GumptionTraps

Here are the notes from a workshop presented by IvanMoore and RachelDavies at XpDayBenelux based on ideas written about by Robert M Pirsig in “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” 1974

Ivan and Rachel ran a similar workshop on GumptionTraps at OOPSLA 2004 in Vancouver, photos here.

Gumption

• 1: sound practical judgment; "he hasn't got the sense God gave little green apples"
• 2: (informal) fortitude; "he didn't have the guts to try it"

Soundbytes from Pirsig ...

Filled with Gumption, connects with Quality, Enthusiasm, physic gasoline, if you haven't got it you might as well gather up all the other tools and put them away.. Throughout the process of fixing the machine things always come up, low-quality things,.. these drain off gumption, destroy enthusiasm and leave you so discouraged that you want to forget the whole business.

GumptionTrap anything that causes one to lose sight of quality and thus enthusiasm for what one is doing. hundreds of different kinds but two main types:

• setback - thrown off the quality track by conditions that arise external circumstances
• hangup - thrown off the quality track by conditions that are primarily within yourself

Examples of Setbacks

in software, tools version control, license issues, organisational red-tape

Examples of Hangups

• value traps - block affective understanding
• truth traps - block cognitive understanding
• muscle traps - block psychomotor behavior

examples, inability to revalue what ones sees because of commitment to previous values, stops rediscovery as you go

Gumption Trap Examples from workshop brainstorm:

• scared to change estimates
• fear of owning up to mistakes
• no freedom to choose approach
• unclear responsibilities
• poor communication channels
• time-pressure and unreasonable expectations (individual needs not understood)
• right first time
• negative rather than constructive feedback
• no feedback light at the end of the tunnel
• lack of challenge - boredom
• not feeling valued by your organisation (profits not spent on developers)

Each team drew influence charts - most teams focussed on boredom - when we get the charts drawn up electronically we will list them here.

a picture of IvanMoore doing his job as a ThoughtWorks promoter

Workshop conclusions:

• categorizing the gumption traps was not felt to be useful
• using influence charts is a good technique for presenting positives and negatives in a neutral way
• lots of developers have a problem coping with boredom
• • web development is boring
  • lack of speculation on new technologies
  • challenge yourself, suggestion to try GoldCards
• HeartBeatRetrospectives provide a mechanism for talking about GumptionTraps and possible solutions
• What would be more useful is a taxonomy of solutions