I have just had my attention drawn to hacknot where I found an excellent article on “Basic Critical Thinking for Software Developers”. In the article “Mr Ed” makes clear the importance of making verifyable statements if you want to contribute any information to discussion about software engineering practices. I think however, the article has much wider applicability, and applies to just about any discourse. If one wants to minimise wasting time, being very clear about exactly what you are talking about is absolutely crucial. James Tauber made much the same point in his blog on Successful Technical Discussions.

In real estate it’s “Location, Location, Location”, in technical discussions, it should be “Definition, Definition, Definition” …