rubyaustralia/rubyconfau-2013-cfp — pull request #77 by awagener (2012-10-31 07:07:50+00:00)
Title: Mind Your Metaphors

Software development as engineering. Real world situations as objects. Development periods as sprints.

Metaphors are a powerful tool, and generally a positive one, allowing us to disregard some complexity in favour of focusing on the current situation. However, this reduction of complexity can blind us to other ways to discuss or approach a problem. Choosing the wrong metaphor can be dangerous; choosing a simplistic metaphor can be limiting.

This talk will encourage thinking about the metaphors behind the concepts we use, and what other metaphors could be considered in their place. Being aware of metaphors, consciously choosing which we use, and re-evaluating regularly will improve both our code and our discipline.