Practice quotes

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Christopher_Wolfgang_Alexander

Time for Equilibrium

“Misfit provides an incentive to change; good fit provides none. In theory the process is eventually bound to reach the equilibrium of well-fitting forms. However, for the fit to occur in practice, one vital condition must be satisfied. It must have time to happen. The process must be able to achieve equilibrium before the next culture change upsets it again... The direct response is the feedback of the process. If the process is to maintain the good fit ... while the culture drifts, it needs a feedback sensitive enough to take action the moment that one of the potential failures actually occurs.”
Keywords: Design_quotes Incongruity_quotes Change_quotes Equilibrium_quotes Schedule_quotes Time_quotes Feedback_quotes Misfit_quotes Incentive_quotes Fit_quotes Theory_quotes Process_quotes Bound_quotes Form_quotes Practice_quotes Vital_quotes Condition_quotes Satisfy_quotes Time_quotes Happen_quotes Achieve_quotes Before_quotes Culture_quotes Upset_quotes Direct_quotes Response_quotes Maintain_quotes Drift_quotes Sensitive_quotes Action_quotes Potential_quotes Failure_quotes Occur_quotes

Claude_Bernard

Observer and Experimenter

“The observer does not reason, he notes; the experimenter, on the other hand, reasons and grounds himself on acquired facts, to imagine and induce rationally other facts. But though in theory and abstractly we may differentiate observers from experimenters, it seems impossible to separate them in practice.”
  • Source: From the book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" written by Claude Bernard published in French in 1865 as "Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale". Translated to English by Henry Copley Greene in 1927 and republished by Henry Shuman, Inc. in 1949. Chapter I, page 25. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.
Keywords: Observer_quotes Reason_quotes Note_quotes Experimenter_quotes Ground_quotes Acquire_quotes Fact_quotes Imagine_quotes Induce_quotes Rational_quotes Theory_quotes Abstract_quotes Differentiate_quotes Impossible_quotes Separate_quotes Practice_quotes

Robert_N_Britcher

Theory and Programming

“...when it comes to programming, theory and practice may never be on speaking terms.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 18.
Keywords: Programming_quotes Theory_quotes Practice_quotes Speak_quotes Term_quotes

Complexity of Practice

“The complexity of practice has always dwarfed the simplicity of theory.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 111.
Keywords: Complexity_quotes Practice_quotes Process_quotes Simplicity_quotes Theory_quotes Dwarf_quotes

Knowing Versus Doing

“We should not give up because there is no unified field theory of software engineering. The elements may not be easy to implement, but they are relatively simple, especially when compared with the study of proteins. ... The problem is not that we do not know enough. The problem is that we do not practice what we know.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 209.
Keywords: Persistence_quotes Unification_quotes Theory_quotes Software_Engineering_quotes Element_quotes Hard_quotes Simplicity_quotes Protein_quotes Problem_quotes Knowledge_quotes Action_quotes Practice_quotes Doing_quotes Software_quotes Engineering_quotes Easy_quotes Implement_quotes Relative_quotes Compare_quotes Study_quotes Practice_quotes

Requirements Testing

“Requirements testing is a subtle way of treating a nonlinear, unpredictable system as if it were a discrete symbol like a number or a word. The potential and the actual become muddled. Requirements are natural language statements, peppered in places with arithmetic. These are discrete and usually quite vague representations of the system as it might become. But the truth is that two teams writing requirements for the same system would describe them differently, and neither would get it quite right, simply because 'right' cannot be known until the system is built. ... Requirements testing is a little like trying to reduce crime in England by running a test for each line in the Magna Carta. In practice, rhetoric replaces the scientific method. As with mathematical proofs, the quest for 'true or not false' soon turns into a party - a not very cordial party - marked by endless debate over whether this sentence or that sentence has been verified by this moment of behavior or that.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 157.
Keywords: Requirements_quotes Testing_quotes Nonlinear_quotes Unpredictable_quotes Prediction_quotes System_quotes Symbol_quotes Potential_quotes Actual_quotes Language_quotes Arithmetic_quotes Discrete_quotes Vagueness_quotes Representation_quotes Truth_quotes Team_quotes Writing_quotes Description_quotes Correctness_quotes Accuracy_quotes Knowledge_quotes Magna_Carta_quotes Rhetorical_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Mathematics_quotes True_quotes False_quotes Debate_quotes Verification_quotes Behavior_quotes Subtle_quotes Treat_quotes Number_quotes Word_quotes Muddle_quotes Natural_quotes Pepper_quotes Right_quotes Build_quotes Try_quotes Reduce_quotes Crime_quotes England_quotes Line_quotes Practice_quotes Proof_quotes Quest_quotes Party_quotes Cordial_quotes Sentence_quotes Moment_quotes

