Communication quotes

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John_Stewart_Bell

Clearly Right and Wrong

“Bohr was inconsistent, unclear, willfully obscure and right. Einstein was consistent, clear, down-to-earth and wrong.”
Keywords: Physics_quotes Quantum_quotes Consistency_quotes Obfuscation_quotes Communication_quotes Validity_quotes Mistake_quotes Inconsistent_quotes Clear_quotes Unclear_quotes Willful_quotes Down_to_earth_quotes Wrong_quotes Einstein(topic)_quotes

Niels_Bohr

Clear Expression

“Never express yourself more clearly than you think.”
Keywords: Communication_quotes Thinking_quotes Express_quotes Clear_quotes

Robert_Boyle

Good Hypothesis

“The Requisites of a good Hypothesis are:
: That It be Intelligible.
: That It neither Assume nor Suppose anything Impossible, unintelligible, or demonstrably False.
: That It be consistent with Itself.
: That It be lit and sufficient to Explicate the Phaenomena, especially the chief.
: That It be, at least, consistent, with the rest of the Phaenomena It particularly relates to, and do not contradict any other known Phaenomena of nature, or manifest Physical Truth.
 
The Qualities and Conditions of an Excellent Hypothesis are:
: That It be not Precarious, but have sufficient Grounds In the nature of the Thing Itself or at least be well recommended by some Auxiliary Proofs.
: That It be the Simplest of all the good ones we are able to frame, at least containing nothing that is superfluous or Impertinent.
: That It be the only Hypothesis that can Explicate the Phaenomena; or at least, that do's Explicate them so well.
: That it enable a skillful naturalist to foretell future Phaenomena by the Congruity or Incongruity to it; and especially the event of such experiments as are aptly devised to examine It, as Things that ought, or ought not, to be consequent to It.”
  • Source: Robert Boyle, Boyle Papers, 37. Quoted In Barbara Kaplan (ed.), Divulging of Useful Truths in Physick: The Medical Agenda of Robert Boyle (1993), 50.
Keywords: Hypothesis_quotes Communication_quotes Obfuscation_quotes Impossibility_quotes Falsification_quotes Consistency_quotes Explanation_quotes Nature_quotes Truth_quotes Contradiction_quotes Proof_quotes Simplicity_quotes Alternative_quotes Congruity_quotes Incongruity_quotes Experiment_quotes Prediction_quotes Induction_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Good_quotes Requisite_quotes Intelligent_quotes Assumption_quotes Suppose_quotes Unintelligent_quotes Demonstrate_quotes False_quotes Self_quotes Phenomenon_quotes Chief_quotes Physical_quotes Quality_quotes Condition_quotes Excellent_quotes Precarious_quotes Sufficient_quotes Ground_quotes Auxiliary_quotes Frame_quotes Superfluous_quotes Impertinent_quotes Enable_quotes Skill_quotes Foretell_quotes Future_quotes Event_quotes Devise_quotes Examine_quotes Consequence_quotes

Robert_N_Britcher

Important Development Things

“The single, most important thing is that the individual programmer needs to be given total responsibility and control of the programming, including its function... eliminate project design and review as an exhaustive and rigorous process. Most of the design and review should occur as the program is written. ... Monitor progress on the project by talking to the individual programmers as [code] is being written. ... You must trust developers on the project to create a good product. ... Sometimes there are failures. ... The important thing is to fail quickly so you have time to find another approach. ... Developers must also feel free to say what they think to their supervisor. ... Managers should be the best programmers; ...There should be no overtime pay. ... Use profit-sharing and bonuses to get awesome products. ... Developers should each get their own office. ... Eliminate the dress code. Avoid meetings at all costs. ... Writing software is a lot like writing a book. Almost anyone can write garbage; very few can write a best-seller.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 155-156.
Keywords: Importance_quotes Programmer_quotes Responsibility_quotes Control_quotes Programming_quotes Function_quotes Design_quotes Review_quotes Rigorous_quotes Heavy_quotes Methodology_quotes Monitoring_quotes Progress_quotes Project_quotes Communication_quotes Trust_quotes Development_quotes Failure_quotes Quickness_quotes Thinking_quotes Expression_quotes Overtime_quotes Management_quotes Profit_Sharing_quotes Bonus_quotes Product_quotes Excellence_quotes Office_quotes Dress_Code_quotes Meeting_quotes Software_quotes Writing_quotes Garbage_quotes Best_Seller_quotes Compensation_quotes Eliminate_quotes Occur_quotes Coding_quotes Talk_quotes Code_quotes Developer_quotes Create_quotes Good_quotes Say_quotes Think_quotes Supervisor_quotes Manager_quotes Best_quotes Awesome_quotes Book_quotes

