I think you underestimate the impact of the "rubber plant". I used to talk about my problems (debugging ones) to friends who were mildly tech savvy -- at least analytic -- and those who were "english majors". I found that even if the person didn't say anything/much, I got better results from the analytic ones. It might have been my expectations, or the way I talked to them -- think about how you would talk differently to a 2 year old, for an extreme example, or maybe when they looked puzzled, or just said "Huh?" in helpful places. But I got different results in enough cases that I'm confident of the effect.
Robin On 10/27/05, Jon Fairbairn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 2005-10-27 at 14:53BST John Sturdy wrote: > > >>>>> "Carl" == Carl Chilley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >writes: Superman syndrome. Idea from the 80s whereby you > > >have a full size cardboard cut-out of Superman standing > > >behind you, over one of your shoulders. > > > > This is the one I knew as the "Rubber plant effect", in > > which explaining your problem to a potted plant was > > helpful in clarifying it. (Apparently it was earlier the > > "expert programmer effect", and the potted plant > > originally used was a rubber plant called Dijkstra.) > > The rubber plant "Dijkstra" stood in room 208 of the > Computer Laboratory, a room with about eight PhD students in > it, including Stuart Wray (I think it was his plant, but am > not sure) and myself. While we were fond of invoking "The > expert programmer effect" and the /idea/ of talking to > "Dijkstra", I'm not sure anyone ever actually spoke to the > plant, as there were plenty of real people about. We were > very conscious that explaining a problem was often > sufficient without any response from the listener. > > Jón > > > -- > Jón Fairbairn [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 31 Chalmers Road [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cambridge CB1 3SZ +44 1223 570179 (after 14:00 only, please!) > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > PPIG Discuss List ([email protected]) > Discuss admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/discuss > Announce admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/announce > PPIG Discuss archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40ppig.org/ > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PPIG Discuss List ([email protected]) Discuss admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/discuss Announce admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/announce PPIG Discuss archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40ppig.org/
