Projects and babies

Every time a developer finishes a project and hands it over, it happens to be the difficult period for a him/her. Why? Anxiety about your work? Is this project going to be successful? yeah. Will there be a need of modification? Will the modification too drastic so the design invalidates and I do not have face to show :( . Yeah that happens too. But the reason is more emotional than software engineering.  Yes we can argue whether software engineering is an art or science. Being an engineer, I always think that it is an art (Yes you always take opposite side just to check if you can defend it :D)

I am still in the phase that every project I do, I am emotionally attached to it. It just happens that that project becomes passion. You are thinking over it night and day. How to write the better code so that it will not break anytime. Doesn't it happen that you don't want to leave the work? Mostly because you yourself are so excited to see the project getting up to a certain stage. You are working extra hours without you yourself realizing that.  It becomes fun to work at 12:00 in the night and finish one part at least, so that you are ready to solve next puzzle in the project.  I have observed that when I am deep in the project, I am not too worried about what I am eating, driving or planning for weekend.  I do not need to listen to music to concentrate. I am not concerned if people are chatting around. I am in my own world. Gallup's concept of engagement is very well defined. I am most engaged when I understand what needs to be done, how to do because I have the capability to do it the best :) 

It just happened that every project I have worked for all these years, I have learned something new. Most of my projects at my office required me to experiment. With experiment, there is always an uncertainty. Many times, all requirements are not clear upfront, we take a shot in the dark but eventually every thing works out well and yes the project completes!!!!

Even though I am not a mother, but I think babies are also like this. Most of the mothers must not even realize how the times flies when they are around their babies.  They are thinking about well being of the baby all the time. Now I can understand what mothers feel when babies grow old and leave the house to start their own lives!!! 

But "The only constant thing in this world, is change", so we finally bid good bye and move on! Not always for the greener pasture but to something new.....