Fred_Brooks

Tables versus Flowcharts

“Show me your flowcharts and conceal your tables, and I shall continue to be mystified. Show me your tables, and I won't usually need your flowcharts; they'll be obvious.”
  • Source: Brooks Jr., F. P. (1995). The Mythical Man-Month - Essays on Software Engineering (Anniversary Edition) | 1975/1995 (Anniv.). Boston. MA: Addison-Wesley. ISBN: 0201835959. Chapter 9, page 102.
Keywords: Software_Engineering_quotes Flowchart_quotes Data_quotes Data_Driven_quotes Programming_quotes Communication_quotes Confusion_quotes Obfuscation_quotes Software_quotes Engineering_quotes Conceal_quotes Table_quotes Continue_quotes Mystify_quotes Need_quotes Obvious_quotes

Alistair_Cockburn

Vocabulary Troubles

"The trouble is, we can’t say what we are seeing until we have names for what we are seeing. Evidently, our current vocabulary is inadequate."
Keywords: Trouble_quotes Naming_quotes Perception_quotes Communication_quotes Vocabulary_quotes Inadequate_quotes Say_quotes See_quotes

People Characteristics

"People, as active devices, have success modes and failure modes. The following are the main ones that I have named and used to date:
1. People are communicating beings, doing best face-to-face, in person, with real-time question and answer.
2. People have trouble acting consistently over time.
3. People are highly variable, varying from day to day and place to place.
4. People generally want to be good citizens, are good at looking around, taking initiative, and doing 'whatever is needed' to get the project to work.
There are other characteristics that I won’t expand here:
- People need both think time and communicating opportunities...
- People work well from examples...
- People prefer to fail conservatively than to risk succeeding differently; prefer to invent than to research, can only keep a small amount in their heads, and do make mistakes, and find it hard to change their habits.
- Individual personalities easily dominate a project.
- A person’s personality profile strongly affects their ability to perform specific assignments."
Keywords: People_quotes Success_quotes Failure_quotes Communication_quotes Proximity_quotes Real_Time_quotes Question_quotes Consistency_quotes Time_quotes Variability_quotes Citizen_quotes Good_quotes Observation_quotes Flexibility_quotes Altruism_quotes Conservative_quotes Initiative_quotes Project_quotes Risk_quotes Differences_quotes Invention_quotes Innovation_quotes Research_quotes Thinking_quotes Habit_quotes Personality_quotes Ability_quotes Limitation_quotes Consciousness_quotes Cognition_quotes Mistake_quotes Hard_quotes Domination_quotes Assignment_quotes Active_quotes Device_quotes Mode_quotes Beings_quotes Face_quotes Person_quotes Answer_quotes Trouble_quotes Day_quotes Place_quotes Look_quotes Need_quotes Work_quotes Characteristic_quotes Opportunity_quotes Example_quotes Fail_quotes Head_quotes Change_quotes Profile_quotes Affect_quotes Perform_quotes

Formal Development

"In the formal development of communications software, in 1987, I was given the motivation, 'The problem with software development is that there is too much ambiguity in the problem statement and in the design description. Things will go better if we get people to work with mathematical formalisms.” After some work in this area, I discovered:
Problem 1. The people on the projects were not interested in learning our system.
Problem 2. They were successfully able to ignore us, and were still delivering software, anyway.
I shifted out of formal development, hearing my formal development colleagues saying, 'The problem lies in the training. Things will go better if we start training students in the necessary mathematics earlier, i.e., secondary school.' Based on what I have learned about people, I expect this will be a frustrated desire. It is not that I doubt certain advantages of formal development, but I do doubt our ability to coax 10**6 people to master it. The question should become, 'Under what circumstances, and with what assignment, should a formal specialist be called in?'"

Source: Cockburn, A. A. R. (1999). Characterizing people as non-linear 1st order components in software development. HaT Technical Report 1999.03, Humans and Technology, Inc.. Retrieved 2019-06-29 from https://ameyakarve.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/characterizing-people-as-non-linear-1st-order-components-in-software-development-cockburn-us/.

