Sorry but I have to respectfully disagree.
The restriction on syllable counts is largely a myth, probably caused by poor translation from the original Japanese. Instead of 5-7-5 you could do 4-6-5 or even 1-7-4. The biggest dependency is that it have a sort of explosion of meaning at the end (often referred to as an "Aha!")
There are other strictures of varying importance (A "season" word in the first line, the "cut" word, etc) but what I take as the very biggest is that it should not simply be a single sentence split up into lines of the right syllable count. At least one of the lines should be a separate thought, preferably one that changes the meaning of the others.
Really good haiku makes you stop and think for a second (or more). Done well, it's a very powerful form. But to really get it, you have to get beyond the syllable counting nonsense.
I've read about this discourse on Haiku syllables as well, @irvingprime. For the sake of this exercise I wanted to work within the 5-7-5 syllable structure for the challenge of it. You bring up a good point about the "Aha" moment at the end, all good haiku have this element. I mainly use the form as a writing exercise. I've found if you do this enough you become much better at expressing your ideas in a more condensed way, with less words.
You are absolutely correct about haiku helping to learn to "condense" expression. It is very good practice for distilling thoughts down.