Financial markets continue to plummet. Apparently. I had no idea until someone mentioned it. I've been avoiding all info about markets and financial turmoil, though I didn't realize how out of it I had become.
Which is odd because all my life I've preached that coders should deeply follow what's going on in the world of our users, which in our case is the financial markets. It's a requirement for being effective.
I guess this proves, once again, the wisdom of the old adage, "There's an exception for every rule."
I followed the previous meltdown, late 2008 through early 2009, intensely. My workload was pretty light those days, so I had plenty of time to read everything about events as they unfolded. On the day before the unveiling of TARP, I felt genuine fear for perhaps the only time in my adult life.
As a result, my productivity plummeted. For months after things leveled off and things returned to normal, I struggled to regain my balance. I had developed bad habits. (First thing to do when arriving at work: catch up on all the financial blogs!)
I don't want to be trapped in that hole again, so I learned to ignore the daily ups and downs, and maintain a narrower focus.
And I was reminded that even immutable requirements need to be open to re-evaluation.
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