views:

646

answers:

9

At one organization, we didn't have offices or cubicles. We had tables in a conference room.

All conversations were public. Some folks would notice the repeated themes in some of the conversations, which lead us to put big posters on the "Wall of Truth" so we would not have to repeat ourselves so often.

Here are two examples:

No Database Changes After 4:30 or On a Friday.

Yes, We Can. As long is it doesn't involve time-travel, anti-gravity, or perpetual motion, we can do it. Do you have a cost-center to which we can charge the work?

What eternal truths would you post?

+2  A: 

Read The Mythical Man Month.

Jason S
+2  A: 

Less is more.

so true...

Stefano Borini
Yes, particularly the way it lets you scroll a line at the top.
Rich Bradshaw
sorry, I don't get it.
Stefano Borini
In UNIX, `less` is a command which views files - it is the sequel to `more`. `more` only allowed you to scroll down the way, but less allows you to scroll up the way as well.
Lucas Jones
ogh... :D of course...
Stefano Borini
no no, less is less, more is most. The way less fills the screen with blank lines for short streams: eeeugh.
danio
+27  A: 
Daniel Vandersluis
Is there a wiki question on SO that can't be answered with an xkcd comic?
Gavin Miller
@LFSR: Yes, but it's as elusive as a proof of P != NP.
BobMcGee
+4  A: 

The customer has no clue what solution they need.

Charlie Salts
+7  A: 

"In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not."

-- Yogi Berra

lsc
+3  A: 

Computers do exactly what you tell them to do.

JB King
+2  A: 

Trust, but verify.

i.e. the "Fundamental Law of Debugging", and the positive corrollary to ASSUME:

Of course your code isn't buggy, but you should verify that before you claim the bug isn't in your code

Of course the table isn't empty, but you should verify that

Of course the file isn't empty, but you should verify that

Of course the file is well-formed XML, but you should verify that

Of course the pointer is not NULL, but you should verify that

Cade Roux
+8  A: 

"Do you want us to build what you asked for, or what you need?"

Jason Williams
A: 

If you keep saying "Jump!", sooner or later we're going to hit our heads.

CodeByMoonlight