I guess it's on older developers to get across what is refined wisdom versus what are merely quirky opinions from years of subtle misunderstandings.
For many years, the Smalltalk community tried to get a certain message out to the public, but it didn't get across to the mainstream programming community nearly as successfully as what Chris Granger managed to do with Light Table. I think the lesson there, is that the onus is on the people who have the hard won experience and the valuable contrarian view to explain it to everyone else.
I worry about this. I have a well-developed gut (in all the ways) and it tells me things that I have learned to trust, but I cannot explain to others clearly.
Are my gut instincts still correct, or were they correct in the previous context, and now not so great? How do I develop a heuristic for telling the difference?
How do I develop a heuristic for telling the difference?
Perhaps this is why, "The unexamined life is not worth living?" One needs to constantly re-examine one's experiences with regards to first principles. This way, one can wrest generalized experience and rational decision making up out of the mire of gut instincts. Toyota's "Five Whys" is a good first step for that.
The method I use is to mentally list out everything I know about a topic so as to hold it in my mind at once, then throw it a way and consider everything I have not considered yet. Essentially forcing a new perspective and using the old knowledge as paths I’ve already been down. If they’re still correct I’ll just discover another angle they’re correct I hadn’t considered before or simply realize something new.
My wife makes this observation in Banking. If one goes through 20 years without examining their experiences properly, someone with 2 years might well know way more.
This is why I blog. It's not perfect (a journal would probably be better) but it does let me look across the years of my professional experience and contemplate them.
For many years, the Smalltalk community tried to get a certain message out to the public, but it didn't get across to the mainstream programming community nearly as successfully as what Chris Granger managed to do with Light Table. I think the lesson there, is that the onus is on the people who have the hard won experience and the valuable contrarian view to explain it to everyone else.