Keywords: Formality_quotes Methodology_quotes Software_quotes Development_quotes Ambiguity_quotes Design_quotes Specification_quotes Requirements_quotes Training_quotes Education_quotes Specialization_quotes Communication_quotes Motivation_quotes Problem_quotes Statement_quotes Description_quotes People_quotes Work_quotes Mathematics_quotes Learning_quotes Success_quotes Ignore_quotes Deliver_quotes Colleague_quotes Student_quotes School_quotes Frustration_quotes Desire_quotes Advantage_quotes Circumstance_quotes Assignment_quotes Master_quotes

Melvin_Conway

Conway's Law

"Organizations which design systems are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations."
Keywords: Organization_quotes System_quotes Design_quotes Communication_quotes Innovation_quotes Law_quotes Constrain_quotes Produce_quotes Copy_quotes Structure_quotes

Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi

Writing

“It is never a waste to write for intrinsic reasons. First of all, writing gives the mind a disciplined means of expression. It allows one to record events and experiences so that they can be easily recalled, and relived in the future. It is a way to analyze and understand experiences, a self-communication that brings order to them.”
  • Source: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience“, chapter “The Play of Words”, page 131. Original content published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 1990. Kindle edition published by Harper Collins in 2008. ISBN: 978-0061876721.
Keywords: Waste_quotes Writng_quotes Intrinsic_quotes Reason_quotes Mind_quotes Discipline_quotes Expression_quotes Allow_quotes Record_quotes Event_quotes Experience_quotes Recall_quotes Relive_quotes Future_quotes Analyze_quotes Understand_quotes Self_quotes Communication_quotes Bring_quotes Order_quotes

DeMarco and Lister

Project Politics

"The cause of failure most frequently cited by our survey participants was 'politics.' But now observe that people tend to use this word rather sloppily. Included under 'politics' are such unrelated or loosely related things as communication problems, staffing problems, disenchantment with the boss or with the client, lack of motivation, and high turnover. People often use the word politics to describe any aspect of the work that is people-related, but the English language provides a much more precise term for these effects: They constitute the project’s sociology. The truly political problems are a tiny and pathological subset."
  • Source: Book:: Entitled: Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams. Edition: 3rd. Written by: Tom DeMarco; Tim Lister. Date published: 1987; 1999; 2013. Publisher: Addison-Wesley. Country: USA; GBR; CAN; DEU; FRA; ESP; ZAF; AUS; JPN; SGP; MEX. Language: en. ISBN: ISBN-13: 978-0-321-93411-6 (alk paper); 0-321-93411-3 (alk paper). Chapter: 1 (Somewhere Today, a Project Is Failing).
Keywords: Failure_quotes Survey_quotes Political_quotes Observation_quotes People_quotes Sloppy_quotes Imprecise_quotes Communication_quotes Staffing_quotes Human_Resources_quotes Management_quotes Boss_quotes Disenchantment_quotes Client_quotes Motivation_quotes Turnover_quotes Sociology_quotes Project_quotes Pathological_quotes Resource_quotes Cause_quotes Frequent_quotes Participant_quotes Aspect_quotes Work_quotes Language_quotes Precise_quotes Term_quotes Effect_quotes

Frank_Drake

Drake Equation

    N = R* ⋅ ƒp ⋅ ne ⋅ ƒl ⋅ ƒi ⋅ ƒc ⋅ L

  where

    • N  = the number of civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy
           with which communication might be possible.
    • R* = the average rate of star formation in our Galaxy.
    • ƒp = the fraction of those stars that have planets.
    • ne = the average number of planets that can potentially
           support life per star that has planets.
    • ƒl = the fraction of planets that could support life
           that actually develops life at some point.
    • ƒi = the fraction of planets with life that go on to
           develop intelligent life (civilizations).
    • ƒc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a
           technology that releases detectable signs of
           their existence into space.
    • L =  the length of time for which such civilizations
           release detectable signals into space.
  • Notes: The original form of the equation was written by Frank Drake in 1960 in preparation for a work meeting at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)in Green Bank, West Virginia. However, he did not formally publish the equation until 1961 (see above).
Keywords: Drake(topic)_quotes Equation_quotes Civilization_quotes Milky_Way_quotes Galaxy_quotes Extraterrestrial_quotes Life_quotes Alien_quotes Communication_quotes Possibility_quotes Rate_quotes Star_quotes Formation_quotes Fraction_quotes Planet_quotes Intelligent_quotes Technology_quotes Detectable_quotes Sign_quotes Length_quotes Time_quotes Space_quotes Signal_quotes Existence_quotes

