In systems engineering, a new project always starts off with a requirements specification. The design is then derived from the requirements, and the implementation is based on the design. Everything, including test cases, traces back to the requirements. A product with poorly specified requirements is almost always destined to fail, no matter how wonderful and majestic it was supposed to be when first imagined.
Such was the case today, when I went to meet with fellow cancer survivor and honorary BIKE GOD Lance Armstrong.
(click to enlarge)
(click to enlarge)
In my mind, I had already designed the perfect blog post about the event. It would be entitled Survivors, and would contain only a photo of me with Lance, together at the moment that we met. Simple, elegant, yet powerful. No problem, right?
Wrong. My plan utterly fell apart because I failed to specify the requirements to my photographer. Here is the requirements specification that I should have written ahead of time:
1. The photo shall be in focus.
2. The photo shall have little to no motion blur.
3. The photo shall be reasonably well lit.
4. The photo shall contain as its principal subjects both Lance Armstrong and Mike Heasley.
4.1. The photo containing Lance Armstrong and Mike Heasley shall be taken at the earliest opportunity and before any other photos.
Requirement #4 was not properly communicated to the photographer. As a result, I got a nice photo of Lance signing my book, but nothing to prove I was actually there to meet him.
(click to enlarge)
Ok, afterwards I walked around to the other side while more people got their books signed, so you see, I really was there (and looking like a dork, I might add). But it's just not quite the same.
(click to enlarge)
Lesson learned.
(click to enlarge)
(click to enlarge)
Edit
Someone posted a time-lapse video of today's signing:
Found myself at 0:47 in the video:
(click to enlarge)
