Re^4: "Practices and Principles" to death

Wow! Outstanding points!

I, too, am not much for that "bull in the china closet" strategy for trying to change the world; but I also realize (probably because of many of my own frustrations with the process) that sometimes the insensibilities we're faced with just get to be too much...and we end up railing...witness my own exagerations that you so aptly pointed out. So I think I took his forcefullness more in the line of venting frustrations than the approach that he would take in the work-place. But then again I am often accused of being too optimistic about people.

Your comments strike a particularly strong, sympathetic chord with me...as you would probably guess. More importantly, you summarized what I was trying to say in a much more succinct way...than my own long-winded writing. Thank, you.

So here is my question:

How does one help encourage/incite people to 'think'? That is my daily challenge...and quest.

ack Albuquerque, NM

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Re^5: "Practices and Principles" to death by chromatic (Archbishop) on Mar 01, 2008 at 06:41 UTC
How does one help encourage/incite people to 'think'? To some degree, you can't. To the degree you can, I find that imitating Ward Cunningham is almost always the most effective approach. Ward has an amazing way of asking, "Hm, well what if you were to _____?" where the fill-in-the-blank-spot is almost always something so simple and non-offensive that anyone remotely thoughtful starts thinking when he or she hears it. Unfortunately, I've met very few people who have that staggering ability to simplify a problem to its simplest form. I don't have it. Ward does.	[reply]

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Re^5: "Practices and Principles" to death
by chromatic (Archbishop) on Mar 01, 2008 at 06:41 UTC

How does one help encourage/incite people to 'think'?

To some degree, you can't.

To the degree you can, I find that imitating Ward Cunningham is almost always the most effective approach. Ward has an amazing way of asking, "Hm, well what if you were to _____?" where the fill-in-the-blank-spot is almost always something so simple and non-offensive that anyone remotely thoughtful starts thinking when he or she hears it.

Unfortunately, I've met very few people who have that staggering ability to simplify a problem to its simplest form. I don't have it. Ward does.

[reply]