Cargo cults are just failed abstractions. Kanban-style inventory replenishment is amazing for the automobile industry and manufacturing in general, but would b

Cargo cults are just failed abstractions. Kanban-style inventory replenishment is amazing for the automobile industry and manufacturing in general, but would be a disaster for package fulfillment for the likes of an Amazon warehouse. Logic Programming languages have been amazing at building Business Rule Expert Systems and Artificial Intelligence agents, but fail miserably at programming device drivers and OS kernels. Likewise, the buzzwords that most people identify as meaningless buzzwords(eg. Object-Oriented of 15 years ago or Cloud Computing of 5 years ago or Big Data today) all have legitimate uses. And while most CEOs only pay lipservice to the concepts, you have no idea if those "buzzwords" are actually helping them out. You may think they look foolish, but they may be using it, in their context, very profitably. The real lesson you should learn from Cargo Cults has nothing to do with avoiding buzzwords and the people that spout them. It is that you should learn how to identify appropriate vs inappropriate abstractions to the problems you face.