from Hacker News

Active Knowledge in Software Development

by michaelfeathers on 11/29/22, 9:11 PM with 7 comments

by jasode on 12/1/22, 12:20 PM
>, many aspects of managing large, complex systems fall through the cracks because we don’t have a unified perspective. I want to offer one: I call it the knowledge activation perspective.
Fyi... 3 previous writings using different terminology that's related to what the blog author calls "knowledge activation perspective" :
- "tacit knowledge" : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacit_knowledge
- Fred Brooks 1975 book Mythical Man-Month called it "conceptual integrity" : https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/dcs/research/em/teaching/cs405...
- Peter Naur 1985 paper "Programming as Theory Building" : https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/Naur.pdf
by abudabi123 on 12/1/22, 4:08 PM
Knowledge of bicycle riding, judo fall and swimming is stickier than buzzword bingo fads. SJ used the bicycle of the mind metaphor for computing. There is a specialist word for that kind of knowledge and there is a multivolume bookset on knowledge. The monkey business world of HR seems to corner the use of the word knowledge as in KM.
by euroderf on 12/1/22, 6:44 PM
I'm surprised there is barely mention of documentation.
When a big development case is closed out, get a brain dump: the TC (technical communicator) should jump on the implementer(s) and suck their brains dry. Or something to that effect.
by 9wzYQbTYsAIc on 12/1/22, 2:43 PM
From the article:
“Qualities of Active Knowledge [:]
Active Knowledge is generated in interaction with a system.
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Knowledge fades over time.
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Knowledge can go stale.
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Knowledge can be more easily regenerated if artifacts are clear and understandable.
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Uncovered knowledge can enhance decision-making.
…”