Nice essay. Love the premise of how working around a problem can lead to a direct solution instead of working directly on a solution. It's a very important point.
But there is an exception to his argument that he should have acknowledged for the essay to really take hold: there is one area where we can work towards clear objectives that actually help solve problems we don't understand. That area is making existing solutions more efficient.
Moore's Law has carried a huge load in the advancement of IT. Ideas that were simply speculations become easy-to-accomplish when technology gets commoditized. Things that used to take months can happen in seconds. That opens up all kinds of new possibilities.
IT is full of folks making stuff more efficient. That stuff can be hardware, software, or just "things people do", like hail a taxi. The more efficient we make everything, the easier it is to create and combine stepping stones. That takes a good idea and makes it even better.
But there is an exception to his argument that he should have acknowledged for the essay to really take hold: there is one area where we can work towards clear objectives that actually help solve problems we don't understand. That area is making existing solutions more efficient.
Moore's Law has carried a huge load in the advancement of IT. Ideas that were simply speculations become easy-to-accomplish when technology gets commoditized. Things that used to take months can happen in seconds. That opens up all kinds of new possibilities.
IT is full of folks making stuff more efficient. That stuff can be hardware, software, or just "things people do", like hail a taxi. The more efficient we make everything, the easier it is to create and combine stepping stones. That takes a good idea and makes it even better.