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Crescent Wrenches and Debuggers: Building Your Own Toolkit For Rational Inquiry by Kerri Miller Software exists in a constant state of failure, facing pressure on many fronts - malicious intruders, hapless users, accidental features, and our own limits of imagination all conspire to bring our system to a screeching halt. Untangle even the most tangled of Gordian Knots by building your own toolkit for inquiry, by relying on the simplest technique of all: asking “why?” This presentation will discuss the challenges and potential solutions for refreshing multiple application environments (Development/Staging/UAT/etc.) with data from a Production database, while keeping some amount of table data intact from the prior database after the Production restore.
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In her presentation titled "Crescent Wrenches and Debuggers" at RubyNation 2017, Kerri Miller discusses the intricacies of software failure and the importance of building a toolkit for rational inquiry. She emphasizes the perpetual state of failure that software exists in, impacted by various factors such as user errors, intrusions, and technical limitations. To navigate the complexities of troubleshooting, Kerri introduces a structured approach that mirrors the scientific method, advocating for asking relevant questions, conducting research, forming hypotheses, and testing them. Key points covered in her talk include: - **The Three C's**: Kerri introduces the concepts of Challenge, Consider, and Conclude, which form a method for critically analyzing strange ideas or problems, akin to the scientific process. - **Simple Diagnostic Approaches**: By using the analogy of diagnosing engine problems, she identifies four critical components (fuel, air, spark, pressure) that can lead to engine failure, promoting a systematic approach to problem-solving in software. - **Software Engineering Analogies**: She draws parallels between diagnosing engine issues and troubleshooting software, highlighting the need for structured inquiry to pinpoint faults that can compromise performance. - **Case Study in Learning**: Kerri shares a personal anecdote about a motorcycle repair, illustrating how incorrect assumptions during troubleshooting can lead to unnecessary complications. - **Addressing External Pressures**: She outlines how external stresses, such as time constraints, can influence decision-making in software development, sometimes leading professionals to make poor choices under duress. - **Functional Fixedness**: The concept of functional fixedness is discussed, demonstrating how we often limit the potential uses of our tools and perspectives, with a historical example of the Titanic tragedy to underscore this point. Kerri concludes her presentation with actionable takeaways for software engineers: - Take apart and put together systems as a means to understand and solve problems. - Seek expert insight, leveraging resources effectively. - Maintain documentation to track problem-solving approaches. - Recognize personal and systemic limits to decision-making. She reinforces the notion that navigating challenges in software development requires both skill and collaboration, reminding her audience of the creativity and innovation inherent in their work as engineers.
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