TITLE: Take Small Steps
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: March 07, 2014  2:24 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
If a CS major learns only one habit of professional practice
in four years, it should be:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
Take small steps.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

A corollary:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
If things aren't working, take smaller steps.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

I once heard Kent Beck say something similar, in the context
of TDD and XP.  When my colleague
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~jacobson/">
   Mark Jacobson</A>
works with students who are struggling, he uses a similar
mantra: <EM>Solve a simpler problem</EM>.  As
<A HREF="https://twitter.com/python33r/status/441602075118796800">
   Dr. Nick notes</A>,
students and professionals alike should scale the step size
according to their level of knowledge or their confidence
about the problem.

When I tweeted these thoughts yesterday, two pieces of related
advice came in:
<UL>
<LI> <A HREF="https://twitter.com/trentio/status/441604065739694080">
        Slow down</A>.
     -- Big steps are usually a sign of trying to hurry.
     Beginners are especially prone to this.  </LI>
<BR/>
<LI> <A HREF="https://twitter.com/dimsumthinking/status/441604887663890432">
        Lemma: Keep moving</A>.
     -- Small steps keep us moving more reliably.  We can
     always fool ourselves into believing that the next big
     step is all we need...  </LI>
</UL>

Of course, I've always been a fan of baby steps and
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2004-09.html#e2004-09-20T08_29_38.htm">
   unusual connections to agile software development</A>.
They apply quite nicely to learners in many settings.
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