Re: good pictures vs. good stories (was: Re: CPS in Parrot)

[Bud Rogers <address@hidden>]

On Thursday 07 August 2003 16:04, Dan Sugalski wrote:

> It might be more accurate to say that there are at least two
> different ways people think about the subject.  While most
> programmers tend to think symbollically, it's by no means a universal
> thing.

The NLP folks say there are three.  I don't remember the precise terms, 
but the modes are visual, verbal, and kinetic.  Most people are a mix 
but tend to be most comfortable in one of the three modes.  You can get 
a sense of which by the language they use.  Visual people tend to 
describe, explain, and understand in visual terms. Verbal people tend 
to use terms relating to sound or hearing.  Kinetic people use language 
that emphasizes action or movement.

A major source of many disagreements or misunderstandings arise from 
these differences.  How many times have you heard an argument the 
eventually degenerated to an exchange something like this:

The visual guy says, "Look, I've shown this to you every way I know.  
It's plain as day, I don't know why you don't see what I'm showing 
you."

The verbal guy responds, "You haven't heard a word I said.  If you'd 
just shut up and listen to what I'm trying to say..."

Along comes the kinetic guy to smooth things over, "Come on, fellas, 
there's no need to get all bent out of shape over this.  If we just sit 
down and put our heads together, we can work this thing out."

The point being that they may not actually be disagreeing about the 
facts at hand.  It's very possible that they are really arguing about 
language.  It is usually easier to communicate with someone if you 
consciously choose language that fits their dominant mode.   Show the 
visual guys a well designed diagram and you usually don't have to 
explain very much.  Give the verbal guys a coherent paragraph or two 
and they don't need a picture.    With the kinetic guys forget all the 
chitchat, they just want to get their hands on something.  

-- 
Bud Rogers	<budr@netride.net>	 KD5SZ