Red Squirrel Reflections Dave Hoover explores the psychology of software development

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Skepticism, then Clarity: Thanks Rajesh
Thursday, November 11, 2004

On Tuesday, I attended Jean's Satir System Coaching experience. It was another walk down memory lane, reminding me of the family sculpting work I experienced in graduate school. I went into the experience with a bit of skepticism. My skepticism was not focused on Jean or her approach (or Satir's approach) to family therapy. My skepticism was focused on the occasionally overwhelming amount of dedication to Satir's approach I witnessed at AYE. The family therapist in me was a bit annoyed that no other approaches had been or were actively being considered.

During the experience facilitated by Jean, which, as Ron says, cannot possibly be captured in writing (particularly in a blog), I gained a new perspective that extinguished my skepticism...

People like Jerry, Esther, and Johanna provide me with the best example available of taking a specific approach to family therapy and applying it in the context of software development. Watching them work is an incredible opportunity to imitate their achievements. While I do not desire to imitate their/Satir's approach (though there are aspects of it that do fit for me), I can only hope to integrate my preferred approach (narrative therapy) as well as they have into the field of software development.

As I dropped my defensiveness and skepticism, this new perspective provided me with clarity. I need to re-immerse myself into the practice of narrative therapy, and of equal importantance, I need to re-engage it's leading practitioners. Jerry and Virginia together formed an incredibly powerful partnership: they were pioneers in their respective fields. My current hope is to be a catalyst, a connection, to somehow link together some key ideas, practices, and people in order to contribute to software development the concepts I found valuable as a practitioner of narrative therapy.

Note: I need to thank Rajesh for encouraging me during our time together at AYE.

Replies: 1 Comment

Dave,
I hope you will bring all of your system's training into your soft ware development work. I know you will do it in a way that will be well received.
Jean

Posted by Jean McLendon on 11/14/2004

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