Knowing Versus Doing

“We should not give up because there is no unified field theory of software engineering. The elements may not be easy to implement, but they are relatively simple, especially when compared with the study of proteins. ... The problem is not that we do not know enough. The problem is that we do not practice what we know.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 209.
Keywords: Persistence_quotes Unification_quotes Theory_quotes Software_Engineering_quotes Element_quotes Hard_quotes Simplicity_quotes Protein_quotes Problem_quotes Knowledge_quotes Action_quotes Practice_quotes Doing_quotes Software_quotes Engineering_quotes Easy_quotes Implement_quotes Relative_quotes Compare_quotes Study_quotes Practice_quotes

Alistair_Cockburn

Diligent Use of Bad Practices

"Diligent use of bad practices is still bad."
Keywords: Formality_quotes Methodology_quotes Practice_quotes Process_quotes Development_quotes Diligence_quotes Bad_quotes Use_quotes

Edward_Emil_David

Software Engineer Training

"The problem of how the software engineers will get their practice is precisely the same as in other fields of engineering, and is insoluble. This is recognized in industry, where one makes sure that the young engineers coming in will get the proper kind of experience in time."
Keywords: Problem_quotes Software_quotes Software_Engineering_quotes Engineering_quotes Programmer_quotes Practice_quotes Training_quotes Insoluble_quotes Industry_quotes Young_quotes Experience_quotes Time_quotes Field_quotes Proper_quotes

Michael_Faraday

Self-Correction

“Among those points of self-education which take up the form of mental discipline, there is one of great importance, and, moreover, difficult to deal with, because it involves an internal conflict, and equally touches our vanity and our ease. It consists in the tendency to deceive ourselves regarding all we wish for, and the necessity of resistance to these desires. It is impossible for any one who has not been constrained, by the course of his occupation and thoughts, to a habit of continual self-correction, to be aware of the amount of error in relation to judgment arising from this tendency. The force of the temptation which urges us to seek for such evidence and appearances as are in favour of our desires, and to disregard those which oppose them, is wonderfully great. In this respect we are all, more or less, active promoters of error. In place of practising wholesome self-abnegation, we ever make the wish the father to the thought: we receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us; whereas the very reverse is required by every dictate of common sense.”
  • Source: Michael Faraday. Royal Institution Lecture On Mental Education (6 May 1854), as reprinted in Experimental Researches in Chemistry and Physics, by Michael Faraday, 1859, pp 474-475.
Keywords: Self-Education_quotes Autodidact_quotes Mental_quotes Discipline_quotes Importance_quotes Conflict_quotes Vanity_quotes Tendency_quotes Self-Deception_quotes Wish_quotes Resistance_quotes Desire_quotes Impossibility_quotes Constraint_quotes Occupation_quotes Thinking_quotes Habit_quotes Self-Correction_quotes Error_quotes Judgment_quotes Temptation_quotes Urge_quotes Evidence_quotes Disregard_quotes Opposition_quotes Wonder_quotes Promotion_quotes Practice_quotes Self-Abnegation_quotes Tribalism_quotes Common_Sense_quotes

Samuel_C_Florman

Social Responsibility

“For if ever there was a group dedicated to — obsessed with — morality, conscience, and social responsibility, it has been the engineering profession. Practically every description of the practice of engineering has stressed the concept of service to humanity.”
  • Source: From the book “The Existential Pleasures of Engineering” by {Samuel C. Florman}. Second edition published in 1994 by {St. Martin's Press}, New York, NY. First edition published in 1976. Kindle edition published in 2023. E-book ISBN 978-1466842366. Chapter 3, page 19.
Keywords: Group_quotes Dedicated_quotes Obsess_quotes Morality_quotes Conscience_quotes Social_quotes Responsibility_quotes Engineering_quotes Profession_quotes Description_quotes Practice_quotes Stress_quotes Concept_quotes Service_quotes Humanity_quotes

Mistakes

“Human error, lack of imagination, and blind ignorance. The practice of engineering is in large measure a continuing struggle to avoid making mistakes for these reasons.”
  • Source: From the book “The Existential Pleasures of Engineering” by {Samuel C. Florman}. Second edition published in 1994 by {St. Martin's Press}, New York, NY. First edition published in 1976. Kindle edition published in 2023. E-book ISBN 978-1466842366. Chapter 3, page 33.
Keywords: Human_quotes Error_quotes Lack_quotes Imagination_quotes Blind_quotes Ignorance_quotes Practice_quotes Engineering_quotes Large_quotes Measure_quotes Continue_quotes Struggle_quotes Avoid_quotes Make_quotes Mistake_quotes Reason_quotes

