I've been quite distracted today by a fire at my former university (technical university Delft, the Netherlands). I studied there at the civil engineering faculty. My building was next to the architecture department's ("bouwkunde"). This morning that building caught fire. No casualties, but the building is a complete write-off. (Photo by praeseodymium )

In that picture there's one spot of visible fire. Three meters to the side and one floor down (approximately, I don't remember the very exact floor) was where I had the meeting with the chairman of my PhD committee. And another floor down was the office of one of my supervisors. Yuck. And the office next to hers and the one next to that: both PhD colleagues that I met quite often. Yuck. It comes pretty close that way.

It was only little more than a year ago that I was inside the building for some small conference...

Update: ok, those rooms that I mentioned: that part of the building just collapsed. You can see the dangling floorplates in this photo . Update 2: and there's a video of the collapse (after 40 seconds).

Tags: bouwkunde, tudelft

Two days ago was 15 January 2008. One year ago I defended my thesis and became a PhD. Hurray :-) Still happy with it.

Quite a load came off my shoulders that day: it was the final deadline of an (in my case) 5.5 year project. There's so much that to be done before that and at the end there are numerous deadlines (all the signatures of the professors by this date, all their comments on that date, the final copy has to go to the printer, etc). Quite a lot of stress. So many tasks disappeared out of my to-do list that day.   There are two loose ends I still have to tie up:

• My professor, Frits Tolman, invited me to work on a summary paper. I didn't   do much beyond brainstorming. In the mean time, another author has left the   university. I think I'd best shelve that for the moment.
• A former colleague, Kees Woestenenk, wrote an article with highly critical   comments on   my thesis. There are a lot of factual errors in that article, so any   rebuttal would be quite critical by consequence. I've made a start, but   stopped after a few pages: the content just wasn't positive. This is   something I'll have to finish off, though. Which I just   did .

In July, the last of the 7 Harry Potter books will see the light of day. Whether that is a blood red day because all filthy halfbloods have been murdered or a bright and sunny day as all major characters survived and all the bad guys/galls repented and got pardoned...

After reading the book, everyone's going to say "I always knew it would end this way". So I'm putting my predictions in writing beforehand :-)

• If she followes the line of the previous books, everything is going to continue to go darker and fouler all the time. So Voldemort ought to win and Harry potter ought to end up as the main dish. I do, however, predict that Harry (and his two closest friends) will survive.
• I really liked "Dumbledore's army". Those youngsters seemed to succeed quite well in holding their own agains some of the better of Voldemort's troops. They'll have a job to do in this book and they'll be quite a pain in Voldemort's backside.
• Prediction: Snape will be the hero after all. Hard to figure out with all the possible treason and possible counter-treason going on around him. Snape is one of the best wizards available. Dumbledore trusted him for a reason.
• I think we'll see a quite nice double effect from the twins. On the one side they'll provide a lot of comic relief. On the other side, they'll really be the arsenal of Dumbledore's army. They've practically already mechanised wizard warfare. You can now perform magical feats you couldn't otherwise do by buying them. Especially protection (=armour) against powerful spells. Now if they could only get Voldemort to eat that special cake that would turn him into a nice cuddly pink rabbit with green ears...

There, I've said it. Now it is up to reality to prove me wrong :-)

While I'm at it, let me link again to a great collection of Harry Potter drawings . If you liked the books, browse through them.

Hurray, after 6 years of work I got my PhD on 15 January 2007. Finally I'm done! There was a nice formal ceremony in which I had one hour to defend my thesis against 7 official opponents. Actually pretty funny to do, but very intensive. You've got to keep all your wits about you for one full hour.

That's also exactly one full hour, for after one hour you get a loud bang on the floor of the beadle (Dutch: pedel). That means you've got to keep talking while she looks at her watch as it is appreciated if you have to stop mid-sentence. I even had to stop mid-word, so that went OK :-)

There's a lot more to say, but I'll just link to the photos for now. A switch on the photo camera that was in the wrong position ruined about 80% of the photos, but there are enough left to give a good impression, luckily.

