Hee hee. I'm in IT too, I know what you mean. The nice thing about IT is: everything IS in fact "provable" ... nothing is truly a moral or religious or opinion issue (although usability issues are sort of an opinion). I'm finding that really, more things than I thought are actually provable, but yeah, you risk getting a finger in the eye if you point them out.
I also like Penn and Teller's motto: NPD. No Permanent Damage. I.e. it's ok to do most things if they don't cause permanent damage. I find this helpful when figuring out what it's ok to let my kids do. Remember all the fuss about long hair in the 70's? (Ok, yeah, I'm that old). Long hair does NOT cause permanent damage, although it might cause a bit of irritation to people who dislike it. Purple hair doesn't cause PD either. Tattoos? Well, maybe. I used the NPD criteria when experimenting with Fast-5 too: eating in a 5-hour window is just not going to cause Permanent Damage. A little grouchiness or hunger maybe.
On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 1:46 AM, David <david@davidnyman.com> wrote:
I love that story about Aristotle, Heather. Trouble is, oftentimes people don't react well if you just prise their jaws open to count their teeth. When I was responsible for managing large business and IT projects, I often found myself in the position of asking myself "how do I know that?" and concluding that I wasn't all that confident that I really did. Consequently, I would set about investigating the situation to find out more - i.e. counting teeth. Unfortunately, this often meant asking other people "how do you know that?" and I found that asking someone this question three times in a row risks getting a finger in the eye (as nobody likes to have their ignorance pointed out to them)! Nonetheless - with suitable eye protection - I've found it an indispensable tool for navigating successfully through any situation in business, or in life.
David
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