The Legendary German Philosopher and Mathematician Gottfried Wilhem von Leibniz was trying to solve a metaphysical problem which vexed theologians world wide. Rather than trying to explain the nuances of the problem, the problem can be summed up in a sentence which goes like, "If God is powerful and nice, why the world he has created contains so much evil, violence and all sorts of none sense".
The solution devised by Leibniz was novel, it can also be summed by in the following words, "The God is still powerful and nice. When he tried to pack only good things into the world, he could not fit everything correctly.he was forced to insert an opposing force to balance out the imbalance created by one force. In fact, he created the best of the possible worlds!"
In most software engineering organizations when a new person is inducted or a new set of people are inducted, the new comers too often feel that the incumbents has made a mess of the whole affair. It should have been written in another way. This creates a political situation where the stakeholder has to protect his assets and at the same time, enthuse the new comer to do his job.
A plausible answer from the stakeholder could be, "There can be blemishes in the state of affairs. It is a product of the evolution of the way organization has evolved. You are seeing only a snapshot here and cannot judge the incumbent team based on a static analysis at a point in time. It is the best of the possible solution which as a team could engineer"
It is better for new comers to remeber the dictum from Leibniz, "It is the best of the possible world as a team we have created". This kind of thinking can transform a new comer into a enthusiast (from a skeptic).
Even though Voltaire satirized Leibniz for his remark by creating a character Dr. PanGloss, for the modern day software engineer, it can serve as a good food for thought.
The solution devised by Leibniz was novel, it can also be summed by in the following words, "The God is still powerful and nice. When he tried to pack only good things into the world, he could not fit everything correctly.he was forced to insert an opposing force to balance out the imbalance created by one force. In fact, he created the best of the possible worlds!"
In most software engineering organizations when a new person is inducted or a new set of people are inducted, the new comers too often feel that the incumbents has made a mess of the whole affair. It should have been written in another way. This creates a political situation where the stakeholder has to protect his assets and at the same time, enthuse the new comer to do his job.
A plausible answer from the stakeholder could be, "There can be blemishes in the state of affairs. It is a product of the evolution of the way organization has evolved. You are seeing only a snapshot here and cannot judge the incumbent team based on a static analysis at a point in time. It is the best of the possible solution which as a team could engineer"
It is better for new comers to remeber the dictum from Leibniz, "It is the best of the possible world as a team we have created". This kind of thinking can transform a new comer into a enthusiast (from a skeptic).
Even though Voltaire satirized Leibniz for his remark by creating a character Dr. PanGloss, for the modern day software engineer, it can serve as a good food for thought.
