It's definitely too easy to get caught up and forget this sometimes.

I have a hard time believing this. I'm fairly certain static typing is the root of all evil, and that Ruby on Rails will lead mankind to utopia.

@foobar: LOL!

Technology only matters to a certain pay grade. If you want to grow in your company, eventually you'll have to become more "value-minded" and do whats more valuable to the company. However, with that said, if you arent upgrading servers, software, etc, a level of risk comes with that as well. So read up on the stuff, but you don't always have to execute.

I'm sorry, but I just have to disagree. I've worked with many a curmudgeon who shared the "technology doesn't matter" mantra and their abilities suffered dramatically as did their comprehension of new concepts when "technology" was necessitated by outside forces. They screamed "but it's the solution that matters" until they no longer had a job because they simply couldn't come up to speed with the technology that was suddenly required. I also think that what is being overlooked is the adaptation of newer (or current) technology can give rise to newer solutions and even opportunities for improvements and enhancements that both weren't possible years ago as well as were unknown until the new technology arrived. It's like an amputee having a peg leg and saying, "it gets me around, that's all that counts" and he misses out on things like running or walking without a limp because the new prosthetics weren't available when he got his peg leg and the cost to upgrade to the newest technology may then be prohibitive.

I just don't understand the blogger penchant for contrarian declarations of absolute "principles" that attempt to lead into some faux-deep examination of "why" in the attempt get get people to marvel and the pseudo-profundity and whisper, "Hmm...I've never quite thought about it like that, but he's right."

@gazelem67

Not sure you read the post but that your disagreement is covered in it - it's not saying you should keep you head in the sand, in fact it goes on to express the importance of keeping at the front of the curve in order to know when it's a good time to move up. Most of your comment is reflected in the post.

As for absolute principals, nothing is ever absolute - there is always a time when a different principal will apply (e.g. - what if your business is built on using the cutting edge 24-7 as a point of difference?). Providing an opinion on a blog is somewhat the point of a blog, not every post has to be a "how to achieve x with technology y" :-)

Great analogy however!

- JD

I read it. I'm just a crank today. Feel free to ignore me. :)