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Exploring Solution Spaces, Keith Ray's blog on Software development and other topics.
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2005.Jul.02 Sat
Cut Your Car Refueling Costs in Half
According to what I've read here, Brazil lessened its dependency on foreign oil by converting, over the course of the last three decades, to gas-alcohol mixtures. Their "flex-fuel" cars and trucks can run on pure gasoline, pure alcohol or a mixture. Currently alcohol fuel in Brazil, made from local sugar-cane, is half the price of pure gas, and 40% of the vehicles are running on it.
Most American cars can run on mixture of up to 10% alcohol without modification. There are perhaps 5 million "flex-fuel" vehicles in the U.S. that can burn a mixture as high as 85 percent ethanol. Unfortunately few gas stations can handle "E85" fuel. Adding ethanol to gas has been called a ploy for farm-subsidies, but if the U.S.A committed to it, we could seriously reduce our fuel prices, reduce pollution, and reduce our dependance on foreign oil.
If we also gradually convert to hybrid gas-electric cars that can optionally be plugged in for recharging, we further reduce our dependance on oil. Eventually more electric power-plants would be needed for overnight recharging, but few or no power-plants depend on oil. New plants will be more efficient (and thus less polluting) than old ones, so this path will also lead to eventual reductions in pollution.
"One Best Way" versus "Options"
A book I have talks about preferences for 'one best way' (also called 'process') versus 'options'. 'Process' people want one way to do things, want to be told how to do it that way, and want to be told that it is the 'best' or 'right' way.
'Options' people always want to invent a better way. If they're told 'x process' is the 'best way', they'll try to find a better. Options people are good at inventing processes, but not so good at following them.
When talking to 'process' people, if you can establish your credentials as someone who should know the 'best' way, explain how following the process of test-code-refactor insures good design. Explain the rules of good design (modularity, encapsulating behavior, cohesiveness, low levels of coupling, etc.) and give examples of how following the test-code-refactor process produces code that meets those criteria and how design-code-(maybe-test) so often fails to produce code that meets those criteria.
If you are talking to options people, you can mention how a whiteboard design session before TDD can let you explore options in the design, and how the rules of good design creates flexible code - allowing more options on how to use the code in the future.
To get 'process' people to consider options, repeat this phrase:
"One choice is not a choice, it is a trap;
two choices is not a choice, it is a dilemma;
three choices is a choice."
(I believe I got that saying, perhaps worded slightly differently, from Jerry Weinberg.)
Repeat this saying often. Establish it as a process to follow to avoid traps and dilemmas.