Comment by 082349872349872

2 years ago

I suspect our differences in preferences for cold- vs warm-blooded projects may be related to the "Buxton Index" as mentioned in https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD11xx/E...

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chrisweekly  2 years ago

Curious, I read the linked transcript to find:

"My third remark introduces you to the Buxton Index, so named after its inventor, Professor John Buxton, at the time at Warwick University. The Buxton Index of an entity, i.e. person or organization, is defined as the length of the period, measured in years, over which the entity makes its plans. For the little grocery shop around the corner it is about 1/2,for the true Christian it is infinity, and for most other entities it is in between: about 4 for the average politician who aims at his re-election, slightly more for most industries, but much less for the managers who have to write quarterly reports. The Buxton Index is an important concept because close co-operation between entities with very different Buxton Indices invariably fails and leads to moral complaints about the partner. The party with the smaller Buxton Index is accused of being superficial and short-sighted, while the party with the larger Buxton Index is accused of neglect of duty, of backing out of its responsibility, of freewheeling, etc.. In addition, each party accuses the other one of being stupid. The great advantage of the Buxton Index is that, as a simple numerical notion, it is morally neutral and lifts the difference above the plane of moral concerns. The Buxton Index is important to bear in mind when considering academic/industrial co-operation."

  • apantel  2 years ago

    Great concept, but isn’t it just “time horizon”? Everyone knows “time horizon”.

    • Jtsummers  2 years ago

      Not everyone knows it, strangely, many of the (senior or junior) project management-types I work with have to be introduced to the term and concept (and if they listen it can at least resolve confusion, if not conflict, about the different priorities and behaviors of all the parties involved). But yes, they describe the same thing.