Oct 10, 2009, 10:33 by stefan
An excellent keynote full of important lessons. Brought in a very nice and funny way. A great way to start the conference!
The Uncertainty Principle
Kevlin Henney (Oct 10, 2009)
Keynote at PHP North West 2009 (English - UK)
Not sure about something? And that something affects the detailed design, an architectural decision or choice of functionality? Does that feel like a problem or a part of the solution?
There is a strong tendency for humans to feel unsure about uncertainty, in two minds over ambiguity and a little wobbly with instability. Whether over technology choice, implementation options, requirements or schedule, uncertainty is normally seen as something you must either suppress or avoid. Of this many people appear, well,
certain. That you should embrace it and use it to influence schedule, identify risk and inform design is not immediately obvious. A lack of certainty offers the opportunity to highlight risk and reframe questions, making uncertainty part of the solution rather than necessarily a problem.
Quicklink: http://joind.in/611
Comments
Oct 10, 2009, 10:44 by willsemto
Great start to the conference, useful and important practises fantastically covered! Great speech
Oct 10, 2009, 11:18 by Anonymous
Fantastic wake up call and interesting spin on delighting in uncertainty rather than being afraid of it.
Oct 10, 2009, 11:43 by lornajane
Fabulous energetic keynote from Kevlin, he had an early morning geek audience laughing, impressive in itself and I know I learned a lot
Oct 10, 2009, 13:15 by Anonymous
Awesome start to what is, so far, a great conference. Amusing and wise.
Oct 10, 2009, 13:35 by Anonymous
Great talk Kevlin, and excellent conversation over lunch regarding changing the metrics when they stabilise. Thanks for that.
Oct 10, 2009, 13:40 by Anonymous
Excellent talk, light and entertaining and still very informative!
Oct 10, 2009, 15:42 by johannac
Really great talk. Very interesting and engaging subject, although was a bit heavy for me that early in the morning :)
Oct 10, 2009, 16:11 by Anonymous
Fantastic fantastic speaker. I finally have a use for all my uncertainty!
Oct 10, 2009, 21:18 by Kewley
Brilliant presentation given! I learned a lot in a relatively stall amount of time and began to question my current techniques.
Oct 10, 2009, 22:28 by GizzmoAsus
Superb presentation and definitely raised some points I may have to introduce to the office for further discussion.
Oct 11, 2009, 11:12 by Anonymous
Excellent advice for all designers and architects
Oct 11, 2009, 17:37 by Anonymous
Amazing. I would have paid to attend only this talk. Simply spot on with everything said, interesting throughout - I was captivated and it was very apt for the current trends in PHP.
Oct 11, 2009, 17:41 by Anonymous
Absolutely awesome start to the conference. Brilliantly presented, hugely relevant and deserves to be heard by as many people as possible!
Oct 11, 2009, 17:57 by seengee
considering there was barely a mention of php this was still a great keynote. Great to listen to some general software development principles and see that they still applied to web dev.
Oct 11, 2009, 19:03 by rooster
This is what keynotes are all about, well delivered, spot-on content with a nice blend of thrown in anectodes and not-overused humour. An uplifting start to the day.
Oct 11, 2009, 19:40 by philipnorton42
A clever mix of quantum theory, philosophy, humour, project management and coding.
Oct 11, 2009, 20:04 by anthonylime
Interesting and intelligent presentation - thought provoking too.
Oct 12, 2009, 07:42 by pavlakis
An impressive talk for both project managers and coders alike.
Set the theme for the day. Nice one.
Oct 12, 2009, 10:42 by JDhobbs
I have to confess and say that I came to PHPNW09 as a novice developer when compared to the other people that attended; I've only had my head in PHP for just over 2 months! I'm primarily a web and print designer, so around 40% of the stuff at the conference went over my head.
But this lecture was by far the most useful. Techy enough to satisfy the hardcore people there, but generic enough to allow the lessons to be integrated into other disciplines (including my own). Good lecture overall
Oct 13, 2009, 08:17 by Anonymous
If there's ever a Top Gear for programmers, Kevlin is a shoe-in for Clarkson.
An enjoyable talk, containing a good deal of useful advice, which may have been overshadowed by comedy.
Oct 13, 2009, 13:25 by mikenolan
Nice start to the conference and a well presented talk but I didn't feel totally inspired.
The talk mentioned how too many people say their knowledge of PHP is 7 or 8 out of 10 because people don't know what they don't know. Likewise it's always possible to improve as a speaker :)
Oct 13, 2009, 19:04 by loonytoons
Great talk to kick off the conference with some very thought provoking concepts. It can only be a good thing when a non-technical talk makes me realise I ought to revisit some of my code!
Oct 14, 2009, 13:31 by Etzeitet
What a fantastic start to the day! The keynote was delivered superbly by Kevlin and he did a very good job of keeping the audience engaged.
Despite lacking in PHP, his ideas, experience and advice are relevant to all areas of development, not just in PHP.
Oct 14, 2009, 23:16 by robert.mortimer@gmail.com
A real thought provoker. Not hard core technical but it shone a spotlight on the way we solve problems and manage risk.
Oct 10, 2009, 10:31 by lapistano
Kevlin spoke about a lot of true stuff in an amusing and entertaining way. I learned a lot for my future development efforts.