[dustintrex]

Whenever I join a new team and need to inhale a new architecture or complex process, I take a stab at documenting what currently exists, and then share my notes with the team. Corrections immediately pour in, and this "wrong answer" inevitably produces a much better end result than asking any single person to tell me the "right answer".

[shagie]

One of my favorite collections of "stories" of software development is The Codeless Code http://thecodelesscode.com/contents (which draws some inspiration from The Rootless Root - http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/unix-koans/ )

The story of The Purple Beggar ( http://thecodelesscode.com/case/170 ) is about that phenomenon.

[beyti]

That's a really clever strategy and so obvious that now I'm feeling guilty of not thinking it out myself earlier. Thanks a lot.