August 2008 Archives

In computer technology, there are always problems to be solved, and it is reckless to ignore your "elders" when approaching a set of problems.

A nice strategy is to identify the most popular strategies for working with the problem set and to then search for the "primary expert".  For example, if the problem set is using computers to produce beautiful documents, you'll find strategies like Quark and TeX.  If you look at TeX closely, you find that Don Knuth is the primary expert.  If you burrow into Knuth for a while, you will be able to approach the problem set from an enlightened perspective.

I think this strategy of finding the primary experts would work for any problem set where a large number of people have tackled the problem.  It might be the most efficient way to avoid past mistakes.

But it is possible to generalize the idea and benefit from all experts, not just the primary ones, and to respect the expertise of everybody.  I'm still working on that.

I haven't gotten used to it completely, but I am often relieved to avoid a terrible faux pas, overreaction, or inappropriate response when I take a step back before clicking "send" on an email.

In general, thinking twice before speaking (when I remember to do it!) has made me more considerate and my speech more appropriate.  The trick is to consider other perspectives and to consider how I might be wrong in that moment before committing to hasty speech.