Peter_Drucker

What a Manager Does

“A manager sets objectives - A manager organizes - A manager motivates and communicates - A manager, by establishing yardsticks, measures - A manager develops people.”
  • Source: Peter Drucker, “The Practice of Management” New York,: Harper, 1st ed. 1954 ; Routledge, 2012, p. 344.
Keywords: Do_quotes Manager_quotes Set_quotes Organization_quotes Motivation_quotes Communication_quotes Establish_quotes Yardstick_quotes Measurement_quotes Development_quotes People_quotes

Max_Ehrmann

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
  • Source: Max Ehrmann [Poem/Author]; 2022/1948/1933/1927 [Dates];
    • 2022 [Book/Version/Date]; “Desiderata” [Title]; Samantha Seebeck [Editor]; Independent [Publisher]; 979-8420409275 [ISBN];
    • 1948 [Book/Version/Date]; Bertha K. Ehrmann [Editor]; Bruce Humphries, Inc. [Publisher/Name]; Boston, MA [Publisher/Location]; First [Edition]; “Desiderata” [Book/Section/Title];
    • 1933-04-05 [Magazine/Version/Date]; “Desiderata” [Title]; Michigan Tradesman [Magazine/Name]; Cover [Magazine/Placement];
    • 1927 [Copyright/Date];
    • 1927/2023 [URL/Version]; WikiSource Desiderate 1927 Version at https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Desiderata [URL/Link]; 2023 [URL/Retrieved/Date]
Keywords: Composure_quotes Noise_quotes Peace_quotes Silence_quotes Friendliness_quotes Truth_quotes Honesty_quotes Communication_quotes Listening_quotes Ignorance_quotes Story_quotes Aggression_quotes Avoidance_quotes Spirituality_quotes Competition_quotes Vanity_quotes Bitterness_quotes Achievement_quotes Pleasure_quotes Plan_quotes Career_quotes Humility_quotes Time_quotes Business_quotes Deception_quotes Virtue_quotes Heroism_quotes Affection_quotes Cynacism_quotes Love_quotes Disenchantment_quotes Advice_quotes Age_quotes Youth_quotes Maturity_quotes Surrender_quotes Strength_quotes Shield_quotes Misfortune_quotes Imagination_quotes Fear_quotes Fatigue_quotes Loneliness_quotes Discipline_quotes Gentleness_quotes Self_Care_quotes Universe_quotes Children_quotes Tree_quotes Star_quotes Validation_quotes Rights_quotes Destiny_quotes Future_quotes Deity_quotes Labor_quotes Desire_quotes Sham_quotes Drudgery_quotes Dreaming_quotes World_quotes Appreciation_quotes Happiness_quotes Optimism_quotes Cheerfulness_quotes Wisdom_quotes

Alan_Perlis

Human Communication Limits

“A man can communicate with about five colleagues on a software project without too much difficulty. Likewise he can supervise about five people and know pretty well what they are doing. One would structure 120 people in three levels, in which no man is talking to more than about eight people, both across his level and up and down”
Keywords: Humanity_quotes Communication_quotes Colleague_quotes Software_quotes Project_quotes Difficulty_quotes Supervision_quotes People_quotes Knowledge_quotes Do_quotes Structure_quotes Level_quotes Talking_quotes Up_quotes Down_quotes Across_quotes

Modularity

“Wherever there is modularity there is the potential for misunderstanding: Hiding information implies a need to check communication.”
Keywords: Module_quotes Potential_quotes Understanding_quotes Misunderstanding_quotes Hiding_quotes Information_quotes Imply_quotes Check_quotes Communication_quotes Need_quotes

Complexity Communication

“You can't communicate complexity, only an awareness of it.”
Keywords: Communication_quotes Complexity_quotes Awareness_quotes

Baruch_Spinoza

Explanations

“Very many controversies have arisen from the fact, that men do not rightly explain their meaning, or do not rightly interpret the meaning of others. For, as a matter of fact, as they flatly contradict themselves, they assume now one side, now another, of the argument, so as to oppose the opinions, which they consider mistaken and absurd in their opponents.”
Keywords: Reason_quotes Interpretation_quotes Contradiction_quotes Communication_quotes Controversy_quotes Arise_quotes Fact_quotes Men_quotes Rightly_quotes Explain_quotes Meaning_quotes Assume_quotes Side_quotes Argument_quotes Oppose_quotes Opinion_quotes Consider_quotes Mistake_quotes Absurd_quotes Opponent_quotes