Joseph_Goebbels

Religion

“What does Christianity mean today? National Socialism is a religion. All we lack is a religious genius capable of uprooting outmoded religious practices and putting new ones in their place. We lack traditions and ritual. One day soon National Socialism will be the religion of all Germans. My Party is my church”
  • Notes: This quote demonstrates the danger of non-democratic fascists or extremists to traditional religions.
Keywords: Christianity_quotes Meaning_quotes Nazism_quotes National_quotes Socialism_quotes Religion_quotes Lack_quotes Genius_quotes Capability_quotes Uproot_quotes Outmoded_quotes Practice_quotes Put_quotes Replace_quotes Place_quotes Tradition_quotes Ritual_quotes German_quotes Party_quotes Chruch_quotes

William_Rowan_Hamilton

Theory and Hypothesis

“This word [theoryJ is employed by English writers in a very loose and improper sense. It is with them usually convertible into hypothesis, and hypothesis is commonly used as another term for conjecture. The terms theory and theoretical are properly used in opposition to the terms practice and practical. In this sense they were exclusively employed by the ancients; and in this sense they are almost exclusively employed by the continental philosophers.”
  • Source: Written by William Rowan Hamilton. Recorded in the book 'Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations, edited by Isaac Asimov and Jason A. Shulman, published in 1988 by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, New York. Chapter 84, quote number 84.9, page 325. ISBN 1-555-84111-2.
Keywords: Word_quotes Theory_quotes Employ_quotes English_quotes Language_quotes Writer_quotes Loose_quotes Improper_quotes Sense_quotes Convertible_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Common_quotes Term_quotes Practice_quotes Practical_quotes Exclusive_quotes Ancient_quotes Continental_quotes Philosopher_quotes

Carl_Jung

Unknown Potential

“Here and there it happened in my practice that a patient grew beyond himself because of unknown potentialities, and this became an experience of prime importance to me. I had learned in the meanwhile that the greatest and most important problems of life are all in a certain sense insoluble. They must be so because they express the necessary polarity inherent in every self-regulating system. They can never be solved, but only outgrown. I therefore asked myself whether this possibility of outgrowing, that is, further psychic development, was not the normal thing, and therefore remaining stuck in a conflict was what was pathological. Everyone must possess that higher level, at least in embryonic form, and in favorable circumstances must be able to develop this possibility.”
Keywords: Practice_quotes Patient_quotes Growth_quotes Potential_quotes Experience_quotes Importance_quotes Problem_quotes Life_quotes Insoluble_quotes Polarity_quotes Self-Regulation_quotes Solution_quotes Embryo_quotes Circumstance_quotes Development_quotes Possibility_quotes Outgrow_quotes Psychic_quotes Conflict_quotes Pathological_quotes Level_quotes Form_quotes

Nicholas_Kristof

Confirmation Bias

“There’s pretty good evidence that we generally don’t truly want good information — but rather information that confirms our prejudices. We may believe intellectually in the clash of opinions, but in practice we like to embed ourselves in the reassuring womb of an echo chamber.”
  • Source: Nicholas D. Kristof, In New York Times (18 Mar 2009).
Keywords: Good_quotes Evidence_quotes Want_quotes Information_quotes Confirmation_quotes Bias_quotes Belief_quotes Intellectualism_quotes Prejudice_quotes Conflict_quotes Clash_quotes Opinion_quotes Reassurance_quotes Womb_quotes Echo_quotes Chamber_quotes Practice_quotes Embed_quotes Like_quotes Reassure_quotes

Michael_Sean_Mahoney

Undefined Software Engineering

“If one could not define 'software engineering' at the time, neither could one point to its practice. It was not coined to characterize an ongoing activity but rather to express a desire for one.”
  • Source: Michael S. Mahoney in a paper entitled The Roots of Software Engineering. Published 1990 in CWI Quarterly, volume 3, number 4.
Keywords: Definition_quotes Software_quotes Software_Engineering_quotes Engineering_quotes Time_quotes Practice_quotes Coin_quotes Activity_quotes Desire_quotes

Peter_Medawar

Scientific Method

"The fact that scientists do not consciously practice a formal methodology is very poor evidence that no such methodology exists. It could be said — has been said — that there is a distinctive methodology of science which scientists practice unwittingly, like the chap in Moliere who found that all his life, unknowingly, he had been speaking prose.”
  • Source: Sir Peter B. Medawar, Induction and Intuition in Scientific Thought (1969), 9.
Keywords: Fact_quotes Science_quotes Consciousness_quotes Practice_quotes Formal_quotes Methodology_quotes Poor_quotes Evidence_quotes Distinct_quotes Unwitting_quotes Unintentional_quotes Unknown_quotes Speak_quotes Prose_quotes Exist_quotes Chap_quotes Moliere(topic)_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes

