REPLY How to promote good work (SD6574)

[SDMAIL Tom Fiddaman]

Posted by  Tom Fiddaman <tom at ventanasystems.com>

I wish that Richard's second post (SD6568) had arrived first, because it 
contained constructive ideas that I was not able to retrieve from memory 
upon reading the first (SD6555). Some of those ideas have extremely low 
cost and could be implemented right away. For example, moving this 
discussion to a web forum (with email digest and submission) would be 
practically free and might increase participation. Better interface 
support could make it easier to ignore irrelevant threads, reducing 
the level of moderation needed. An SD wiki might be a good way to begin 
building a shared library of component models and other wisdom. I've 
been pondering both options lately in support of a community project, 
and would be happy to help.

Creating a professional institute is obviously a bigger task. But it 
seems to me that there's no need to tear down the temple first. If 
the ISDS really is in the thrall of flat-earthers and navel-gazers, 
so what? It doesn't control any resources that obstruct the creation 
of new institutions. Gather a few motivated pioneers and create 
something else; practitioners will follow. That "something else" could 
even be created within the structure of the ISDS - like any volunteer 
organization, it's subject to takeover by motivated contributors. It 
seems to me that the real problem may be that the business and 
consulting world (myself included) is simply too busy or too fragmented 
to organize. I'd be very interested to hear how the PMI, BSC and other 
organizations solved that chicken-egg problem.

Regarding the contention that PC censorship rules the email list, 
garrotting at source new, interesting exchanges that transcend stocks 
and flows, I suppose it could be true - after all, I can't see what's 
on the cutting room floor. But without any specific examples, I'm inclined 
to assign such claims to the same mental pigeonhole as the 100mpg 
carburetor the auto industry has been suppressing all these years. What 
exactly should we be talking about that we can't talk about on this list?

I find the implication that some in SD would rather pursue intellectual 
curiosity than change the world rather funny, given that it comes from 
rebels who fear to be named in an email exchange in an obscure corner of 
the universe ... not exactly Luke Skywalker material. To belittle the 
motives of practitioners based on perceived behavior of the field or its 
institutions strikes me as at best a fallacy of division, akin to certain 
economists' contention that the risk-free interest rate accurately 
reveals our time preference for welfare.

Tom 
Posted by  Tom Fiddaman <tom at ventanasystems.com>
posting date  Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:45:12 -0600