New parents try and develop an algorithm to handle the unexpected events that surround them with the birth of their son.

1. Lessons for a father - The Algorithm
We were blessed with a beautiful son a few months ago.
Like many parents, our intention was to be able to create a
process and enable our new-born to follow it. Diaper
change at 8:15 pm, milk at 8:25 pm and so on and so
forth. Like almost all parents, we realized, soon enough,
that our best laid plans are usually answered with smiles,
tears or sleep. The sense of randomness finds it hard to
get accepted in a household being run by two über-geeks.
Then it hit us. We were being taught a very important
lesson.
No matter how hard we tried to maintain balance and
control change, there will always be a case of "the
unknown". Being a good parent (or being anything really)
is more about dealing with what you do not know or expect
rather that what you are good at. Our toddler may or may
not wake up in the middle of the night; he may or may not
find it easy to adjust at daycare; we would have to make
and implement decisions based on the outcome of such
situations.
As an extension, we also realized that the same holds true
for just about anything in our professional lives as well.
That particular server (or database or switch) that we are
so dependent on may or may not work as expected
tomorrow. The network that allows us the freedom to be
virtually anywhere in the world (and allow me to write this)
may be down. Our behavior is determined, more often

2. than not, by situations that, as scary as it sounds, are a bit
out of our control.
What do we do then?
How do, solution and structure obsessed people like us,
deal with a variable in an equation that almost always
craves to be balanced?
We did what we do best. We created an algorithm. Here is
our way of doing it:
1. Be ready for a random and unexpected event.
2. Stop wishing for complete control. You will never get
it.
3. Involve ONLY those people that can offer tangible
help.
4. Keep the communication going, maybe even go over
the top with keeping people in the loop.
5. Create a backup structure (in our case, if I am too
tired to be potentially awake during the entire night,
we make sure my wife goes to bed earlier than usual
to be available during the wee hours of the morning
so I can sleep for a few hours before going to work
with her).
6. Whatever you do, do NOT panic! That never helps
and will probably make the situation worse.
7. This is the hardest of it all: A part of the solution will
be based on 2 words: Hope and Conviction.