2+2=5

I discovered an amazing new concept the other day. A radical re-combination of things I thought were fixed and immutable. Two ideas that I loved by themselves, things complete without any addition. Things so familiar to me that I never dreamt of change. Frankly, I never saw the need. These ideas when put together created something greater than the sum of the two. Something so shocking that my first reaction was blank incomprehension. That’s right, I’m talking about: Fried Chicken and Waffles

I’ll give you a minute to sit down and let it sink in. Dinner and breakfast in the same meal! Two memes that complement each other so completely they create a larger meme! Sweet and savory, fried and…baked? Fried? Oh I don’t care. I love them both. So finding a restaurant that serves two of my favorite foods on the same plate, well, that’s pretty special.

That’s the way it is sometimes. Ideas that by themselves are great, but that are somehow magnified when combined with another idea. Somehow by repackaging them together we create something greater. Something that works much better as a whole. Of course there are plenty of culinary examples: french fries and poutine, caramel and salt, bacon and…um…well…anything.

Of course we have similar concepts in the software world. There are folks that maintain that the combination of some development practices yields disproportionate benefits as well. For example, combining agile and DevOps. Rapid development techniques and tightly integrated operations. The two make a potent one-two punch that provides powerful benefits to companies bold enough to adopt them. It’s like fried chicken and waffles.