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Use of stupid jargon is strongly correlated with fuzzy thinking; sometimes, particularly where there's a dollar at stake, confusion is the intent.
by jfb 14y ago
Use of stupid jargon is strongly correlated with fuzzy thinking; sometimes, particularly where there's a dollar at stake, confusion is the intent.
- specialist 14y agoI've met Martin Fowler. Super nice guy. I don't question his intent. It just seems to me that "software architects" see the world in abstractions. Another friend calls this world view "enterprisey". Fowler and I would likely agree on the principles of reducing the cost of change, DRY, YAGNI, etc. But we wouldn't agree on the mechanics for achieving those goals.
- jfb 14y agoI don't have an opinion about Fowler, but whenever someone is pushing this sort of bafflegab, it can be a useful exercise to ask them: why can't you speak simply and directly? None of these concepts are difficult -- it's not a lecture on topology or Lie algebras or something. So why so much impenetrable jargon?
- specialist 14y agoTotally. My thesis is that some people truly think that way. What I find to be obtuse, obfuscated, tortured, overwrought is apparently pure poetry to others. On the flip side, I know that how I work drives many other people absolutely nuts.