
Don't be a front rudder - dgsiegel
http://www.dgsiegel.net/news/2013_08_16-do_not_be_a_front_rudder
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nakedrobot2
The absence of upper-case letters is disturbing on this website. I am not sure
of the purpose, is it a stylistic thing? It does not confer style to me. It is
a kind of forced laziness, the kind of laziness that takes an extra effort.
Going against the grain for no other good reason than that it is against the
grain. It is like living in a foreign country for 10 years and not learning
the language at all - it takes a bigger effort to not do it, than to do it.

While everyone might write emails or other messages in all lower-case, this is
an article that is meant to be read by lots of people. Upper case letters
actually do exist for a pretty good reason, they let you read much faster, by
letting your eyes parse sentences more easily.

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coolnow
I never thought i'd be this pedantic but the article really is difficult to
read for me due to the lack of proper punctuation, namely upper-case letters.
For comments, i don't mind, but for decent length articles that take more than
a minute to read, it gets annoying and it removes my focus from what the words
are conveying, to how the words are conveyed.

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dscb
I find it funny that you find the lack of upper-case letters makes it
difficult to read, when you missed have the words you should have capitalized
in your comment.

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tadfisher
Muphry's law?

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screwt
It's a bit of a bizarre analogy - I don't think it fits.

The reason why the rudder is at the back rather than the front of a ship is
the same as why a pendulum rests straight down, but a pencil won't balance
straight up - stability. I can't really see any links between that situation
and the one being described in the article.

Not to say there aren't some good points being made - I think though the
analogy being used distracts from, rather than adds to, these points.

And yes, the lack of capitalization does make it harder to read.

~~~
Someone
A front rudder would not need to move before its axis of rotation. It could
easily be just like the rudder of a rowing shell
([http://www.rumerys.com/Avanti/a3.jpg](http://www.rumerys.com/Avanti/a3.jpg)),
but mounted close to the bow.

Also, many ships want/need to have the ability to steer both the front and the
back of the boat. As an other reply already says, bow thrusters
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_thruster](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_thruster))
are common in larger ships nowadays.

And yes, people have tried to build serious sailing boats with two true
rudders:

[http://articles.philly.com/1986-10-17/sports/26058791_1_radi...](http://articles.philly.com/1986-10-17/sports/26058791_1_radical-
hull-golden-gate-challenge-fiberglass-hull)

I even could find a mention of a boat with only a front rudder:
[http://www.craigmarine.info/yacht_boat/builders/power_boat/B...](http://www.craigmarine.info/yacht_boat/builders/power_boat/Boat_design_oldprinciple.htm)
(scroll down to 'Canard')

So, be a front rudder, but be good at it!

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frenchman_in_ny
A number of high performance sailboats have front rudders -- it's called CBTF
or Canting Ballast Twin Foils. One example is the Schock 40 [1].

[1]
[http://www.wdschock.com/boats/schock40/s40_specifications_b....](http://www.wdschock.com/boats/schock40/s40_specifications_b.php)

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astrodust
The down-side to a front rudder appears to be that it creates turbulence
underneath the hull of the boat, where the bow rudder creates turbulence in
the water behind the boat.

A rudder also creates drag. Having drag behind the boat is a lot easier to
deal with, it has a damping effect on movement, than drag on the front which
would make it more twitchy and erratic.

For a racing boat maybe you're willing to deal with twitchy.

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MattRogish
"Project management" (I'd probably argue "People management", too) is kind of
like playing with cornstarch in water. If you work with a gentle touch, you
can get it to do what you want. If you apply too much pressure the whole thing
seizes up - turning to stone.

Crises don't happen often but when they do, it's good to remind yourself if
the project/team/thing you're working on is cornstarch and not to over-
control.

In general, this phenomenon is why I think the "Project Manager" as commonly
defined isn't implemented correctly. PM (in large companies) isn't about
_control_ (PMs have no real ability to control anything) but about
communication and coordination.

In smaller teams/companies, the role is usually distributed amongst others, or
centralized in the CTO etc.

([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RmamKIkpxs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RmamKIkpxs)
\- Non-Newtonian fluids are fun!)

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pdog
You should be writing with proper capitalization.

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jcater
Glad I wasn't the only one having trouble reading that. Which is a shame,
because it's an interesting analogy.

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lutusp
The article isn't that interesting except for its example -- the front rudder.
It's easy to see why a front rudder would lead to instability -- a small
initial change in heading leads to an ever-larger change in heading, and the
system isn't self-stabilizing.

The classic example of something like a "front rudder" and its consequences is
the Wright Flyer, the pitch control for which was in front of the center of
mass (the rudder was aft).

[http://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/wright/images/flye-lotech.gi...](http://www-
tc.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/wright/images/flye-lotech.gif)

The result of this arrangement is that, ans anyone who has tried to fly a
modern version of this craft will tell you, it's very difficult to control in
pitch, and constant adjustments are required.

Pretty soon Glenn Curtis and others got the idea to put both the rudder and
elevator aft of the center of mass, which greatly increased flight stability.
That arrangement quickly became a universal standard.

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mason55
I'm an engineer who occasionally project manages. At first I felt like I was
doing a terrible job because I wasn't in there helping make all the decisions
and being the hub for the spokes to communicate through. Every project I'd
feel like I wasn't doing enough (luckily laziness won out over my fear of not
doing enough) but every time the project would get done.

I still don't particularly like project management but I'm learning to enjoy
the feeling of not doing enough, at least on internally facing projects.

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spiritplumber
As someone who has done work on ferry boats, I can assure you that there are
ships with a front rudder -- it's just kept center-locked most of the time.

Also, larger ships use these
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_thruster](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_thruster)

OK, nit-pick over.

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andrew_wc_brown
Analogies are awful. I wasn't sure what their trying to get at. Anyone can
translate this story in no-nonsense clean speak?

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bigtech
Yes. When you do something it has bad results, don't do that.

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jpswade
Many cars are front wheel drive.

What's wrong with capitals?

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jstanley
That's why cars are easier to manouever in reverse. Also why parallel parking
is done in reverse: so that the steering is done from the "rear".

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jpswade
I find my car easier in forward. It's easier in forward, even though it's a
front wheel drive.

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jstanley
It's easier to drive, but it is less manoueverable. It is impossible to
parallel park forwards without a great deal of room and shunting, whereas when
going backwards you can put the rear of the car in position, and then swing
the front across.

Being front or rear wheel drive doesn't change this point, it's where the
steering happens that matters and is purely a case of geometry.

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zeckalpha
Uh oh. That's me.

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ebbv
You are not e. e. cummings. Use proper capitalization.

