From: David Masover <ninja@...>
Date: 2009-10-03T09:18:08+09:00
Subject: Re: Exceptional Rails Developer

On Friday 02 October 2009 07:15:36 am Aldric Giacomoni wrote:
> > As an obsessive problem solver myself this baffles me, but it seems to
> > be the normal human condition. The moral of the story being, there's
> > no place for normal human beings in software development ;)
>
> I've come to accept that "How does this work?" is not the first question
> that most people ask. Usually, the first thing people say is "I want to
> do this". The difference in mindset is astounding :)

I wish I had people like that.

Usually, the "I want to do this" already assumes a particular way that it 
should work. No one ever asks "I want to send mail to a list of people on a 
regular basis. What's the best way to do that?"

No, they ask "I want to do mail merge using Outlook and Excel. What's the best 
way to do that?"

That immediately cuts off what is truly the best way, which starts with,
"Don't use Outlook or Excel."

I'd much rather have people who start at the level of abstraction they 
actually need, and let me work out the details. As they say, there's nothing 
more dangerous than a little knowledge.