I was enthusing about one of my favourite books “Como agua para chocolate” a novel infused with Magic Realism, written by Laura Esquivel, and released as a film, directed by Alfonso Arau, in 1992. Each of the twelve chapters (one for each month) starts with a recipe, and in the story, the emotional state of Tita, the main character, affects the food she prepares, magically conveying the emotions to those who eat the food. When the food was prepared with love, those consuming the food would be overwhelmed with love.

I found myself discussing what it might mean to do our work with love, and whether our emotional state might affect the resulting quality of the product of their labour.

I had some fun, trying to speculate about what it might mean to develop code “with love”, conscious of the fact that some folk have made a good living since the 1970s, trying to define exactly what Love is….

Here are those initial thoughts:

• To do it selflessly, not worrying about what others might think (either for self-promotion or worried you might get it wrong)
• To do it to the best of your ability whilst acknowledging with humility that you can always do better, and being receptive of those opportunities to get better
• To focus on it, engage all your senses in it and devote all the attention required to it
• To suffer for it, to do it tirelessly
• To know when not to do it and when, gracefully, to say no

How does that stack up for you? What do you think “Love is…”for your day job?