Re:Green Lumber Fallacy in Software Engineering
by 0xbadcafebee on Thursday January 13, 2022 @05:08PM
(#29927605)
I think we're in agreement. My point is that there's certain questions that certain roles shouldn't be expected to have the expertise to answer, and certain answers that make no difference to the job being hired for.
Say you need a builder for a house that an architect designed with wooden beams. Then you interview the builder, and ask them what kind of beam they should use for a theoretical house, and then ask them all sorts of questions about steel beams. Well they don't have the expertise to answer the first question, and the second question doesn't apply to this job at all!
Of course there's a body of knowledge that needs to be known. But I think we need to better codify what knowledge is needed by which people to do what kinds of work. And then have a way to establish that they know how to 'do the work', versus just having a body of knowledge.
Say you need a builder for a house that an architect designed with wooden beams. Then you interview the builder, and ask them what kind of beam they should use for a theoretical house, and then ask them all sorts of questions about steel beams. Well they don't have the expertise to answer the first question, and the second question doesn't apply to this job at all!
Of course there's a body of knowledge that needs to be known. But I think we need to better codify what knowledge is needed by which people to do what kinds of work. And then have a way to establish that they know how to 'do the work', versus just having a body of knowledge.