Re: Need some ammunition (Procedures vs. Sub-routines)

Buck, I think you nailed it.

We're well served to understand how often "reason and logic are not going
to work here".

Years ago a close friend said to me; "Man is irrational".

Sounded too extreme at the time, after all, I remember thinking,
man developed the concept of democracy, the polio vaccine,
computers and put a man on the moon.

Some 35 years later, his statement seems every bit as sound to me
as the concept of gravity.

-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Buck Calabro
Sent: Saturday, December 28, 2013 11:33 AM
To: rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Need some ammunition (Procedures vs. Sub-routines)

On 12/27/2013 1:21 PM, RPGLIST wrote:

I truly believe its a combination of themes, I suppose it might help
here also to list out some of the objections people have had to them
and then give a response to each objection. I was originally thinking
of just giving them bullet points and why they are better, etc.
However, in hindsight I'm thinking I need to add a list of objections
and then overcome each one.

Hi Dutch,
I've been through this many a time. I don't know your shop, don't know
you, don't know your management. So my advice comes from my experience and
what I can infer about your situation from the sum total of your posts.
Apologies in advance for the presumptuousness on my part.

You don't need ammunition: reason and logic are not going to work here.
The objections are emotional and I've never known a person to abandon his
emotional position in the face of logic. In fact, the reverse is almost
always true - in the face of logic, the emotional person clings ever
tighter to his irrational position. And surely, 'test every program' is
the definition of irrational.

That doesn't sound like good news for you, but I don't know your
situation. You might be able to buy the rest of the group some pizza and
wings and have a 'lunch and learn' and show the others how procedures make
their lives easier. Don't be the smartest guy in the room, be their waiter.

Ammunition means you want to argue, to fight. Don't do that. Instead,
listen to the objections, realise they are emotional and see if you can't
comfort them instead. Once they are past their panic, their reason will
kick in, and then you can have them read McConnell or Knuth or any one of a
dozen internationally acclaimed authors in the computing field. When the
objection arises that Knuth is too ivoury tower and doesn't relate to the
midrange arena, try Paris or Tuohy or Pluta. If some new objection arises,
they aren't past panic yet.
--buck
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