Patrick_Vlaskovits

Faster Horse

“However, even if Ford didn’t verbalize his thoughts on customers’ ostensible inability to communicate their unmet needs for innovative products — history indicates that Henry Ford most certainly did think along those lines... Henry Ford froze the design of the Model T... Ford had no compelling reason to innovate in any other sphere other than cost and price reduction... But everything changed with the onset of the innovations introduced by General Motors in the 1920s, which took the direct opposite of Henry Ford’s tack of “Any color … so long as it is black” and is best summed up by Alfred Sloan’s consumer-research driven “A Car for Every Purse and Purpose”... In 1921, the Ford Motor Company sold about 2/3 of all the cars built in the U.S. By 1926, this share had fallen to approximately 1/3. And in 1927, when Ford belatedly responded (at tremendous financial cost and internal strife) to changes in the market’s tastes and competitive innovation by shutting down production temporarily to re-tool his factories and bring the Model A to the market, that percentage fell to about 15%... Yes, some customers in certain types of businesses are quite capable of verbalizing precisely what sort of innovative product one could build and sell them. And of course, customers in other types of businesses are wholly incapable of verbalizing, with any sort of fidelity whatsoever, what they need and why they need it. An innovator should have understanding of one’s customers and their problems via empirical, observational, anecdotal methods or even intuition. They should also feel free to ignore customers’ inputs. Because by now it should be clear that Ford’s adherence to his vision of the mass-market car and how to materialize that vision was instrumental in both his early success in growing Ford Motor Company as well as his later failure to respond in a timely and effective manner to rapid innovation in the marketplace.”'
Keywords: Ford(topic)_quotes Sloan(topic)_quotes Verbalize_quotes Thinking_quotes Customer_quotes Requirements_quotes Ostensible_quotes Inability_quotes Communication_quotes Unmet_quotes Need_quotes Innovation_quotes Product_quotes History_quotes Freeze_quotes Design_quotes Model_T_quotes Automobile_quotes Compel_quotes Sphere_quotes Cost_quotes Price_quotes Reduction_quotes Change_quotes General_Motors_quotes Consumer_quotes Research_quotes Opposite_quotes Color_quotes Black_quotes Car_quotes Purse_quotes Ford_Motor_quotes Build_quotes United_States_quotes Share_quotes Market_quotes Belated_quotes Respond_quotes Tremendous_quotes Financial_quotes Internal_quotes Strife_quotes Taste_quotes Competition_quotes Shut_quotes Production_quotes Tool_quotes Factory_quotes Model_A_quotes Percentage_quotes Type_quotes Business_quotes Capable_quotes Precise_quotes Sort_quotes Sell_quotes Incapable_quotes Fidelity_quotes What_quotes Why_quotes Understand_quotes Problem_quotes Empirical_quotes Observation_quotes Anecdotal_quotes Method_quotes Intuition_quotes Feel_quotes Free_quotes Ignore_quotes Input_quotes Clear_quotes Adherence_quotes Vision_quotes Mass_quotes Innovator_quotes Materialize_quotes Instrumental_quotes Success_quotes Early_quotes Grow_quotes Later_quotes Failure_quotes Timely_quotes Effective_quotes Manner_quotes Rapid_quotes Marketplace_quotes Horse_quotes Faster_quotes

Gerald_Weinberg

Furniture Partitions

“Someone should definitely study the depressing effect that the all-too-common half partitions have on programmer productivity. They manage to cut off all useful communication while permitting all disturbing sound and movement to penetrate.”
  • Source: Chapter 4. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Furniture_quotes Environment_quotes Office_quotes Partition_quotes Programmer_quotes Programming_quotes Productivity_quotes Communication_quotes Usefulness_quotes Sound_quotes Disturbing_quotes Movement_quotes Concentration_quotes Flow_quotes Permit_quotes Penetrate_quotes

Too Smart for Programming

“It is possible to be too smart for programming — if the person is not smart enough to use his intelligence to modify his social behavior and methods of communication.”
  • Source: Chapter 5. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Possibility_quotes Smart_quotes Intellectualism_quotes People_quotes Modification_quotes Social_Behavior_quotes Methodology_quotes Communication_quotes Cooperation_quotes Programming_quotes Social_quotes Behavior_quotes
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