Pols Consulting

A wonderful article with some wise and amusing observations about software methodologies.

http://www.cs.queensu.ca/~dalamb/mice.html

Some agile people have started using the term best practices to describe what they do (such as pair programming, test first). There are a couple of problems with this.

Firstly, there is no such thing as a best practice! Practices always depend on a context. These practices are not best in all situations. Sometimes you may not need them; sometimes you’d be better off doing something else. People rarely place the best practice in a context.

Secondly it sends out a negative message; we’re the experts and you don’t know what you are doing. While this may be true, it is not the best way of motivating and inspiring people to change!

It turns out that principles are more important then practices for getting people to change. If people understand the principles behind something they are better placed to recognize which practices best fit their need and why a particular practice would be worth adopting.

A friend left some books at my place… This one caught my eye. Something opening with must be a good read:

When asked the question, what is consciousness? we become conscious of consciousness. And most of us take this consciousness of consciousness to be what conciousness is. this is not true.

The Origin of Consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind by Julian Jaynes.