggestions. Another question, how do you get a redneck squatter to give up his land (he lives behind Jeff and I) or at least to force him to maintain the weeds that blow endless streams of seeds into our yards. Speaking yards, Jeff – you’re is not looking so dapper these days. Might I suggest green dye. ‘tiz the season.

By: Interesting Information Security Bits for 03/16/2009 | Infosec Ramblings

Interesting Information Security Bits for 03/16/2009 | Infosec Ramblings — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:04:04 +0000

[...] has a great post about first solutions and thoughts. Good stuff. How to Catch a Balloon : The Security Catalyst Tags: ( general [...]
Oops…forgot to say great post! Looking forward to your next one.

By: Interesting Information Security Bits for 03/16/2009 | Infosec Ramblings

Interesting Information Security Bits for 03/16/2009 | Infosec Ramblings — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:50:14 +0000

[...] has a great post about first solutions and thoughts. Good stuff. How to Catch a Balloon : The Security Catalyst Tags: ( general [...]

By: Kevin Riggins

Kevin Riggins — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:55:17 +0000

Great post Jeff.

It reminds me of two things. The first is from Garr Reynold’s Presentation Zen. Nancy Duarte, in talking about how they develop presentations says, “Often ideas come immediately. That’s good, but avoid the potential pitfall of going with the first thing that comes to mind. Continue to sketch and force yourself to think through several more ideas.” She is speaking specifically to presentation design, but the sentiment applies to many things in our lives, both professional and personal. As you say, the first solution might work, but it also might not be the best solution. In some cases, like you mention above, the first idea won’t work, but the next will

This brings me to what Sir Ken Robinson says in his TED talk, “If you’re [we're] not prepared to be wrong, you’ll [we'll] never come up with anything original.” He is talking about children having a complete lack of fear in being wrong. They haven’t yet learned that “being right” is all important. Coming up with a bunch of ideas either by ourselvs or in a group mans that we are “wrong” some of the time. We need to let go of that thought.

Kevin

By: Dennis Kuntz

Dennis Kuntz — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:37:43 +0000

One of my coworkers/friends and I were having a conversation not too long ago. There were some frustrations around our team regarding several issues. He said something to me that was insightful, simple, and it was also one of those obvious-after-the-fact comments:

“Would you rather be right, or get stuff done?”

Contained in that is a mindset of being open to what others say instead of just keeping to your own ideas and thoughts. Even if your own ideas will work (i.e. “I’m right”), others may have better ideas that are more appropriate, efficient, et al. Being open minded for solutions to come from any direction is very powerful. Your post is an excellent example of what my friend was talking about, and I keep seeing it referenced in real life more and more.

Excellent job!

By: Rafal Los

Rafal Los — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:48:29 +0000

Genius. You know, your kid is going to be one of those creative minds. Speaking of which, and applying this to our practice, consultants can benefit from a quick read of this story. I can’t tell you how many times, while consulting, I came across a “problem” posed by the customer and came up with 100 different ways to solve it only to realize that I had not properly analyzed the customer’s requirements sufficiently to actually understand the problem. So while you’re trying to solve perceived problem X, problem Y actually exists an no one is working that angle.

Children make us see with new eyes simply by thinking without the constraints we’ve learned to accept over our years of failure. It’s true!

By: iamnowonmai

iamnowonmai — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:09:00 +0000

Not only that – but sometimes we tend to “overthink” possible solutions and neglect to see that a simple answer is all that is needed for a seemingly complex problem. That being said, Mubix’s ideas are *always* better than mine…..

By: Rob Fuller

Rob Fuller — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:59:31 +0000

I always thought that I was open to ideas, and as most people in the security world that knows me can attest, I am. However, something that this blog post has made me not really realize, but more come to terms with, is that I usually discount other peoples ideas when I think mine is better. It’s not something that I intentional do, but it’s a pride (ego?) in myself that I have to work with. While reading this I thought for sure your son was going to say ‘use your hair to make the balloon stick to the pillow’, but it just drives home the point that even if you think you are open to possibilities, your subconscious might be ruling them out before they make it off the drawing board. It’s about time that I start taking an active role, consciously, in accepting and evaluating options that other pose.

Thanks for the post, I really appreciate it.