Problem Solving: Hand Warmer

    This is a translation of a funny note by Alex Papadimoulis , the founder of The Daily WTF.

    During the development of good software, we are always under pressure from several fronts at once.
    Firstly, the danger is newcomers who somehow managed to get their first job by reading “Programming for Dummies” the day before, before the interview.
    Secondly, we are facing beginner careerists who were able to successfully get settled after the completion of the first contract (read: they received money, but the client did not sue them for developing a useless product). Sometimes they even manage to build a career by managing to repeat this path several times.
    And finally, there are Complicators, or Mega Resolvers"(it was not possible to find a successful loud-sounding translation of the word" Complicators ", therefore -" MegaResolution ". - approx. translator), another side that lures the best of us to join them, even with just one or two micro-projects.

    There are people who are so deeply immersed in the solutions to Mega-Problems that they seem to have acquired a sixth sense: the ability to find Mega-Problems ("solving a problem that creates another problem in the process of solving a real problem") anywhere.

    We saw a lot such systems and products created and such " MegaReshatelyami ." They look like the functionality of the application of the "matryoshka", which consist of solutions that entail other problems and solutions to these problems, and so on ad infinitum.

    Sometimes you should give a chance to find a solution to a problem without using information or innovative technologies. I often wondered what a good example of such an absurdity could be given. Fortunately, a friend of mine, Mike, gave us this opportunity.

    The corporation where Mike works has a common electronic message board where all employees can ask for advice, or share their idea with all developers.

    Once, one developer, a senior architect from an office on the east coast, posted the following:

    [Off-Topic] Bicycle upgrade
    Today I got to work on a bicycle, and asked myself - why, why, why didn’t anyone come up with a heated steering wheel?
    Because of these New England morning frosts, my hands freeze and my joints ache terribly!
    Has anyone heard something about such things?

    The first answer was from a developer who worked in Mike’s department, and was responsible for the most confusing and weird component in their application:
    Quick googling did not find anything ready, but I think this is a great idea!
    Let's do such a thing ourselves!
    I already came up with an approximate implementation, and I see it like this: attach the dynamo to the pedals, run the wires through the frame and attach the heating network to the steering wheel handle.

    This answer launched an avalanche of discussions. Developers of different levels, from different departments entered into a discussion, offered their options, such as additional batteries, another dynamo working from the front wheel to use the coastal energy and others. After lunch, the discussion slowed down a bit, but ideas began to be advanced more complex and advanced:
    I offer a brilliant idea:
    We can use our body heat more efficiently! In addition, this approach can also be used while walking or running. You need to make a thin jacket, under outer clothing, but tight, such as a windbreaker, and several heat-conducting flexible tubes to transfer heat from the abdomen (which, it seems, never freezes). Small valves on the sleeves will help transfer the heated fluid to the hands, where heat will be distributed through a network of thinner tubes.
    Water will circulate thanks to one-way valves due to compression-decompression from movement when walking or cycling.
    If anything, we can add a small battery or dynamo to power an external fluid heater.
    Obviously, with a bike it’s easier to implement, I think so.

    Fortunately, at Mike’s company, there was at least one adequate developer who entered the discussion anonymously.
    This is the most idiotic discussion I've ever read ... well, more precisely, in the last few days before which you discussed the architecture of the UND component.
    The reason that no one has developed a “hand warmer system” is because most normal people just bought a pair of gloves. Gloves are very effective in keeping hands warm.

    Unfortunately for our example (for example, I would like to wait and see a couple of diagrams and diagrams from MegaReshetatel ), after this answer, the discussion about the “hand heating system” ended.

    Finally, I want to give a little advice:
    Next time when you are developing a new product, beware of MegaResolution .
    Before starting the development itself, stop for a minute, pull yourself together, give your project design a general look and say “ Gloves ” to yourself .


    The Complicator's Gloves
    Feature Articles by Alex Papadimoulis on 2007-01-16

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