So I re-read my previous post on "facts" vs. "opinions" and underlined anything that is an undisputable fact. Of the 20 or so sentences in the posting, I could only tag five as facts. That's 25% fact / 75% opinion - way more slanted than I thought. If that's the nature of blogs, I'm still puzzled (and flattered) that people who don't know me go to the trouble of reading my blog, and hence, my opinions. This is a heavy responsibility that I don't plan to take lightly.
I'm inclined to think that opinions are more interesting than facts. When smalltalking about the weather, I could say, "It's unbearably hot outside today." An alternate: "The temperature today is 20 degrees warmer than the 5-year average temperature for this date" - is completely factual, more thorough, and indisputable. It makes for far less interesting conversation. There's no conflict, no tension, no points to argue. Maybe we like opinions because they provide for more recreational conversation. Or maybe not. Just one man's opinion...
Facts vs. Opinions and Cred Factor
Throughout the U.S. we're in the midst of opinion season. It's time for politicians to gaze into their crystal balls and paint a picture of the future state of the country as they'd like us to believe they can create. Since facts are always about the past, any projection of the future is an opinion, a conjecture, an educated guess, etc. Sometimes blogs are used to convey facts; more often they are used to express opinions. So why should you care what a blogger thinks? Every day we feed our brains with the many facts and opinions we encounter. First things first, separating fact from opinion is not always as cut and dry as you may think. Test your ability to discern facts from opinions here.
When it comes to opinions, we each have our own built-in credibility filter. Many parents followed Dr. Spock's parenting advice. Years later, Dr. Spock's family suffered the tragedy of the loss of his child to suicide. Does that erase his credibility? In a non-gray world some choose to believe that either his advice is credible or it's not. True or not, some believe that Dale Carnegie committed suicide - does that make his best seller "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" a crock? Both Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton lied to us all on TV - did that completely erase their ability to get people to subscribe to their opinions?
Thoughts like these cross my mind as I blog. I try to be careful not to blabber opinions without consideration of fact-based examples. My blog has had a lot of hits worldwide lately, and I've discovered that factual entries get much more traffic than those that are predominantly opinions. I'll bear that in mind as I blog on. (By the way, due to the high number of hits, I am now the #2 spot on google when you search for "Fast Vista". My home FTP/NAS Server setup instructions are also very popular. In the future I plan to stick to fact or fact-based as much as possible.)
When it comes to opinions, we each have our own built-in credibility filter. Many parents followed Dr. Spock's parenting advice. Years later, Dr. Spock's family suffered the tragedy of the loss of his child to suicide. Does that erase his credibility? In a non-gray world some choose to believe that either his advice is credible or it's not. True or not, some believe that Dale Carnegie committed suicide - does that make his best seller "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" a crock? Both Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton lied to us all on TV - did that completely erase their ability to get people to subscribe to their opinions?
Thoughts like these cross my mind as I blog. I try to be careful not to blabber opinions without consideration of fact-based examples. My blog has had a lot of hits worldwide lately, and I've discovered that factual entries get much more traffic than those that are predominantly opinions. I'll bear that in mind as I blog on. (By the way, due to the high number of hits, I am now the #2 spot on google when you search for "Fast Vista". My home FTP/NAS Server setup instructions are also very popular. In the future I plan to stick to fact or fact-based as much as possible.)
Requirements Antipattern # 312: Never Always Follow All of Some Rules
(The title actually really does make sense if you study it a bit.) When it comes to prescribing process, the goal is supposed to be to repeat a positive experience. Pilots are required by the FAA to explicitly follow and check off items on a checklist every time they follow pre- and post-flight procedures. There is no latitude (no pun intended) given regarding this rule because there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that positive results can be expected when procedures are followed.
On projects, prescriptive processes can be helpful to newbies. I've always felt that project participants ought to earn the right to change or bypass the process. That right is earned through experience and positive results. As a consultant I've worked with many large and small companies over the years. Larger companies have a tendency to over-prescribe process primarily because there is less confidence and knowledge about the wisdom and experience of project participants. Smart companies (large or small) tend to hire skillful facilitators/leaders to run projects. A skilled and wise leader can keep the project ahead of the many unpredictable things that occur on projects - things that a prescriptive process could never anticipate.
Undesirable things can happen when someone rotely follows the rules without question, as this true story from this months' Readers Digest illustrates: Hospital regulations require a wheelchair for patients being discharged. However, while working as a student nurse, I found an elderly gentleman already dressed and sitting on the bed with a suitcase at his feet-who insisted he didn't need my help to leave the hospital. After a chat about rules being rules, he reluctantly let me wheel him to the elevator. On the way down, I asked if his wife was meeting him. "I don't know," he said. "She's still upstairs in the bathroom changing out of her hospital gown.
On projects, prescriptive processes can be helpful to newbies. I've always felt that project participants ought to earn the right to change or bypass the process. That right is earned through experience and positive results. As a consultant I've worked with many large and small companies over the years. Larger companies have a tendency to over-prescribe process primarily because there is less confidence and knowledge about the wisdom and experience of project participants. Smart companies (large or small) tend to hire skillful facilitators/leaders to run projects. A skilled and wise leader can keep the project ahead of the many unpredictable things that occur on projects - things that a prescriptive process could never anticipate.
Undesirable things can happen when someone rotely follows the rules without question, as this true story from this months' Readers Digest illustrates: Hospital regulations require a wheelchair for patients being discharged. However, while working as a student nurse, I found an elderly gentleman already dressed and sitting on the bed with a suitcase at his feet-who insisted he didn't need my help to leave the hospital. After a chat about rules being rules, he reluctantly let me wheel him to the elevator. On the way down, I asked if his wife was meeting him. "I don't know," he said. "She's still upstairs in the bathroom changing out of her hospital gown.
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