nospam
In article <0uv2a9hjdtc80a2s1b13fqpakpukraeio9@4ax.com>, Eric Stevens <eric.stevens@sum.co.nz>wrote:

Eric Stevens
Just imagine, two identical drivers except that one has the above abilities and the other doesn't. Who is going to come in first?

nospam
whichever one is the better driver, has the faster car and has better mechanics working on said car.

Eric Stevens
The idea that a top line architect wouldn't/shouldn't have an understanding of what he can an cannot do with the tools at his disposal.

nospam
that's not what i said.

Eric Stevens
You said "he doesn't need to know what's possible and it's probably better if he doesn't". Isn't that the same thing as "a top line architect wouldn't/shouldn't have an understanding of what he can an cannot do with the tools at his disposal"?

nospam
not the same at all.

obviously they need to know how to *use* their tools.

what they don't need is how to *make* the tools, i.e., how to program a computer.

Eric Stevens
Agreed. But that's not I said previously. Nor is it what you said just above.

nospam
then you're confused.

he might think something is not possible and then not ask for it, not realizing that someone who knows more than he does can do it and might even have already done it in another project.

i've seen that happen a lot.

Eric Stevens
Top architects/engineers do not work that way. They are always pushing the limits.

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the better ones do.

Eric Stevens
That's my point.

nospam
no it isn't. you said they *don't* work that way.

Eric Stevens
Go back up and read what I actually wrote, once again.

nospam
after you

ask for the impossible, then see how close you can get. if you have the best engineers, you might be surprised.

Eric Stevens
If you don't know what can be done, you wont't ask for it.

nospam
wrong. if you think something is impossible, you won't ask for it, then someone else comes up with a way to do it.

Eric Stevens
But if you don't know that it is impossibe, then you will try to do it (or get someone else to try to do it).

nospam
that's the whole point.

*not* knowing something is possible or impossible is better, because you will try anyway. maybe you'll succeed and maybe you won't.

if you think it's not possible, you won't bother trying, because you assume it can't be done.

everything is impossible, until someone invents a way to do it.

Eric Stevens
Wrong definition of impossible. That you don't yet know how to do something doesn't mean that it is impossible.

nospam
exactly my point.

when the iphone came out, the ceo of blackberry didn't believe any of it, saying it was not possible to make a phone that small that did all of what was demoed. since he thought it was impossible, he didn't even try.

Eric Stevens
But it wasn't impossible.

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he incorrectly assumed it was not going to do what was claimed because he thought that was impossible.

after all, he ran the leading smartphone company (at the time) and this was apple's first phone. he *had* to know more about smartphones and what was possible and what was not.

except, he didn't know much at all. he was very, very wrong.

one of many, many examples.

as i said, i've seen it happen, and it's not that rare. sometimes you have to think out of the box.

Eric Stevens
Which you can only do if you know where the box supposedly is.

nospam
nope.

Eric Stevens
Then how do you know whether your thinking is either in or out of the box, if you don't know where the box is?

nospam
the point is to be creative in how you go about solving a problem. if the obvious way to solve a problem doesn't work, try something unusual.