Exploration Through Example

Example-driven development, Agile testing, context-driven testing, Agile programming, Ruby, and other things of interest to Brian Marick

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Sun, 28 Aug 2005

Hints instead of rules

Via John D. Mitchell, an interesting article about a minimalist reaction to the tunnel vision rules promote:

Hans Monderman is a traffic engineer who hates traffic signs. Oh, he can put up with the well-placed speed limit placard or a dangerous curve warning on a major highway, but Monderman considers most signs to be not only annoying but downright dangerous. To him, they are an admission of failure, a sign - literally - that a road designer somewhere hasn't done his job. "The trouble with traffic engineers is that when there's a problem with a road, they always try to add something," Monderman says. "To my mind, it's much better to remove things."

Monderman is one of the leaders of a new breed of traffic engineer - equal parts urban designer, social scientist, civil engineer, and psychologist. The approach is radically counterintuitive: Build roads that seem dangerous, and they'll be safer.

Update: In response, Randy Mcdonald writes:

Build roads that seem dangerous, and they'll be safer.

was a principle that I first encountered when I read that Kowloon Airport in Hong Kong (I think that is its name, ICBW) had a remarkable safety record, given that the landing process was very terrifying. Ever since I read that, I use the term I put in my subject line [The Kowloon Airport Syndrome] for such situations.

Having flown into the old Hong Kong airport, that strikes a chord with me.

It occurs to me that I want to take the idea beyond safety. What I want to remember from the article is how physical space can be engineered to cause people to attend to what's easily ignored. What they might not see "in a state of nature" can be made visible. Ditto for those things that rules divert attention from (because following the rules is supposed to eliminate the need for attention).

Consider our friend the big visible chart. They are supposed to fall in that middle ground - not rules, but still acting to nudge people. Sometimes they don't work. Why not? Ditto for standup meetings, bullpens, etc. How can they be better engineered?

## Posted at 08:55 in category /misc [permalink] [top]