[teampractices] On the importance of deep knowledge to getting work done

[Joel Aufrecht]

Shipment information sent to FedEx.
FedEx processing shipment information.
Like, processing it mentally.
What is the nature of packages?
What is the meaning of one person sending a package to another person?
C.E.O. of FedEx issued order that all employees read Marcel Mauss’s essay
“The Gift,” about the sociology of gift-giving, to better understand the
thoughts of FedEx customers when they send and receive packages.
Discussion group took place with all hundred and sixty-five thousand FedEx
workers about the essay.
Each employee presented thoughts on the text.
Conclusion reached that an open dialogue should continue about packages.
And a second reading about gifts, by Jacques Derrida, was assigned for next
week.
Package picked up by FedEx with a feeling of purpose.

...
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/01/updates-
from-your-fedex-package-by-colin-stokes

Tom Knight and the Lisp Machine
A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power off
and on.
Knight, seeing what the student was doing, spoke sternly: “You cannot fix
a machine by just power-cycling it with no understanding of what is going
wrong.”
Knight turned the machine off and on.
The machine worked.

http://catb.org/jargon/html/koans.html




*-- Joel Aufrecht*
Team Practices Group
Wikimedia Foundation

[Arthur Richards]

lol Joel, these are amazing.

Shipment information sent to FedEx.

FedEx processing shipment information.
Like, processing it mentally.
What is the nature of packages?
What is the meaning of one person sending a package to another person?
C.E.O. of FedEx issued order that all employees read Marcel Mauss’s essay
“The Gift,” about the sociology of gift-giving, to better understand the
thoughts of FedEx customers when they send and receive packages.
Discussion group took place with all hundred and sixty-five thousand
FedEx workers about the essay.
Each employee presented thoughts on the text.
Conclusion reached that an open dialogue should continue about packages.
And a second reading about gifts, by Jacques Derrida, was assigned for next
week.
Package picked up by FedEx with a feeling of purpose.

...
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/01/updates-from-
your-fedex-package-by-colin-stokes

Tom Knight and the Lisp Machine
A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power off
and on.
Knight, seeing what the student was doing, spoke sternly: “You cannot
fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no understanding of what is
going wrong.”
Knight turned the machine off and on.
The machine worked.

http://catb.org/jargon/html/koans.html
*-- Joel Aufrecht*
Team Practices Group
Wikimedia Foundation
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