“Everyone has a plan: until they get punched in the face”
– Mike Tyson.
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In regard to the term “Graybelt”: one of my favorite quotes (incorrectly attributed to Albert Einstein) is the following: “If you do something long enough, you will become a genius at it.” Many years later, an author claimed the exact number is 10,000 hours. A Graybelt has spent many times that amount before retiring.
Our generation—those of us involved with technology since the early ’80s—lived through a time that will hopefully never be repeated. We were strongly encouraged to work 70 or 80 hours a week. Since there were no books or resources available about what we were doing, everything was trial and error. The only way to accomplish anything was to spend many hours on it. But we weren’t paid by our companies for those extra hours, and we were never compensated for whatever damage was done to our personal lives.
I came up with the term “Graybelt” from another area of my life. I was involved in martial arts for more than 25 years. In most martial arts, as a student advances, they receive different colored belts indicating seniority. Typically, the highest-ranking belt is black. In some martial arts, a black belt can be earned in a few years. In others, it can take five to ten years. As in any area of life, the belts might appear the same shade of black, but the two are not equal.
If you’re fortunate enough to work with a practitioner who has dedicated their life to martial arts, their belt is no longer truly black—it’s closer to gray. After many years of wear, the black fabric fades and the fibers begin to fray. The belt is no longer dark black.
I use the term Graybelt to mean someone who is beyond genius at a skill. I’m not using “gray” in the derogatory sense that American culture often uses to dismiss older people. As stated elsewhere, the tech industry has no respect for older practitioners. Years ago, I spoke with a young software engineer in his mid-20s. He hypothesized that older engineers likely “go down rabbit holes” and are slower at working with new technologies.
I’ve discussed the inner workings of the Reflex platform with several younger engineers, hoping to get some assistance. But invariably, the explanation requires so much time that I end up writing the entire thing myself. It was scoped for six different types of engineers.
I’m not that bright, but I am a Graybelt.
If you are interested in the back story, watch this video. This video was made during the pandemic, and I had Covid at the time. You can see my left hand holding my right arm, so I didn’t shake.
Reflex transforms static, paper-based incident response plans into fully customized mobile applications—instantly and seamlessly. By converting traditional text-based documents into dynamic, executable apps, Reflex ensures that every organization has a tailored response system that adapts to its specific needs. These mobile applications are automatically delivered to responders, wherever they are, without relying on outdated PDFs or inaccessible server-based documents. Reflex replaces fragmented, manual processes with a structured, intelligent system that ensures every team member has the most up-to-date plan at their fingertips.
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