It appears to be a permanent part of the human condition that long term deadlines without short term milestones are rarely met.

Joel Spolsky, in an essay on student computer science projects, which has much wider interest and implications.

The more you think things through first from someone else’s perspective, the simpler the solution you create will be.  It is understanding the complexity of a problem that creates a simple solution not technology.  Technology is just another crutch of “lets do something” providing options to solving problems, that don’t need solving.  These problems would be better solved through the simple power of thought.

Markus Smet

Responses

  1. That second quote rings many bells for me. There is a tendency to gravitate towards technology as the answer to all problems, and then try to find out how it can be shoe-horned into the problem. The old “solution looking for a problem” syndrome is prevalent in modern society.

    However, knowledge of all aspects of the solution space (technology included) increases the probability of a person having one of those “eureka” moments where the various parts of the jigsaw suddenly fall into place. Ignorance of technology is as dangerous as hero worship, but knowledge of technology must be balanced with commercial, political and social awareness to avoid bias.

    Regards
    Jon H Ayre
    The Enterprising Architect

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