Loads of people have asked me "what I'm going to do now", mostly meaning whether I'm going to continue research or whether I'm going to look for a job now. Well, I'm simply continuing the work I've done for the last 1.5 years: Zest software . Building pretty elaborate websites and intranets (like milieudefensie , triple p , two philips intranets, etc.). For that, I'm working with the content management system Plone that I also used for many of the prototypes in my PhD thesis .

I've got permission (and encouragement) to continue to keep my eye out for opportunities in the building&construction industry. There's still a bit of prototype software lying around that I want to resurrect again as people found it useful and want to use it again. So I'll continue to dabble a bit in it, as it is a really interesting problem :-)

Background: for the first four years of my PhD, I worked part-time at STABU. The technical director at that time (he's now enjoying his well-earned pension) was Kees Woestenenk.

A few days ago, Kees send me some comments on my thesis ...because this thesis has so many inaccuracies that it might hinder other developments that are in progress. ... information that is available for academics and researchers should be reliable, which is not the case if they rely on the information in this thesis. Kees hopes that his comments can reduce the damage I'm doing with my thesis.

A thesis being discussed is way better than a thesis that is slowly gathering dust on some shelves. The academic world thrives on discussion and on the sharpening of ideas against eachother, so I was glad that Kees put his opinion on paper and circulated it to some members of my committee. He also agreed for it to be placed on the web, so that the IFD library webpage now has a link to my thesis and Kees' comments. Free publicity :-)

My summary: Kees' comment is that my research of existing developments (and specifically the STABU LexiCon) has many inaccuracies and plain errors. My conclusions about those developments are way too critical and don't take into account the amount of work that has been invested in those developments and standards. The new possibilities of the internet don't offer anything new over existing well-proven technologies like ISO-STEP. And it would have been better if I'd have done my research entirely within the existing structures and limited myself to some small improvement suggestions here and there.

Yes! The book is ready. I've mailed a lot of them on friday and today, on saturday. The last batch goes out on monday. Sweet taste of accomplishment. There's nothing like looking at 200 books when you've written it yourself.

Those 200 books go out frighteningly quick... I'll probably have only about 20 or so left after next monday's mailing and after deducting the few I need to give people myself.

The thesis defence date is 15 January 2007, that page also has all the info on locations and times.

Alea iacta est . Yesterday I send my final PDF files off to the printing shop for some quality printing time. No changes possible. Everything's fixed. 255 pages black/white with a full-colour cover. I've seen the printing proof and it looks pretty gorgeous :-) I'm printing 200 of 'em (luckily paid for by the university).

Pfew, that's a pretty big load of my back. What's left to do now:

• Collect all addresses so that I can send it out the minute I've got the load of boxes.
• Write a few letters for the ones I'm sending out that need an accompanying letter.
• Buy envelopes. The university won't pay for sending them out, so this will make a major cut in my budget. I'm glad that my employer, Zest software, immediately agreed to my proposal: you pay the postage for those theses that I'm sending to construction companies, building consultants, etc. here in the Netherlands. Provided I add a short note saying "hey, this thesis contains nice software ideas: me and the company I work for can build them for you". I like that, 'cause it gives my ideas a way better chance.
• Send off the whole load.

While working through a backlog of weblogs I found out that google maps now understands the file formats of Google earth .

In Google earth, it is quite easy to add locations to the map. I didn't want to hand-craft a html page with some javascript that gives google maps the correct instructions yet, so I tried it out . Succes!

So I immediately set out to create one with all the location, parking and route info for my thesis defence date. Real handy.

Woohoo! I've got them all! I'm allowed to print my thesis! 15 Januari 2007 14:30 is really really really the fixed date now!

