Starting a new blog...

I have decided to take some time to start a new blog. My goal of setting up this space is to allow me to conver topics that I find generally interesting and more importantly to give me a place to simply write things down. I hope that anyone that comes to take a look at this space have the opportunity to learn something new or to think about a problem they may be attempting to solve from a new perspective.

The first question you may ask is why “theorize” for the name of this site? Simply put, while I ultimately need to grounding my thoughts in practical solutions I find that taking time to think outside the box (sometimes way outside the box) is key to remaining creative. While I often hear calls for approaching problems with a “‘beginners mind”’ or from “‘first principles”’ it is important to recognize that this does not imply beginning a problem as though it has never been approached (that simply leads to a tendancy with a Not Invented Here attitude) but instead I find it much more important to take the time to understand WHY problems are approached the way that they are. In other words, it is important to understand the theory behind solutions (WHY solutions work the way that they do). We should appreciate all of the solutions that already exist around us and be willing to question solutions when prior assumptions may no longer hold true. To this end I like to approach software like other scientific disciplines in which we can propose a theory (or state a hypothesis) and use our daily work to continuously refine our understanding.