David_E_Nye

Rugged Engineer

“Well before World War I, the engineer emerged as a rugged individualist, the man of action (the profession was overwhelmingly male) who overcame obstacles, put theories into practice, and ensured material progress.”
  • Source: A book. Written by David E. Nye. Entitled 'Narratives and Spaces'. Published in 1997 by Univerity of Exeter Press, Exeter, UK. Hardback ISBN 0-85989-555-6. Paperback ISBN 0-85989-556-4. Chapter 5, page 81.
Keywords: World_quotes War_quotes Engineer_quotes Emerge_quotes Rugged_quotes Individualist_quotes Man_quotes Profession_quotes Overwhelm_quotes Male_quotes Overcame_quotes Obstacle_quotes Theory_quotes Practice_quotes Ensure_quotes Material_quotes Progress_quotes

Worker Control Obsolete

“Highly computerized corporations simply do not attempt to separate information from skill, nor do they find it profitable to control workers in the same ways as before. Such practices and the kind of alienation they involved, belong to a previous epoch.”
  • Source: A book. Written by David E. Nye. Entitled 'Narratives and Spaces'. Published in 1997 by Univerity of Exeter Press, Exeter, UK. Hardback ISBN 0-85989-555-6. Paperback ISBN 0-85989-556-4. Chapter 10, page 171.
Keywords: Highly_quotes Computerized_quotes Corporation_quotes Attempt_quotes Separate_quotes Information_quotes Skill_quotes Find_quotes Profitable_quotes Control_quotes Worker_quotes Way_quotes Practice_quotes Kind_quotes Alienation_quotes Involve_quotes Previous_quotes Epoch_quotes

Not All Unintended

“In practice, not all technologies have unintended consequences.”

  • Source: A book. Written by David E. Nye. Entitled 'Narratives and Spaces'. Published in 1997 by Univerity of Exeter Press, Exeter, UK. Hardback ISBN 0-85989-555-6. Paperback ISBN 0-85989-556-4. Chapter 11, page 188.
Keywords: Technology_quotes Practice_quotes Unintended_quotes Consequence_quotes

Richard_Pascale

Silver Bullet

“Discoveries from one community cannot be repackaged and provided to another as a silver bullet. That's a ‘best practice’ rollout and it invariably evokes the immune rejection response.”

  • Source: Richard T. Pascale, Jerry Sternin, Monique Sternin (2010). “The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World's Toughest Problems”, p.112, Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press
Keywords: Discovery_quotes Community_quotes Package_quotes Provide_quotes Silver_quotes Bullet_quotes Practice_quotes Rollout_quotes Evoke_quotes Immunity_quotes Rejection_quotes Respond_quotes Repackage_quotes Best_quotes Invariable_quotes

Carl_Sagan

Science Thinking

“Science is more than a body of knowledge. It's a way of thinking. A way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of the human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we are up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes ambling along. It is a thing that Jefferson laid great stress on. It wasn't enough he said to enshrine some rights in a constitution or bill of rights. The people had to be educated and they have to practice their skepticism and education. Otherwise we don't run the government. The government runs us.”
  • Source: Carl Sagen speaking in an video entitled 'CARL SAGEN - A Way of Thinking' posted on YouTube at https://youtu.be/J1cNaFG1VII , at 00:01:25 in video. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
Keywords: Science_quotes Body_quotes Knowledge_quotes Thinking_quotes Truth_quotes Skeptical_quotes Interrogate_quotes Understanding_quotes Human_quotes Fallibility_quotes Question_quotes Tell_quotes Authority_quotes Grab_quotes Charlatan_quotes Political_quotes Religion_quotes Amble_quotes Jefferson_quotes Lay_quotes Stress_quotes Great_quotes Enshrine_quotes Rights_quotes Constitution_quotes Bill_quotes People_quotes Education_quotes Practice_quotes Run_quotes Government_quotes Way_quotes

