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Add entry about bikesheds.

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PR:		20009
Submitted by:	Brooks Davis <brooks@one-eyed-alien.net>
Discussed with:	sheldonh and ben in the audit-trail of the PR.
This commit is contained in:
Alexander Langer 2000-07-19 10:13:17 +00:00
parent 1a67368c0d
commit b57b785b10
Notes: svn2git 2020-12-08 03:00:23 +00:00 
svn path=/head/; revision=7674
2 changed files with 156 additions and 2 deletions
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79
en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/book.sgml
View file

@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
</author>
</authorgroup>
<pubdate>$FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO_8859-1/books/faq/book.sgml,v 1.72 2000/07/16 20:39:43 ben Exp $</pubdate>
<pubdate>$FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO_8859-1/books/faq/book.sgml,v 1.73 2000/07/18 19:03:21 ben Exp $</pubdate>
<abstract>
<para>This is the FAQ for FreeBSD versions 2.X, 3.X, and 4.X. All entries
@ -8834,6 +8834,83 @@ repository, rather than using the <command>cvs</command> program.</para>
</answer></qandaentry>
<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Why should I care what color the bikeshed is?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>The really, really short answer is that you shouldn't.
The somewhat longer answer is that just because you are
capable of building a bikeshed doesn't mean you should stop
others from building one just because you don't like the
color they plan to paint it. This is a metaphor indicating
that you need not argue about every little feature just
because you know enough to do so. Some people have
commented that the amount of noise generated by a change is
inversely proportional to the complexity of the
change.</para>
<para>The longer and more complete answer is that after a very
long argument about whether &man.sleep.1; should take
fractional second arguments, Poul-Henning Kamp posted a long
message entitled <quote><ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/getmsg.cgi?fetch=506636+517178+/usr/local/www/db/text/1999/freebsd-hackers/19991003.freebsd-hackers">A
bike shed (any colour will do) on greener
grass...</ulink></quote>. The appropriate portions of that
message are quoted below.</para>
<blockquote>
<attribution>Poul-Henning Kamp on freebsd-hackers, October
2, 1999</attribution>
<para><quote>What is it about this bike shed?</quote> Some
of you have asked me.</para>
<para>It's a long story, or rather it's an old story, but
it is quite short actually. C. Northcote Parkinson wrote
a book in the early 1960'ies, called <quote>Parkinson's
Law</quote>, which contains a lot of insight into the
dynamics of management.</para>
<para>[snip a bit of commentary on the book]</para>
<para>In the specific example involving the bike shed, the
other vital component is an atomic power-plant, I guess
that illustrates the age of the book.</para>
<para>Parkinson shows how you can go in to the board of
directors and get approval for building a multi-million or
even billion dollar atomic power plant, but if you want to
build a bike shed you will be tangled up in endless
discussions.</para>
<para>Parkinson explains that this is because an atomic
plant is so vast, so expensive and so complicated that
people cannot grasp it, and rather than try, they fall
back on the assumption that somebody else checked all the
details before it got this far. Richard P. Feynmann
gives a couple of interesting, and very much to the point,
examples relating to Los Alamos in his books.</para>
<para>A bike shed on the other hand. Anyone can build one
of those over a weekend, and still have time to watch the
game on TV. So no matter how well prepared, no matter how
reasonable you are with your proposal, somebody will seize
the chance to show that he is doing his job, that he is
paying attention, that he is
<emphasis>here</emphasis>.</para>
<para>In Denmark we call it <quote>setting your
fingerprint</quote>. It is about personal pride and
prestige, it is about being able to point somewhere and
say <quote>There! <emphasis>I</emphasis> did that.</quote>
It is a strong trait in politicians, but present in most
people given the chance. Just think about footsteps in
wet cement.</para>
</blockquote>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
<qandaentry><question>
<para>How many FreeBSD hackers does it take to change a lightbulb?</para></question><answer>

79
en_US.ISO_8859-1/books/faq/book.sgml
View file

@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
</author>
</authorgroup>
<pubdate>$FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO_8859-1/books/faq/book.sgml,v 1.72 2000/07/16 20:39:43 ben Exp $</pubdate>
<pubdate>$FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO_8859-1/books/faq/book.sgml,v 1.73 2000/07/18 19:03:21 ben Exp $</pubdate>
<abstract>
<para>This is the FAQ for FreeBSD versions 2.X, 3.X, and 4.X. All entries
@ -8834,6 +8834,83 @@ repository, rather than using the <command>cvs</command> program.</para>
</answer></qandaentry>
<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Why should I care what color the bikeshed is?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>The really, really short answer is that you shouldn't.
The somewhat longer answer is that just because you are
capable of building a bikeshed doesn't mean you should stop
others from building one just because you don't like the
color they plan to paint it. This is a metaphor indicating
that you need not argue about every little feature just
because you know enough to do so. Some people have
commented that the amount of noise generated by a change is
inversely proportional to the complexity of the
change.</para>
<para>The longer and more complete answer is that after a very
long argument about whether &man.sleep.1; should take
fractional second arguments, Poul-Henning Kamp posted a long
message entitled <quote><ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/getmsg.cgi?fetch=506636+517178+/usr/local/www/db/text/1999/freebsd-hackers/19991003.freebsd-hackers">A
bike shed (any colour will do) on greener
grass...</ulink></quote>. The appropriate portions of that
message are quoted below.</para>
<blockquote>
<attribution>Poul-Henning Kamp on freebsd-hackers, October
2, 1999</attribution>
<para><quote>What is it about this bike shed?</quote> Some
of you have asked me.</para>
<para>It's a long story, or rather it's an old story, but
it is quite short actually. C. Northcote Parkinson wrote
a book in the early 1960'ies, called <quote>Parkinson's
Law</quote>, which contains a lot of insight into the
dynamics of management.</para>
<para>[snip a bit of commentary on the book]</para>
<para>In the specific example involving the bike shed, the
other vital component is an atomic power-plant, I guess
that illustrates the age of the book.</para>
<para>Parkinson shows how you can go in to the board of
directors and get approval for building a multi-million or
even billion dollar atomic power plant, but if you want to
build a bike shed you will be tangled up in endless
discussions.</para>
<para>Parkinson explains that this is because an atomic
plant is so vast, so expensive and so complicated that
people cannot grasp it, and rather than try, they fall
back on the assumption that somebody else checked all the
details before it got this far. Richard P. Feynmann
gives a couple of interesting, and very much to the point,
examples relating to Los Alamos in his books.</para>
<para>A bike shed on the other hand. Anyone can build one
of those over a weekend, and still have time to watch the
game on TV. So no matter how well prepared, no matter how
reasonable you are with your proposal, somebody will seize
the chance to show that he is doing his job, that he is
paying attention, that he is
<emphasis>here</emphasis>.</para>
<para>In Denmark we call it <quote>setting your
fingerprint</quote>. It is about personal pride and
prestige, it is about being able to point somewhere and
say <quote>There! <emphasis>I</emphasis> did that.</quote>
It is a strong trait in politicians, but present in most
people given the chance. Just think about footsteps in
wet cement.</para>
</blockquote>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
<qandaentry><question>
<para>How many FreeBSD hackers does it take to change a lightbulb?</para></question><answer>