4 ms·
> ...but that is the definition of bike-shedding (aka law of triviality) > A committee won't vote for my nuclear plant because the bike shed is red. > The b
by stock_toaster 9y ago
> ...but that is the definition of bike-shedding (aka law of triviality)
> A committee won't vote for my nuclear plant because the bike shed is red.
> The bike shed's color has concrete effects on adoption.
Not exactly.
> Parkinson observed that a committee whose job is to approve plans for a
> nuclear power plant may spend the majority of its time on relatively
> unimportant but easy-to-grasp issues, such as what materials to use for
> the staff bikeshed, while neglecting the design of the power plant itself,
> which is far more important but also far more difficult to criticize constructively.
> -- https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bikeshedding
This part is key here:
> A reactor is so vastly expensive and complicated that an average person cannot
> understand it, so one assumes that those who work on it understand it. On the
> other hand, everyone can visualize a cheap, simple bicycle shed, so planning
> one can result in endless discussions because *everyone involved wants to add a
> touch and show personal contribution*.
> -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality
> -- https://books.google.com/books?id=RsMNiobZojIC&pg=PA317
- codehusker 9y agoI need some additional hand-holding here if you don't mind, I don't see the difference. If I were to rephrase those two excerpts: > Parkinson observed that a committee whose job is to approve plans for a > [globally distributed relational database] may spend the majority of its time on relatively > unimportant but easy-to-grasp issues, such as what [the name is], > while neglecting the design of the [globally distributed relational database] itself, > which is far more important but also far more difficult to criticize constructively. > A [globally distributed relational database] is so vastly expensive and complicated that an average person cannot > understand it, so one assumes that those who work on it understand it. On the > other hand, everyone can [read a name], so planning > one can result in endless discussions because *everyone involved wants to add a > touch and show personal contribution*. edit: formatting
- phlakaton 9y agoPlease tell me we're not having a bikeshedding discussion on the meaning of bikeshedding. :-)
- stock_toaster 9y agoWe probably are. ;) It's so meta it hurts.