Beyond the Mechanical Turk by Jenny Quillien
Channel: ConfEngine
Date: 2015-02-25

The waterfall (mechanical/blueprint) approach to software development allowed us to manage some simple problems (with a couple of variables) such as computerization of credit and debit accounts in banks and some problems with statistics, such as early MIS programs. Far more difficult are problems with a dozen or so variables that interact non-linearly. (For example the life sciences now trying to understanding aging or growth or, for software, trying to develop software that can actually support a changing client culture.)

On Agile projects we try to organically 'grow' software through iterations and develop robust software. However this is not easy on complex problems. We often find ourselves lacking the right kind of thought process and tools to be able to manage such project.

This presentation offers one partial approach to working on such problems. The talk is inspired by two unlikely bedfellows. On one hand are the musings of IDEO's Peter Coughlan on 'design experience.' On the other hand are the methodologies of the English philosopher J.G. Bennett on how to parse and analyze experience. Bennett's approach offers an interesting tool to look at interaction and conditionality among variables. In this presentation we would take Bennett's easiest unit of conditionality, the triad, and show all the (6)modes of permutation and how we find them in typical problems to solve in software.

    Automatic Pilot - routinization of lower level tasks (i.e. travelocity for tickets)
    Creation - novel solutions with a 'lock and key' quality
    Identity Fading into View - a incremental increase in skill (like the constructs in computer games)
    Gravity Applies - handling industries based on regulations
    Intensification - using the computer to reach new levels of understanding as in certain economic modeling
    Release into New Freedoms - how one platform can lead to another ie. how facebook led to new forms of marketing.

The participants will

(a) gain a practical introduction to Bennett,
(b) grasp the specifics of how variables interact, and
(c) see how this offers them a new handle on end user culture and demands.

Conference: http://2013.agileindia.org
Slide and Other details: http://betterconf.com/agileindia2013/index.html#session-38-info