Paraphrased and Misinterpreted

 

It's been a while since I've shared a "Faux Real Story," so this seems like a good time. Actually, this time, their is a bit more after the story as a bonus - so I hope you all enjoy it!

One of my early career jobs saw me holding the title "Programmer/Analyst II" for an insurance company in Madison, Wisconsin.  I was placed on the software development team that was pretty much populated with individuals early in their career.  I was only a couple years out of college myself at the time.

The big project assigned to us was to adapt claims processing software that was written by another company to fit our claims systems.  That meant I spent a great deal of time simply reading manuals and looking at the code (the software language code that instructed the computer how to act) to learn the details of how this set of connected programs (there were hundreds of them) worked.

Initially, I was the only person on the team assigned to this task, while the other members continued to write and revise programs for the old claims processing system.  But, the time came for them to begin the process of figuring out how we would transfer all of the old claims files from the old system to the new one.  It was their job to help me to understand how things were set up in the old system and it was my job to help identify how all of that lined up in the new one.

So we had two projects on our plates.  One was to modify the new system so it did all of the things we wanted it to do.  The other was to write programs to convert old files accurately into the new file formats.  Neither was a simple task.

During one conversation I had with one of my team-mates I suggested that we could handle records that couldn't be translated without more human input by implementing a "post-process."  In other words, we would run the software and convert 90 to 95% of the files with the programs, leaving us with 5to 10% for humans to review and transfer OR we could find patterns and create a secondary program to help us make better decisions for those records once we saw what sorts of records failed to successfully transfer.

I called it a "post-process" because it would happen after the primary conversion tools were run.

My cohort interpreted it to mean "posting process," a bookkeeping and accounting term that was... um... not entirely accurate, but was close enough that it wouldn't cause confusion.  I tried to correct him a couple of times, but gave it up as a cause that wasn't worthy of further effort.  

So, from that point forward we had a "posting process" that would happen after most of the old files were converted to the new format. 

My only qualm is that my co-worker proudly would tell everyone that the posting process was my idea - and so was the name.  I couldn't help but squirm a little bit each time, even though he WAS being nice and even though posting process wasn't incorrect either.

Join the herd

I am absolutely positive that I have misunderstood other people and steadfastly failed to take the clues being sent my way that I haven't quite got something right.  It's just that there are times when you are so happy to have acquired some new term, phrase or quote that you don't take much time to examine whether you are holding it at the right end.

It's kind of like getting a new power tool or hand tool.  You're happy you have it and like the idea of it very much.  You just don't always take the time to fully appreciate what it's best uses are and what the most effective way to use it might be.  After all, you could use a hammer and hit the nail with the handle end if you want - or maybe you could turn the business end sideways and still actually drive a nail in.  It gets a bit more serious if you grab a reciprocating saw by the wrong end and turn on the power.

So, what got me off on this tangent?  

Well, one thing people love to do on social media is to share profound quotes attributed to famous people.  The problem is, more often than should be the case, the person being credited with words did not say them.  Or they did not say them quite THAT way.

Currently, there are memes running around that feature Dr. Carl Jung, crediting with the saying, "Thinking is difficult, that's why most people judge."

You could take this as a thought provoking statement or maybe just a provocative statement, intending to try and call people out for not being "good people."  I prefer the thought provoking side because it made me think about myself and whether I fall prey to judging more than thinking.... I'll let you chew on that a bit.

In any event, this quote is actually kind of a paraphrase of the real quote, which is "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" (page 46, "Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies," published in 1959.

Now that IS a provocative statement that is intended to put the majority of people in the level of "the unthinking herd."  The paraphrase is actually just a nicer way of saying it, I think.  I wonder if Jung would cringe at this mistaken attribution, angrily refute it, or just simply sigh and go about his business.

Regardless, it's no posting process.  Have a good day everyone!