Life is about trade-offs.

Thinking of things as black boxes makes it easier to bring someone to the point where they can be productive, and makes development far easier.

Knowing what is inside the box allows you to solve obscure problems when they arise.

The vast majority of the time, thinking in terms of black boxes saves you time and energy. I agree that it can be worth it to learn how the box works a bit, though, because when it goes wrong it can be very useful to know that. But the payoff doesn't come that frequently, and often isn't all that large. Besides as long as someone on your team knows, and you know who to delegate to when confused, the effect isn't all that different from actually knowing it yourself. (Except that the other person gets the credit. Also ignore this if you don't work in a team.)

Perhaps what I'm saying is that while in an ideal world we would all know everything about every topic, in the real one we can't expect to. So learn what you can, make black boxes of many things, and fill in some of your ignorance as time and opportunity present themselves. But accept that there will be ignorance.

In reply to Re: Bitten by the worst case (or why it pays to know whats inside the black box) by tilly
in thread Bitten by the worst case (or why it pays to know whats inside the black box) by demerphq

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