RE: Moving on

So said  STEURS Stefan  on  2003-01-06 --------------------

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: J. B. Rainsberger [mailto:[email protected]]
>> Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2002 9:11 PM
>> To: [email protected]
>> Subject: RE: [XC] Moving on
>> 
>> In a way, yes. I do not build software in a test tube. 
>> Academic studies may help answer the question, "How does this 
>> work?" They may answer the question, "Why does this work?" 
>> But they cannot answer the simpler and more important 
>> question, "Does this work?" Only real-life experience can 
>> answer that question.
>
>A:Don't touch the furnace, it is hot.
>A:Don't touch it.
>B:Ouch.
>A:I told you not to touch it.  I guess you learnt?

I don't understand this. I suppose you misunderstood me. My paragraph above is meant to indicate that experience reports from real-life XP teams ought to be valued over academic studies on XP when trying to answer the question, "Does XP work?" In your little dialog, I envision "B" asking, "Can you tell me exactly how hot the furnace is, then cross-reference that with the average heat resistence (in degrees) of the human hand? If I see that the one is higher than the other, then I'll be sure not to touch the furnace."

"A" replies, "Look, I touched the furnace and it hurt. I'm certain it'll hurt you, too."

Why won't "B" listen to that simple statement?

>I don't belief so much in real-life experience at least not for those
>aspects in which cause and effect are not that easily linked.
>I think that test tubes and academic studies help in the sense that they
>have controlled contexts in which it is easier to establish the links
>between causes and effects.

I don't see how that helps. Academic studies cannot prove anything useful unless it proves extremes. XP is about programming as a social enterprise. Isolating useful variables in that environment is staggeringly difficult. Why not then just look at the people doing it, ask questions and actually listen to the answers, even if they're unexpected?

>So, if we have contexts that can be transposed then we may have value from
>test tube and academic studies.

I believe that the hypothesis is shaky, at best, in this case.

>"People who want to believe are easily fooled"

Perhaps, but people who don't listen never learn.


J. B. Rainsberger,
President, Diaspar Software Services
Let's write software that people understand.
http://www.diasparsoftware.com/
telephone: +1 416 791-8603
All correspondence (c) 2002 Diaspar Software Services.
If you want to use it, just ask; don't steal.



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