Kenya Day 2 (29/8) - A personal view of Mombasa and why maintenance is important
It was a great day today, that started with an interesting and encouraging meeting with a phenomenal business person in Mombasa. Combined with the friendliness of the Kenyans, the beauty of the coastline and the relaxing environment at the Voyager beach resort, the day promised to be a memorable one. Unfortunately a frustrating incident at dinner, where my friend's handbag suddenly "wandered off", made me realise that wherever we go, we have to watch out for the few individuals who show little respect for others. Fortunately the wandering handbag was noticed in time ... what frustrates me, however, and will probably keep me awake is that I did not notice a thing while watching the musical show, instead of keeping an eye on my friend and her possessions.
Let me try and focus on today's blog post theme for 5 minutes at least ...
(Voyager Resort)
Having been to central Africa in 1989, visiting Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Zaire (in those days, today known as Congo again) I was interested to see what, if anything, has changed in the region. The people are as friendly and diverse as in the past, the country as interesting and different at every street corner, while the taxi ride from the Voyager beach resort to town reminded me of journey's through Burundi and Rwanda.
(Ocean view in Mombasa)
So why is maintenance important? Firstly, I have the greatest respect for IT specialists who are maintaining solutions as part of their daily routines. While the design, development and testing of new solutions appears far more exciting and rewarding, the maintenance of a fully functional and complete solution is, in my humble opinion, far more important and challenging than creating something new. The ecosystem, its maturity and entrepreneurial is often more visible in existing solutions and the maintenance thereof, than is commonly thought.
(Mombasa)
Going back to the world of planes ...
If you fly in a plane looking older than yourself ... and I am not the youngest ... with tape appearing to keep the wings in place, would you feel comfortable and eager to fly with the same airline's latest fleet, or would you associate the entire fleet's competence on the one scary flight you endured?
I would definitely switch airlines, no matter what, because if the maintenance on one part of the fleet is questionable, what guarantees are there that the other fleet areas are maintained properly? First impressions last and it is scary how evident this concept is in the world of flying, in cities, in countries ... basically in any type of ecosystem/solution.
It is easier and far more cost effective to properly maintain an existing solution, whether it is a plane, a building, a road or am IT solution, than having to re-create/re-develop the solution when solution finally crashes, collapses or otherwise fails disasterously due to lack of maintenance. It is such an evident concept, yet we still see solutions and infrastructure of individuals, companies, even countries deteriorate ... it is difficult to understand.
Again many solutions, including Team Foundation Server (TFS) give us guidance and support in the complete software development lifecycle, including maintenance.
Therefore, if you are a maintenance developer or support engineer, you have my full admiration and respect. Your efforts, professionalism 
and sheer endurance is giving our teams and company its public facade, its reputation and success.
The core list of principles after day 2 is:
- Implement, adopt and use a suitable SDLC process to guide and support, not enforce.
- Strive for simplicity throughout.
- Implement a regular build process.
- Maintain the investment and present a professional facade.
Happy maintenance ...