the art and craft of workmanship

david pye

Herbert Press

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workmanship of risk vs. workmanship of certainty

git + cmd+z is the switch to the workmanship of certainty?

ch. 11 aesthetics

it rests on three things:

• regulated craftsmanship: it’s style matches the expectation: evident intention achieved with evident success

syle is setting yourself a standard of behaviour

• free worksmanship, with spontaneity and individuality not being hampered by and improving the design.

it used to be that free worksmanship wasn’t so well regarded because it was so common, but with the advent of industrial manufacture, it is the other way around. The special guy is being looked after (cf. Mythical Man Month?)

• diversity: the insertion of irregularities, disrespect in an otherwise perfectly planned and anticipated design

He states that there might be certain areas in which the worksmanship of certainty can lead to some of the details and diversity usually associated with worksmanship of risk. Programming might be one of those, turning certainty into risk by complexity.

We could think of hobbyists as simply less skilled, yet the definition he gives of amateur is one based on the work being done out of love for it, and not out of expected profit (which is in turn a pre-requisite for good craftsmanship). At the end, he still makes the difference with the amateur as DYI, amateurish.