Examples and Inspiration from unusual sources

I had a recent conversation where I recounted episodes and incidences that drive my ideas and philosophies. One in particular I was fascinated even as I shared was a course I took years during my engineering days, and I mean YEARS ago. It was a computer aided engineering graphics class that introduced me to B-Spline and Bézier curves. It is sometimes funny how things stick and others falls off, even some of the most important and sometimes some of the most mundane things!

The concept I was trying to communicate during my conversation involved planning. Planning for the long and the short term. I was not having much luck putting my ideas across using real life examples from my very own career in a manner that my audience was able to understand so I resorted to the examples from the world I left behind. The world of numerical analysis and engineering, the world of B-Spline and Bézier curves. A B-Spline curve is a combination of individual splines that enforce localized control to ensure the direction and trajectory. Bézier curves on the other hand are vectors with global control on the direction and trajectory.

Its like saying I want to be the CEO of a company by 2020, would be akin to charting out the direction and growth trajectory based off a Bézier curve. On the flip side having a goal to head about a business unit by 2010, then a region by 2015 and a company by 2020 would be the similar to planning the direction and trajectory of a B-Spline curve.

The interesting element is the idea of the next move? The search for the next move needs to align with ones current position, while still enabling progress to the short and long term goal. Similar to the nearest neighbor algorithm. I am a strong believer in the fact that people are made up of the ideas they have and each has to find her or her inspiration. I just look back into my past for my philosophies.

I will be writing about a gauge I used in engineering to measure surface roughness soon for another example or strange sources of my inspiration.