Note: "ProZa" means "protocollaire zaken" which means the official protocoll office that steers the whole process. The dates below are the starting dates of the weeks, so there might be some slack. The slack cuts both ways, as committee members may provide their feedback on the last day of the ninth week, leaving me with less time to finish the thesis :-)

Minus 9: 13 November

By now, the promotion committee members should have send their approval to Proza and to my professor. Their approval can be conditional: they can also provide a list of desired changes and desired additions to the thesis. When I've got that, I've got about two weeks to include those changes.

Minus 7: 27 November

My propositions must have been approved by my professor and I've got to show her signature to Proza. And that's not all, my entire thesis as a whole needs the final signature.

Also the title page (which has to obey a few rules) needs approval by Proza.

Minus 3: 25 December

I've got to send out the printed thesis, including propositions. Also a meeting with ProZa is in order for a chat about how the day itself will play out. And I've got to start visiting the promotion committee members.

D-Day: 15 January

At about 14:30 a quick 15 minute simple explanation (lekepraatje) and the real work at 15:00, which means a one hour (exactly) defence of my thesis with the promotion committee as my opponents.

Hurray! I've got a new date for my PhD thesis defence: 15 January 2007. The concepts are off to the (7 person) committee and the clock is ticking now. Some of the upcoming steps:

• The committee members have a few weeks to read the thesis and to send me their official comments.
• I have to deal with those comments and, if applicable, fix up the thesis.
• I've got to scratch my head and come up with 10 propositions (Dutch: stellingen) and get them approved by my professor.
• The printing of the thesis has to be arranged.
• I've got to dig up addresses of people I want to send the thesis (if you're reading this and want the printed book, mail me ).
• Get final thesis clearance from my professor and print the thing.
• Send out the thesis.
• Arrange for a room for a reception afterwards.

And I probably forgot a few. Oh yeah, resurrect some software that was on the university server that was subsequently shut down.

Rajesh Setty says in Ways to distinguish yourself - #122 Overestimate people with potential minus experience that most people tend to underestimate the potential of someone they delegate to if that person is new at the job or if he doesn't have a lot of experience. So, effectively, you keep on delegating to the few persons that you know to have the capabilities.

In that conservative way, you can miss out on many capabilities other people could offer you. You can distinguish yourself by entrusting a new person with a big or difficult task. But do expect a lot form them:

How much a person accomplishes during their dance with the "first experience" is directly proportional to the "amount" of expectations that is placed on that person. If you want to get the best out of these people, best is to "overestimate" what they can do. That will make them stretch and reach beyond what they could do if the expectations were "normal" or "watered down."

For my masters thesis, I was asked to attend the first three-day meeting of the EU research project eConstruct, which was held just 5 minutes walk from the university. My professort had started the project, but got tired quickly, so he left half of the meeting to me. Afterwards I told him that the next meeting was going to be in Nice, France. "I'm not going there, too much travel. You can go in my stead. Oh, did I tell you you're working fulltime as a full member on that project from now on?"

So I got dumped in the deep part of the swimming pool. At a moment when I didn't understand at least half of the acronyms they used in the project. But I was expected to do a full, good job of it.

It worked out real well, allowing me start my PhD (pdf) during the project, learing a lot of things and generally raising my confidence, my experience and my prospects! Thanks a lot, Frits Tolman (the professor)! It sure was hard work, learning to swim that way, but it was fun.

Unlike mentioned previously, 8 February wasn't that solid a date after all.

The first step I'm awaiting a few last small fix-suggestions to the concept before sending it out to the committee was the problem: the professor that gave the signature that it was OK for sending it to the committee still has not given me the last corrections and also told me it wasn't OK to send it out as-is (despite signing for it).

And no word from the prof for two months. With the deadline for sending it to the committee long past. It's all mildly irritating, to be frank. I thought to be on a fixed heading for early 2006, but this 'll give me another few months delay.

Update: 2 Februari I'll have a meeting to talk through the last set of changes. The process is under steam again :-)

Yes, I have a final date for my PhD thesis defence: wednesday 8 February 2006 at 10:30!

