Object Mentor Blog: What Cant Who Do?

What Cant Who Do?

tottinger — Tue, 01 May 2007 21:55:00 -0500

I have a fresh idea. When someone is supposed to change their workstyle to do TDD, and they say “we can’t do that”, how about we assume they’re telling the truth.

The first word is “we”. It may well be that the speaker and the people he represents might not be able to do the work. They’re not saying that it can’t be done. They’re only saying that they can’t do it.

The next word is “can’t” and that’s an interesting word, too. It might mean that they lack the ability or knowledge. That’s ideal, because such things can be taught and can be led. The other sense is that they are not allowed. If it’s like that, then there is going to be some political work going on. But at least you know what you’re getting into.

The other tell is the word “that”. Maybe they should describe what it is that they can’t do, and you can tell if the thing they can’t do is the same thing that you are wanting them to do. Sometimes it is not.

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"What Cant Who Do? " by Tenant Screening

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:02:51 -0600

There’s no guarantee that there will always be such an answer. But if we get into the business of forcing people instead of helping people do better work, then we’re in the wrong business.

"What Cant Who Do? " by Criminal Records

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:55:47 -0600

There’s no guarantee that there will always be such an answer. But if we get into the business of forcing people instead of helping people do better work, then we’re in the wrong business.

"What Cant Who Do? " by Tim

Mon, 07 May 2007 08:32:49 -0500

Ah, you all speak to my point very well.

Wouldn’t it be nice if, when someone said, “We can’t do that”, their managers and consultants would listen and ask questions instead of going for stronger enforcement?

Most developers know their business fairly well. I think that it is worth listening to the people who are doing the work, instead of beating them up. People are smart and will not do low-value, high-maintenance work unless coerced. I think that learning how to make them do it anyway is a losing game, but learning why they don’t do the work is useful. Quite often, there are reasons with remedies.

In a recent encounter, I found that a build system and a prior experience with badly-chosen metrics-based goals drove the team into a low-value, high-maintenance, quasi-TDD that was untenable, and they intelligently abandoned it. They could not afford to do that work. They were right. In this case, there is a technical set of remedies involving no coercive force. We just have to work through some problems and some bad habits.

There’s no guarantee that there will always be such an answer. But if we get into the business of forcing people instead of helping people do better work, then we’re in the wrong business. I have no intention of drawing my pay for making things worse.

In TDD, tests are small and simple and quick. Michael says tests “run fast and isolate errors”. Big tests like Orden’s are very much needed, but perhaps are QC-oriented system tests and not developer tools. TDD isn’t about getting your test coverage up, it’s about writing code more certainly.

TDD isn’t about writing all the test you might possibly need. It’s about writing the tests that help you write your code better. That’s a point that is too often lost. It has never been the only practice a team needs.

"What Cant Who Do? " by Orden

Mon, 07 May 2007 04:42:54 -0500

The idea of can’t = not allowed is right too. Writing usefull tests is often very costly and the overal business context prevent to spend 3 weeks to do a trivial think that is hard to test because there is many interactions involved with other components like database, ERP.

It just mean, we can do that but I do not think you will agree the delay.

"What Cant Who Do? " by Rafael Alvarez

Sun, 06 May 2007 21:37:03 -0500

No matter the meaning of “can’t” in the phrase “I can’t do that”, it’s always instructive to understand why “can’t do that”

"What Cant Who Do? " by Cedric

Thu, 03 May 2007 11:59:48 -0500

How about “can’t” really means “can’t”, as in “It’s not possible”, or “it’s just not worth it”?

"What Cant Who Do? " by Kevin

Wed, 02 May 2007 09:59:45 -0500

Very good post… but I’m guessing it’s the sign of a rough week somewhere.

I’m not a fan of the word “can’t”, but you hit the nail on the head… “can’t” needs to be investigated and replaced by “they won’t let us” or “we don’t know how” or “I don’t want to, you haven’t convinced me”.