From Chapter 6 of the Rule of St. Benedict:
Let us do what the Prophet says:Given this teaching and the profound respect I have for Benedictine monasticism, from which this quote comes, why am I blogging at all? If I'm going to blog, why pick Benedictine monasticism and the work of software development, which seem to have practically nothing to do with each other? And why now?
"I said, 'I will guard my ways,
that I may not sin with my tongue.
I have set a guard to my mouth.'
I was mute and was humbled,
and kept silence even from good things" (Ps. 38[39]:2-3).
Here the Prophet shows that if the spirit of silence ought to lead us at times to refrain even from good speech, so much the more ought the punishment for sin make us avoid evil words.
Therefore, since the spirit of silence is so important, permission to speak should rarely be granted even to perfect disciples, even though it be for good, holy edifying conversation; for it is written,
"In much speaking you will not escape sin" (Prov. 10:19),
and in another place,
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Prov. 18:21).
Let me start with the easiest of those questions.
Why now?
There are a really just two reasons.
First, this will be published Tuesday in the first week of new year, and I like the symbolism of starting a new thing bright and early in a new year. No, I don't mean this will be published January 3rd, 2017. The church year begins with the first Sunday of Advent, which this year falls on November 27th, 2016. Whatever else I am, I am a very churchy software developer and little things like following the church calendar make me happy. You don't have to like it; it's just the place I'm coming from.
Second, as part of my continuing education and professional development I recently took a course from the Simple Programmer about how to use a blog to build a personal brand and keep growing professionally. If you want to try the course yourself feel free to check it out. John Sonmez, who runs Simple Programmer has a lot of good things to say, and is probably saying them from a much more straight-forward place than I will be. Neither John nor the course share any particularly secret bits of wisdom, but only because the "secrets" of how to be successful are actually widely known and widely not practiced. On the plus side for me, the course was the kick in the pants I needed to start blogging again, and it may do the same for you. Listening to John and following his advice won't make you a world-famous millionaire unless you catch an extraordinary lucky break, but it will leave you with a firm footing in the skills required to be reasonably successful in software development without having to count on such insanely good luck. Also, keep in mind that most software developers migrate out of software development over the years for a variety of reasons, and John's advice is likely to stand you in a good stead anywhere you end up going. If you're not interested in signing up for a multi-week, free (when I took it) email course on how to blog successfully as a software developer you can get a heck of a lot of what John has to say from the Simple Programmer blog or by checking out his interviews on .Net Rocks (here, here, and here). While you're there check out all the other fascinating people sharing their work with Carl and Richard.
Why this pair of topics?
Because these are perhaps the two most central facets of who I am today, and I see no reason to live a bifurcated life with the religious parts in one compartment and the software developer parts in a completely separate compartment.
For those of you who don't know, I was in residence as a monk with the Order of Julian of Norwich for two and half years, and those years were some of the happiest of my life. I am no longer with the Order because I felt called to be more engaged with the outside world than is possible for a cloistered, contemplative monk. Before that I had spent a decade or more working in the church in one capacity or another, practically all unpaid. After spending close to two years mourning my inability to get my living through church-work, I finally found my way into software development, thanks in large part to my brother, who preceded me in the profession. After doing the hard work of learning how to write software, I find I love the problem-solving and building that are so central to the what software developers do, although the good pay also helps keep me in the profession.
Besides intersecting in me, there's a lot developers can learn from a nearly 2000 year old tradition that has always been focused on how to improve oneself as much and as quickly as possible, and on how to cope with the many challenges that confront each human being in life. The same is true of Stoicism and Buddhism, but I am neither so you'll have to go elsewhere for that perspective.
Why not keep silent as the Rule seems to demand? It's not like anyone will be listening when this is first posted.
The truth is that I could keep silent. I could keep my head down and focus on doing what I'm paid to do during the work day and then come home to my loving family and just take care of family responsibilities. It could even be a vey happy life, but doing so would limit my professional options even more than being completely self-taught does. It would also prevent me from being of use to the broader developer community; something anathema to the communitarian ethos of Benedictine monasticism. I may never be a world-famous developer, or even world-famous in Poland so to speak, but I have a duty to give back to my community and it would be a pleasure if I can give back from those parts of my life that give me the deepest joy.
Because the intersection between software development and monasticism is more in the arena of life-hacks than algorithms and data structures most of what comes across this page each week will probably be of more use for those interested in ALM and Agile, but there will probably be times when the nitty-gritty of actually developing apps comes to the fore; there are certainly a few tasks peculiar to churches and religious folks that could benefit from automation. Benedictine monks are also notorious (among those who know) for their love for preserving old things, so perhaps I will even reflect a bit on what monasticism can teach about coping with legacy applications.
And if this isn't how the community needs me to give back, it will still be one more step along the broken road leading me to the places I can best be of service to my community.
The quotation from the Rule of St. Benedict is from Saint Benedict's Rule for Monasteries, translated from the Latin by Leonard J. Doyle OblSB, of Saint John's Abbey, (© Copyright 1948, 2001, by the Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, MN 56321). A full copy of this translation can be found at osb.org.