Herbert_Simon

Design and Analysis

“In view of the key role of design in professional activity, it is ironic that in this century the natural sciences almost drove the sciences of the artificial from professional school curricula, a development that peaked about two or three decades after the Second World War. Engineering schools gradually became schools of physics and mathematics; medical schools became schools of biological science; business schools became schools of finite mathematics. The use of adjectives like 'applied' concealed, but did not change, the fact. It simply meant that in the professional schools those topics were selected from mathematics and the natural sciences for emphasis which were thought to be most nearly relevant to professional practice. It did not mean that design continued to be taught, as distinguished from analysis.”
Keywords: View_quotes Key_quotes Role_quotes Design_quotes Professional_quotes Activity_quotes Irony_quotes Century_quotes Natural_quotes Science_quotes Drive_quotes Artificial_quotes School_quotes Curriculum_quotes Development_quotes Peak_quotes Decade_quotes World_quotes War_quotes Engineering_quotes Gradual_quotes Physics_quotes Mathematics_quotes Medical_quotes Biology_quotes Business_quotes Finite_quotes Applied_quotes Conceal_quotes Change_quotes Fact_quotes Simplicity_quotes Meaning_quotes Topic_quotes Selection_quotes Emphasis_quotes Thinking_quotes Near_quotes Relevance_quotes Practice_quotes Continue_quotes Teaching_quotes Analysis_quotes

Gerald_Weinberg

Small Teams More Efficient

“In any case, the basic rule for size and composition of programming teams would seem to be this — for the best programming at the least cost, give the best possible programmers you can find sufficient time so you need the smallest number of them. When you have to work faster, or with less experienced people, costs and uncertainties will rise. In any case, the worst way to do a programming project is to hire a horde of trainees and put them to work under pressure and without supervision — although this is the most common practice today.”
  • Source: Chapter 5. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Rule_quotes Size_quotes Programming_quotes Programmer_quotes Team_quotes Cost_quotes Slack_quotes Time_quotes Fast_quotes Experience_quotes People_quotes Hiring_quotes Training_quotes Pressure_quotes Supervision_quotes Management_quotes Practice_quotes Common_quotes Basic_quotes Composition_quotes Quality_quotes Small_quotes Rise_quotes Uncertainty_quotes Worse_quotes Way_quotes Project_quotes Horde_quotes Trainee_quotes Work_quotes

Shoshana_Zuboff

Time Study Expert

“The time-study expert became the new focus of workers' antagonisms. Informal production quotas persisted and, in many cases, took on an overtly anti-management spirit. The union contract became the most important means for institutionalizing workers' instincts for self-preservation, as rationalization routed out the ordinary graces with which the workday had been laced. Concern over wages and hours, work rules, and working conditions began to replace the craftworker's culturally embedded practices of effort regulation. Overall, the purification of effort meant a heightened standard of labor discipline, and as such it widened the gulf between those who gave of their bodies in the service of production and those who did not.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 46. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: Time_quotes Worker_quotes Production_quotes Quota_quotes Management_quotes Union_quotes Contract_quotes Importance_quotes Instinct_quotes Self-Preservation_quotes Reason_quotes Rational_quotes Compensation_quotes Hours_quotes Environment_quotes Condition_quotes Craft_quotes Culture_quotes Regulation_quotes Purification_quotes Effort_quotes Labor_quotes Discipline_quotes Body_quotes Taylorism_quotes Study_quotes Expert_quotes Focus_quotes Antagonism_quotes Informal_quotes Persist_quotes Anti-management_quotes Spirit_quotes Institutionalize_quotes Grace_quotes Workday_quotes Lace_quotes Wage_quotes Rule_quotes Embed_quotes Practice_quotes Height_quotes Standard_quotes Wide_quotes Gulf_quotes Service_quotes

Technology Management

“Even where control or deskilling has been the intent of managerial choices with respect to new information technology, managers themselves are also captive to a wide range of impulses and pressures. Only rarely is there a grand design concocted by an elite group ruthlessly grinding its way toward the fulfillment of some special and secret plan. Instead, there is a concentration of forces and consequences, which in turn develop their own momentum. Sometimes these lines of force run in predictably straight paths. At other times, they twist and spiral, turn corners, and flow to their opposite. Activities that seem to represent choices are often inert reproductions of accepted practice.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 389. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: Control_quotes Deskilling_quotes Skill_quotes Management_quotes Choice_quotes Information_quotes Technology_quotes Impulse_quotes Pressure_quotes Design_quotes Elite_quotes Ruthlessness_quotes Secret_quotes Plan_quotes Concentration_quotes Force_quotes Consequence_quotes Momentum_quotes Prediction_quotes Activity_quotes Reproduction_quotes Practice_quotes Inert_quotes Intent_quotes Concoct_quotes Group_quotes Grind_quotes Special_quotes Straight_quotes Path_quotes Twist_quotes Spiral_quotes Corner_quotes Turn_quotes Flow_quotes Opposite_quotes Represent_quotes Accept_quotes
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