Joel Spolsky wrote a good article about this called "Back to Basics" (src: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000319.html http://www.joelonsoftware.c

Joel Spolsky wrote a good article about this called "Back to Basics" (src: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000319.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000319.html ). My favorite quote from it (capitalization modified) is, "If you want to teach somebody something well, you have to start at the very lowest level. It's like Karate Kid. Wax on, wax off. Wax on, wax off. Do that for three weeks. Then knocking the other kid's head off is easy."