Thank you for your consideration.
The response about my generalisation is a fair cop. I could have been more specific. However, I wasn't able to get my head around addressing the whole readership. Your comments about the type of work that Perl programmers engage in and their maturity is exactly to the point.
Over the years, one of the things that I have appreciated about the Perl community is its culture. In a very real sense, Perl seems to attract people who are literate in the broadest sense of the word. They appreciate independence of thought and often think "sideways" about issues. However, being very much an "accidental programmer", I cannot say that I have always fully appreciated the community's humour or mind-set; but, that is a matter of my not always "understanding" the idiom.
Yes, I think that the open source dimension is important and comes before the explicitness of other movements. Or, I like to think that. However, not all consumers believe that.
In my own field, I have tried to use these same principles in terms of research and public health practice. I find that such principles work well with the various communities that we engage. However, funding bodies and bureaucracies have a hard time with the fact that participatory action research creates answers to problems right here and now and that it can incrementally move situation-based solutions into larger areas of concern.
Since this involves much less advanced "heavy planning" and many more iterative processes focused on communication and interaction between various stakeholders, they often do not know what to make of it. I personally doubt you can manage for certainty without imposing a heavy cost on the people you are working with; but, you can manage to move through uncertainty. We have been very successful in achieving end results that satisfy our immediate partners. Its the more abstracted or bureaucratic audience that remains unconvinced.
My hope has been that extreme and agile programming processes might provide some concrete examples of what can be done in another area of practice. If the processes develop out of the craft of experienced practitioners, I think they have more credibility. We talk a great deal about "transfer of knowledge" among the communities Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males. There is great respect for people who can get the job done.
For example, I have been applying what I learned as a successful technician leading other young men many years ago to a new situation. I get a hearing among the groups of men that I work with because it has worked so many other times in the past. The process is credible; it takes people seriously.
As I try to convince folks within tertiary institutions of the importance of teaching basic programming skills to university students who have to master the social networking phenomena as a part of their role in public health practice and research, I would like to make connections with alternate project management approaches as well.
I appreciate the comments. Again, thank you.
In reply to Re: The Status of Agile Programming Among Perlmonks?
by mrdurtal
in thread The Status of Agile Programming Among Perlmonks?
by mrdurtal
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