An analogy is like a simile...

04/17/2003

Back at XP Universe 2001, Ken Pugh and I held a “System Metaphor” workshop to try and plumb the depths of what a metaphor was, and why it can be useful when designing a system. It was lightly attended, but interesting—despite the power of a well-chosen metaphor to communicate a set of abstractions clearly and concisely, it seems to remain poorly understood and little used in practice.

So in a similar vein, Brian Marick and Ken Schwaber are holding an analogy fest at this year’s Agile Development Conference, June 25-28, 2003. What is software development like? Dave and I maintain that software development is more like gardening than not, but there are many other interesting analogies to pursue.

Is collaborative development like an improvisational jazz band? With the same tensions between individual talent and group productivity? Or is like a group of Hollywood script writers? Or like a pre-school sandbox?

I won’t be there to revel in the abstract thoughts and linguistic gymnastics, but I’ll sure look forward to see what comes of it.