Late response: I’ve read that book. I also work as a software engineer on the Experimentation Platform - Analysis team at Netflix. I’m not saying that makes me right, but I think it supports that my opinion isn’t from a lack of exposure.
> You are trying to apply science to commercial applications. It works, but you cannot twist it to your will or it stops working and serves no purpose other than a voodoo dance.
With this paragraph, you’ve actually built most of the bridge between my viewpoint and yours. I think the common scientific method works in software sometimes. When it does, there are simple changes to make it so that it will give better results. But most of the time, people are in the will-twisting voodoo dance.
People also bend their problems so hard to fit science that it’s just shocking to me. In no other context do I experience a rational, analytical adult arguing that they’re unsure if a full moon will measurably affect a count flip. If someone in a crystal shop said such a thing, they’d call it woo.
> You are trying to apply science to commercial applications. It works, but you cannot twist it to your will or it stops working and serves no purpose other than a voodoo dance.
With this paragraph, you’ve actually built most of the bridge between my viewpoint and yours. I think the common scientific method works in software sometimes. When it does, there are simple changes to make it so that it will give better results. But most of the time, people are in the will-twisting voodoo dance.
People also bend their problems so hard to fit science that it’s just shocking to me. In no other context do I experience a rational, analytical adult arguing that they’re unsure if a full moon will measurably affect a count flip. If someone in a crystal shop said such a thing, they’d call it woo.