Uncategorized

More Why I Love MediaWiki and Process Control

2013-04-04

I hate making mistakes.  I know they happen and are sometimes inevitable.  That doesn’t mean I’m going to make the same one twice if I can help it.  Instead of kicking myself I look at the mistake as a lesson I’m being taught – provided I’m smart enough to recognize what the lesson is.  That’s why I set up my Wiki – to document how things should be done so that it never happens again.

My Private Wiki grows daily. It’s a clone of MediaWiki, the same system that runs Wikipedia.  My top level menu now contains:

  • Business Plan (eye on the prize)
  • Roles (who does what)
  • Tools (equipment and how to use it)
  • Materials (consumables like wood & ABS)
  • Processes (how to do things)
  • Event triggers (things that happen and how to deal with them)
  • Holidays & Major Events (to set up sales and such)
  • Blue Sky (future projects)

Today I added “Event Triggers” to that menu.  Event Triggers are “when a thing happens deal with it like this.”  When a bill arrives, this is the right way to pay it.  When a package arrives, this is how you file the contents and update the shop.

Already my brain is boiling with ideas: I’m thinking I might add event triggers to specific sub-pages, like “events that only matter to 3D printing”. As a programmer I can’t help wondering if processes will eventually be consumed by event triggers and everything will be a “if this then that” clause. Maybe soon I’ll have a “main loop” for daily activities.  How much of this can I document, and then how much can I automate?  I’ve already got event triggers that trigger other events.  Will there be a recursive loop?  Do I need try/catch blocks?  Can a company SEGFAULT!?

I’m reminded very much of a book I read not so long ago about a guy who created companies that ran on computers and their only job was to serve as legal structures to screw with music companies.  Doctorow?  Stross?  Tip of my tongue.

William, on of my new favorite-est VHS members, once said to me “an accident is always three mistakes”.  Three lessons in one and all it costs is a risk of serious injury or death.  Woo hoo?