The non-programmers tag has no wiki summary.
117
votes
10answers
11k views
Has “Not everyone can be a programmer” been studied?
An old adage that many programmers stick to is "It takes a certain type of mind to learn programming, and not everyone can do it."
Now I'm sure that we all have our own trove of anecdotal evidence, ...
41
votes
15answers
3k views
How can you explain “beautiful code” to a non-programmer?
When speaking with a non-programmer friend, I happened to mention the concept of "beautiful code" and she wanted to understand what that meant, but I was at a bit of a loss as to how to explain it to ...
35
votes
13answers
2k views
Can a non-programmer successfully run a software company?
Back in 2006, one Joel Spolsky made the following comment:
Watching non-programmers trying to run
software companies is like watching
someone who doesn't know how to surf
trying to surf.
...
34
votes
18answers
3k views
How do you share your craft with non programmers?
Sometimes I feel like a musician who can't play live shows. Programming is a pretty cool skill, and a very broad world, but a lot of it happens "off camera"- in your head, in your office, away from ...
32
votes
9answers
2k views
Can non-IT people handle a wiki?
My company is looking to improve their market research data management.
Current data management style:
"Hey Jimbo, where's that picture of our WhatZit 2.0?
"yeah I remember that email about that ...
30
votes
23answers
2k views
What's a good Programming Metaphor? [closed]
I am referring to explaining to the non-programmer what programming is. I made sure to search for similar questions before creating this one, but the few ones I did find seemed to dodge the question, ...
25
votes
4answers
854 views
How to explain to non-technical person why the task will take much longer then they think?
Almost every developer has to answer questions from business side like:
Why is going to take 2 days to add this simple contact form?
When developer estimates this task, they may divide it into steps:
...
22
votes
15answers
3k views
Explaining programming to a child [closed]
How could I try to explain programming to a child, about 6 to 8 years old?
19
votes
7answers
762 views
How can a non-technical person learn to write a spec for small projects?
How can a non-technical person learn to write specs for small projects?
A friend of mine is trying to outsource some development on a statistics project.
In particular, he does a lot of work in ...
18
votes
14answers
2k views
How to explain programming to a non-programmer? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How do you share your craft with non programmers?
I tend to think that I might get such a question in the future...
How should I answer to it in layman terms?
18
votes
9answers
442 views
Which software development practices would you recommend non-programmers implement in their fields of work? [closed]
Say you had to give a talk to non-programmers who were looking to learn something from software development that they could apply to their own functions.
Question: What practices would you preach?
...
17
votes
10answers
3k views
Explaining technical things to non-technical people
I often have to explain technical things and technical decisions to my extremely non technical manager and I'm pretty awful at it. What are good ways to essential dumb things down for the rest of the ...
17
votes
10answers
924 views
How do you portray to non programmers what programming involves?
I get casually asked a lot to take a couple days to teach someone how to program. Most people really think they can learn what I know in a few days. When I tell them I have been doing this for many ...
13
votes
10answers
858 views
Why does it seem so hard for non programmers to understand versioning?
In the past I have worked with designers, BAs and project managers, all who regularly produce project artifacts, yet very really do they understand the concept of versioning. When I try to explain it ...
12
votes
9answers
566 views
How do you explain the source of an identifed problem without making it an “excuse”?
As practicing (as much as I can at least) "egoless programming", I'm focused on solving problems whoever wrote the code related (if that person don't make dangerous code) and I like to understand the ...
