I can’t remember how I originally found the link (was it in someone’s tweet?) but I managed to find it again in order to share it here. The message may seem silly in retrospect, but I think it was enlightening. The article is called Sometimes, The Better You Program, The Worse You Communicate. The author writes that:
[…] good programming practices are directly opposed to good communication practices.
In bullet form:
- D.R.Y. Does Not Apply.
- Humans don’t mean what they say.
- Compilers don’t need to see an example.
- Programs love definitions; Humans get flummoxed.
From now on I will try to repeat myself more often, act on what people mean and not what they say, give more examples and avoid definitions. Except when programming!
Don’t forget to repeat back what you think people mean. With some luck you’ll converge on consensus after a few iterations.
Thanks, that’s an important one!