
Cargo cult programming - caffeinewriter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult_programming
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swatow
I don't think cargo cult/magical thinking is a useful concept.

I don't know enough about the original cargo cults to say whether they were a
reasonable attempt to understand very strange and novel events, or whether the
tribes entire world view incorporated magical thinking.

It didn't really matter though. There is really no comparison to modern day
programming. The analogy is to extreme to be meaningful. When you call someone
a cargo cultist what you're really saying is that the causal mechanisms that
person believes in don't exist. Which is a very normal reason for disagreeing
and doesn't need a separate concept with a lot of baggage (no pun intended).
It's like someone says "A causes B" and you don't say "no it doesn't" you say
"no it doesn't and you only think it does because you don't know how to think.
But it's OK, primitive tribes make the same mistake too."

The weakness of the concept explains the poor quality is the article. It is
packed with weasel words and original research/uncited claims.

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jszymborski
This cargo cult stuff, from which this term derives, get's pretty surreal
pretty quickly.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Philip_Movement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Philip_Movement)

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cpks
I worked in a cargo cult SCRUM organization for a while. All the rituals, none
of the understanding.

It sucked.

Fortunately, management got replaced by competent management, eventually.
Which is a really unusual outcome. It became a very good organization.