What has to happen now:

• I'm awaiting a few last small fix-suggestions to the concept before sending it out to the committee.
• The committee will read it and send in suggestions for change that I'll have to put in.
• Some/most of the professors will want to speak with me in person beforehand to get a better idea whether I'm any good :-)
• Printing the thesis.
• The final thesis defence with all the acadamic black dresses and so. I'm actually looking forward to that 1 hour of questioning!

Update: postponed

I'll have to start mailing my committee members whether they can come on that date, but 31 Januari 2006 is the preliminary date for my PhD thesis defense :-)

So expect a date around that date. Perhaps a week later. I don't know how flexible/full everyone's diary is.

update: next try: wednesday 8 February, 10:30. (yes, 8 february it is!)

I've just send out a completely finished copy of my thesis to the professor that needs to put the official signature on the form that gets me to the next stage (prom3, for those that know)! My day-to-day professor (Frits Tolman) says it's good enough.

During the last weeks I upgraded the conclusions, the final "main" chapter and the summary, added a Dutch summary, added illustrations, got the layout right and handled all the small things. So, this is the first time I can really say "it's finished". There'll be additional comments that I need to handle, but still.

Anxiously awaiting how soon I'll get that signature... Really hoping for it!

Update: Yes, I can go and get the signature tomorrow!

I google a lot for my PhD thesis, especially now that I'm filling up the last chapter with some illustrations. Pictures of overpasses, stakeholder meetings, CAD applications, etcetera.

When I'm using photos, I try to give credit to the photographer. At the least I mention the website where I got the photo from. When I can simply find out the photographer, I ask him if it's OK to include the photo.

I got a nice surprise when asking for permission for a photo taken from pagowirense.nl : the photographer send me a high resolution version :-)

Thanks, Jan-Simon! Yep, a nice surprise.

I gave almost-done versions of my PhD thesis to some friends and collegues; the package included a nice, red pen to make sure everybody would dare to mess up the nicely printed version with comments, strikethroughs, etcetera. I just got the first one back, right before the weekend, so I spend the saturday going through my thesis, seeing what could be improved. Some valuable things Marco spotted:

• I relented and added Initial Capitals for acronyms. So it's "Building Information Model (BIM)" instead of "building information model (BIM)". I dislike capital letters: they seem to mess up my sentences, they don't look nice. But in many cases it is not clear when something is an acronym, so I'm now printing everything consistently with Capital Letters.

  I'm really happy at the moment that I'm using the LaTeX product acronym to automatically handle acronyms. I just type \ac{BIM} and the first occurrence in a chapter is spelled out "Building Information Model (BIM)", subsequent mentionings are just "BIM". And "BIM" not in huge capital letters, but a bit smaller which looks much nicer typographically. And at the end of the thesis I get a nice list of all acronyms with an optional additional explanation.

  Doing it with LaTeX this way makes it way easier to change things afterwards, like capitalising all acronyms: I just have to change it in one place :-)

• Related: being much more consistent with acronyms. There's one acronym ("Building-Construction", as a term for the building and construction industry) that I use a lot, but I neglected to consistently make an acronym out of it. In the end, it is that much less confusing to just have it regularly abbreviated "BC". I'm throwing in an occasional \acf{BC} to get a full acronym ("Building-Construction (BC)") now and then, though.
• Spotting sentences that just don't flow right. Having somebody else read it seems to be the only reliable way to flush 'em out :-)
• Reality check regarding terminology. Somewhere I wrote "mozilla", meaning a browser. But "mozilla" is decidedly less known than "internet explorer" or "netscape". In the end, I chose to use "firefox or internet explorer". I'm not going to mention "internet explorer" on it's own: that bugger has to be kept under a watchful eye from something more modern and standards-compliant !
• You get some additional ideas, some additional angles to explore. That means an additional time investment, but if somebody mentions another possible source expicitly (twice), it's worth it (90% certainty).
• Luckily, he didn't find (m)any plain spelling errors. I'm reading a lot of English books, so I manage to write pretty error-free. What errors remain are catched by subsequent re-reads. There are some common errors ("fulfills" instead of "fulfils"), but I catch those with a spelling checker.

