I think we might often be saying “we have to agree on something (e.g. SOA or Agile), even if it doesn't work”. This is close to believing in belief. But I don't think that holds water. Our ideas need to pull their own weight. Otherwise, they will get in the way of what really does work.

Originally I was more concerned with getting people to be aware of their innate wiring to attach themselves to a “belief” regardless of its rational justification. There's plenty of religious battles in IT including all the buzzwords you mentioned. If people are aware of their tendencies then they can be better at overcoming them.

However, I think your angle is a more positive way of applying his thesis to sw dev. Taking advantage of peoples' belief wiring to get them to approach things from a similar perspective. I guess the hard part is getting them all to change direction if you figure out that its not the correct approach for a particular problem.

J

I think we might often be saying “we have to agree on something (e.g. SOA or Agile), even if it doesn't work”. This is close to believing in belief. But I don't think that holds water. Our ideas need to pull their own weight. Otherwise, they will get in the way of what really does work.

Originally I was more concerned with getting people to be aware of their innate wiring to attach themselves to a “belief” regardless of its rational justification. There's plenty of religious battles in IT including all the buzzwords you mentioned. If people are aware of their tendencies then they can be better at overcoming them.

However, I think your angle is a more positive way of applying his thesis to sw dev. Taking advantage of peoples' belief wiring to get them to approach things from a similar perspective. I guess the hard part is getting them all to change direction if you figure out that its not the correct approach for a particular problem.

J

Similarly, we could think that if we choose SOA or REST or DDD that won't make a big difference. But choosing one architecture will give us a common purpose.

I guess “belief” is a certain methodology, architectural style or framework. “Belief in belief” would be to say “we need a framework, even if it doesn't give us a direct benefit, so that everyone is aligned the same way.”

Is this what you had in mind? Is this “belief in belief” prevalent?

Personally, I'm interested in how this relates to the domain we work in. How does the belief in belief affect the sw industry. There are plenty of examples of industry trends that are driven forward (and backward) based on belief rather than objective or justified analysis. How can this belief in belief be overcome?

Jason