About Robert Watkins

My name is Robert Watkins. I am a software developer and have been for over 15 years now. I currently work for Wotif.com, but my opinions here are in no way endorsed by them (which is cool; their opinions aren’t endorsed by me either). My main professional interests are in Java development, using Agile methods, with a historical focus on building web based applications. I’m also a Mac-fan and love my iPhone, which I’m currently learning how to code for. I started this blog as a sort of public professional notebook, and it is mostly devoted to my professional interests. That said, I do have the occasional opinionated rant on other things, but if you steer clear of the “General” category, you should be able to avoid them. I live and work in Brisbane, Australia, but I grew up in the Northern Territory, and still find Brisbane too cold (after 14 years here). I’m married, with two children and one cat. My politics are socialist in tendency, my religious affiliation is atheist (aka “none of the above”), my attitude is condescending and my moral standing is lying down. The name of the blog comes from a one liner I posted ages ago to the XP mailing list. It reflects an attitude that software development is a very expensive process, and cutting corners by trying to do things cheaply will merely result in a lot of waste. I have a picture in my mind about a table, with one corner cut so deeply that the leg has been chopped off. I’ve used that line as my email signature for almost ten years, so it was a natural title for my profession-related blog. The name of the site is an anagram on my surname.