I bought a book about English grammar and writing last week which seems pretty solid, so I'll probably end up ripping out sentences every two pages or so next week :-)

Writing, writing, writing. I'm now at 150 pages, probably 170 when I'm finished adding screenshots, a bibliography and so on. That pagecount is starting to get a bit high to my liking, so I won't mind it if my professor scraps some parts.

I thought I'd share two tips/routines that have been helping me:

Cooking timer

Get yourself a cooking timer (kookwekker) and, before you start on something, estimate how long it 'll take. Ok, brainstorming part of a chapter should take 15 minutes; when the clock goes off after 15 minutes I think either "almost done, great", "ouch, I need another 10 minutes" or "thanks for the warning, I've been reading weblogs instead of working". So in every case, you get handy feedback.

Setting a cooking timer also helps in improving your estimation of how long things take. At the moment I'm still grossly underestimating, though it gets better. Perhaps I've got to start using eXtreme Programming's method of estimating: if I was off by a factor of two last time, I'm now going to multiply my estimate with a factor of two right away.

Whiteboard mindmapping

I admit, I'm in love with whiteboards. When we moved into our current house 2.5 years ago, I allocated place for a decent whiteboard. And a pretty big one at that. Oh, the next time you're looking for whiteboard markers, take the RotRing xonox multiboard ones, which don't run dry as most markers do (which irritates me).

Ok, writing. When I need to write part of a chapter, I spend 15 minutes (estimate=15, real=30min) mindmapping the section's contents. When finished, I put numbers next to the main items to indicate the order in which to put them. After that, I sit down behind the computer and start typing. When I've finished a part, I wipe the corresponding area on my whiteboard clean, which gives you both a sense of completion and a visual feedback on the amount of work still to be done.

It surprises me how such an exercise can product some two or three additional pages for my thesis. Just keep this up for enough days and suddenly you've got an extra 50 pages (provided you spend the previous four years obtaining enough knowledge and experience). Having a good prof that drops a few hints here and there ("add this, this and this and it starts to look like something") helps: I use hints like that as mindmapping-input.

Just a quick note: I don't do my mindmapping as elaborate as on the page linked above. I'm just starting in the middle and branch out in a radial pattern to the sides. In one color. The numbering I add at the end is in a different color, though.

I did print that page, however, to see if the more elaborate approach gives me better results. I have four marker colors :-)

Pffff. Almost 5 o' clock in the night around here... Going to bed now. Night's definitively a good time to work, but I'm stopping this madness in january. Time to go to bed on times when I don't get an instant reaction on an email send to an ex-collegue now living in Australia (for me: exactly the other side of the world).

But: my dissertation is coming along better than expected. Some work to be done on chapter 4 (80% done), but 1, 2, 3 and 5, 6 are 95% done. That leaves chapters 7 and 8. Chapter 7 is a description of my python programming and REST-web-services+rdf+owl stuff, some 60% done I guess. Chapter 8 contains my two cases. One is done, the other needs some fake screenshots pronto and some serious implementation in january/february. Lets put that one at 40%.

So: one chapter that I can tackle fridaymorning when I awake or saturday evening (when we're back from visiting Annie's family on new year's eve). And two half-done. That's not bad!

My professor will probably sign The Document early january, which entitles me to the right to send the dissertation out to six other professors (for comments) and to give my final talk some three months later. So, sounds like april to me.

Can't believe I'm almost finished. Also can't believe the horrendeous amount of work I did last month-and-a-half. Also can't believe Annie didn't butcher me... I owe you a lot, Annie!

update: I forgot to mention the "small things". One of the few comments of my professor on my writing style was that I write too many words. For instance, a lot of "the"s can be scrapped.

Woohoo, the carnage! Utter devestation! I walked through chapters 1 till 3 and killed off half of the "the"s. Yes, that makes for better sentences, they're much more direct.