Why the Hamilton Operator Alone Is not Enough

Dominance alone is not enough.

Muscle alone is not enough.

Irritability, the property of response to the forces in the environment , is present in even the more primitive living cells. If a weak electric shock or touch is applied to an amoeba, it will immediately respond with a movement exemplified by a flow of its protoplasm. It will also respond to temperature, oxygen, pH, and various other environmental stimuli. Yet this primitive single-cell organi...

Why empiricism is not enough.

Those involved in the improvement science community have much to celebrate as more resources become available to improve patient safety. Professor Kathleen Steven’s letter in this issue reminds us there is still much to do and that progress depends on building the scientific basis for improved patient safety and health outcomes. Professor Stevens’ letter builds on Professor Pearson’s promotion ...

When Work Alone is Not Enough

The author is John Bascom Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The very helpful comments of Isabel Sawhill and David Ellwood are gratefully acknowledged, as is the discussion of an early draft of the paper by the members of the Brookings Roundtable on Children. A version of this article will be published in 2003 in a volume edited by Isabel Sawhill a...

Pair Programming: Pairing Alone Is Not Enough

The current focus on lightweight software processes emphasizes improvements in productivity and quality when two programmers work closely during development. We examine the productivity of two-person teams tasked to work independently on module construction versus two-person teams tasked to work concurrently on module construction. Analysis of this comparison reveals that teams in which member ...