I've certainly done and redone the wheels Simon mentions. I then found it instructive to compare the working of my solution with others. How does Kwiki do configuration? How does So-And-So debug his code? If they do something better then I learn, if our designs converged I get a warm glow.

Another thing I've tried to do, but not really succeeded, is to think about the limitations of the way I use Perl. After looking at Prototyped OO I found cases where I was badly half-implementing it. Likewise with AOP.

Then the Apocalpses came out. I read along as Larry solved the problems I couldn't even see I had (and Perl had).

This changing of perspective has teaches me most but it's difficult to turn into a process. Therefore, it's probably difficult to teach. I just continue to bang my head against things I don't understand until one or the other cracks. Good luck finding an alternative.

Brad