Bowling By Skill or Score

We had a team outing a while back in which we invited my team and their families to an outing of bowling. I'm not a great bowler, though I actually took a class on it in school and even got some one-on-one time with a skilled bowler at one time. So, though I don't bowl that well (nor that often), I do know *how* to bowl.

My wife, on the other hand, doesn't know how to bowl, doesn't bowl well, and doesn't bowl often. So, at the very least, I know better. Unfortunately, that didn't help me much that night as she beat me (though I might add, barely).

Now, I learned how to throw a hook, how to place it properly in the available pockets, etc. My wife was unaware of these, as she just let it go down the middle. But, she still beat me. In my defense, I'll repeat that I don't bowl often (about as often as my wife, which is next to never). But, I should know better. She still beat me.

Did I mention that she still beat me? Good. I thought I had. And that got me to thinking. What does it matter that I know how if it doesn't prevent me from humiliation in front of my co-workers? You see, it wasn't just my wife. My eight-year-old daughter *almost* beat me (can you see me hiding my face?).

So, I got to thinking about this. Anyone can pick up a ball and throw it down the lane and hope for the best. It's not that hard to pick up a language and throw some code together. It may seem that an inexperienced person can code just as quickly as a more experienced one. What about the proper process being followed during a project? There are plenty of successful projects that don't follow any known process; in fact, they're typically pretty haphazard.

I don't have an answer (other than I was out of practice) other than to believe that, over time, you'll have more successes when doing it "the right way." Having the right experience or following the process or bowling...eventually, the "right way" will win out (my best bowling score is still a lot higher than my wife's). Over time, a properly trained and intelligent developer will learn better, get better, and do better.

That's why there's technique... It's a "technique" because it was found that doing it that way "worked better." Just don't lose sleep over those times that it doesn't (and try not to be embarrassed that your daughter might almost out-bowl you).