As a follow-up to my six non-IT books here are five videos I have found some inspiration from recently (plus one that whilst cannot be described as inspirational is at least amusing in a vaguely nerdy programmer kind of way):

1. Steve Jobs (A CEO): How to Live Before You Die Steve Jobs steps out from his usual Apple presentation mode and delivers this keynote to students at Stanford. He highlights three things which have had a major impact on his life and how important it is to learn from such life experiences.
2. Winston Royce (A Methodologist): The Rise and Fall of Waterfall Not actually by Winston Royce but a humorous look at how we ended up with waterfall. An example of how to get a point across by telling a story (and using wonderfully simple graphics).
3. Grady Booch (A Software Architect): The Promise, The Limits, The Beauty of Software Grady is an inspirational speaker on all things software related. We were lucky enough to get him to write the forword to our book (which I’m sure has done its sales the world of good).
4. Sir Ken Robinson (An Innovator and Educationalist): Do Schools Kill Creativity SKR (as he calls himself on his website) has some strong views on how our present education system is letting down youngsters.For a great rendition of another of Sir Ken’s talks see here.
5. David Eustace (A Photographer): In Search of Eustace Nothing to do with IT but related to one of my other passions. This simple and beautifully filmed video set to music will resonate with anyone on life’s journey.

And finally…

1. Lady Gaga (A Singer) Lookalike: Sings About Java Programming An example of how creativity (the video production) can be used to improve even the worst ideas (the song). What else can I say!