A topic that came up repeatedly this week at Agile Development Practices was whether we should teach people steps or principles. Most, if not all, of the thought leaders and industry experts don't want to provide steps. We've all seen people take steps and follow them religiously. Leaders don't want to see steps abused. They've seen beginners take the steps and use them... but because they never learn the principles, they don't know why a given step is important.
Lee Copeland mentioned the "if-then" process principle. "If" this happens, "then" do that. All too frequently beginners see the "then" step but never learn the "if". The results, which are often disasterous, are that the prescriptive steps are followed when they don't apply and aren't needed. The "if" gets lost.
So of course, to avoid this, many people refuse to provide steps. They fight against peopl
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