Re: Overstepping Qualifications [was: Practice: Pair Programming, Sex, etc]

Hi Kay,

I can't agree with you more. 

Lately, I've seen some examples of XP luminaries,
dispensing advice that really has nothing to do with
XP, but is made to sound as though it does (from my
perspective, at least). I have tried to disentangle
the way I feel about getting this type of advice -
direct or indirect - from XP luminaries.  I'm talking
about things like what it means to live a truly
balanced life, how to feel towards people, what should
motivate me, etc. Here's what I've come up with:

* I feel amused.   There's just something funny about
hearing these things talked about within the context
of programming.

* I feel naive.  Are things like this really
happening, and am just too ignorant to see them?

* I feel condescended to.  My experience is that
luminaries in any field eventually begin to dispense
advice about things that they have no business or
qualification dispensing advice about.  I'm not saying
that is what happened here, but it is suspiciously
similar and invokes the similar feelings.

* I feel like a loser, I feel judged.  If I'm not
working out at the gym, or I'm working past 5PM, or I
enjoy playing video games and chatting online,
according to some luminaries, I'm not leading a
balanced life, and need to get out more.

* I feel like I'm an idiot.  After all, what kind of
an idiot wouldn't already know the very simple rules
explained here?

* I feel dismissive.  Once I start to hear advice like
this dispensed from people who I feel aren't qualified
to give it, then I usually start to dismiss all the
good advice that they actually give.

Once again, these are my feelings, not right, not
wrong, just complicated, like anyone elses.  

I think that the best advice about XP and life came
from Phlip.  He said, "XP is a handful of books on how
to program. Don't worship it."

I tend to agree.

Chris.

--- utahkay <kay-5ustyahknYQdnm+yROfE0A@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
<--- A lot of things that I totally agree with, but
summed up as --->
> The issue of sex in
> the workplace, and
> the related issue of mixed genders in the workplace,
> not to mention
> religious freedom and a host of other concerns, are
> issues I'd prefer
> to address in other contexts.
> 
> -Kay
> 
> 
> 
> 


=====
---------------------------
C H R I S  W H E E L E R
Extreme Programmer & Coach

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