Chinese Idiom Stories for Software Professionals: #29 Look for a Steed by Book (按图索骥)

Handling issues mechanically in the outmoded ways without being flexible.

Image credit: http://yule.yjcf360.com/kaogutanmi/888266.htm

This article is one of the “Chinese Idiom Stories for Software Professionals” series.

The Story

Sun Yang was a well-known expert in looking at horses and judging their worth. He wrote a book entitled “The Art of Looking at Horses and Judging Their Worth”, based on his experiences and knowledge accumulated over the years. The book contains characteristics of various good-breed horses.

Sun Yang had a son who thought it was very easy to appraise horses according to the book. So he took it with him to look for fine horses. He found the characteristics of a toad fit the characteristics described in the book very well. So he happily took the toad back home to show it to his father. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Sun Yang said humorously, “This horse is difficult to ride as it jumps a lot.”

The Meaning

This idiom story means that people could follow certain clues to look for things and explore the unknown. However, it is necessary to understand the flexibility of knowledge and grasp the essential characteristics of things through appearances. People should broaden their views and explore things in dynamic ways to avoid rigidity and dogmatism.

Examples in Software Development

Once I was ‘borrowed’ to cover a tester on leave (for a week) in the project on the same floor. This team was clearly behind schedule. I could sense the tension among the Program Manager, Project Manager, agile coach and the two developers on the first day.

The program manager called a meeting with the developers and me (the tester). I was surprised that the Project Manager and the agile coach were not invited. The back-end developer complained about the work pressure while the front-end developer expressed that he had nothing to do at all. To me, this situation sounded crazy, especially when the project was behind schedule.