In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Johanna Rothman and Esther Derby about their memories of Gerald M. (Jerry) Weinberg who passed away on the 7th of August 2018.
Key Takeaways
- Jerry Weinberg was a highly respected thinker and author
- He was instrumental in defining some of the key elements of systems thinking and quality practices for software development
- The rule of three – one option is a trap, two is a dilemma and three breaks logjam thinking to enable creativity
- “It’s always a human problem”
- Jerry inspired people to look at things in different ways
- Jerry’s advice to anyone who wanted to be like him – become the best version of yourself
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- 0:22 Introduction & background
- 1:20 How Jerry’s book The Psychology of Computer Programming influenced Johanna’s decision to take a career in computer programming
- 2:54 Johanna met Jerry in 1995 and his response to her story of how his book had influenced her
- 3:17 Esther’s memories of working with Jerry in 1991
- 4:39 His ability to help people see different perspectives on the actions of others
- 5:14 Explaining the Satir Interaction Model
- 5:45 Johanna’s experience taking the PSL (Problem Solving Leadership) class with Jerry
- 6:05 The rule of three – one option is a trap, two is a dilemma and three breaks logjam thinking to enable creativity
- 6:50 He made significant technical contributions as well as his human contributions helping people work together more effectively
- 7:10 “It’s always a human problem”
- 7:15 Shane’s memories of meeting Jerry at the AYE conference in 2008 and the story of getting to know your lemon
- 10:10 His experiential way of teaching made a deep impression and provided a great example for others
- 11:03 Esther’s describing what PSL is and how it for many people it is a life-changing event
- 11:57 Jerry asked Esther and Don Gray to continue teaching the PSL class
- 12:28 The experiential aspects of the AYE conference
- 12:38 PSL has a definite arc structure which enables the participants to grow over the week
- 13:23 Jerry’s experiences of working in a XP style as far back as 1957
- 13:44 Johanna’s experience using pairing and code reviews in the 1970’s
- 14:20 If you didn’t check that your code was working frequently then it could take weeks (or months) to debug it
- 14:55 The value of design reviews that explore alternatives rather than rubber-stamping what’s been done
- 15:55 What happened to programming as it went from being seen as a unique craft to an assembly-line approach
- 17:15 Johanna’s story of building up a library in the office
- 18:20 Jerry’s book on technical reviews has lots of wisdom about how to approach reviews
- 18:30 Esther’s experiences using the ideas of technical reviews into other meetings and how that influenced her decisions to learn more about facilitation
- 18:58 How the book Becoming a Technical Leader influenced Johanna
- 19:13 Jerry inspired people to look at things in different ways
- 19:28 Jerry had the ability to make people aware of things they were not aware of before
- 20:16 He was also good at helping people identify the habits which could prevent us from being as effective as we could be
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