For my Queens Birthday weekend, I spent the public holiday building a wooden bookshelf for Jacob. Software developers like to compare building software to different things, like building bridges or houses, but building a bookshelf really felt like a small software project to me.
I had a customer (wife) who had a vision, “build a bookshelf” and I had a time frame “now”. I spent a few days getting the needs the bookshelf was solving, the maximum space constraints and the general aesthetics of the desired result.
Michaela went past a hardware shop to spec wood, and I designed the result to get the lengths of wood required. Which were then purchased. I then wrote a wood cutting plan, so I knew how to cut the 2.4 meter lengths to get the correct parts.
So then came build day Monday, 3 hours of mitre box cutting and jig sawing, the build could begin.
All along the way small refinements to the design were made. With the customer representative present quick decision were made.
Just in time for the children’s bedtime, the project was complete.
