PROBLEM:
The community needs a name for a group of people.
CONTEXT:
The group has distinct ideas associated with it.
FORCES:
- It's hard to remember the names of even 2 members of a group.
- It's cumbersome to say all of the names of a group's members.
- Using just one member's name seems to attribute all of the group's accomplishments to just that one person.
- You need a label for the group's ideas.
SOLUTION:
Select a name for the group that is memorable and which already exists in another context.
RESULTING CONTEXT:
If people like the new name, they start using it. This confirms the importance of the group in the eyes of the community which uses the name -- people don't usually give names to insignificant groups.
RATIONALE:
- It's funny!
- Your brain is already used to the name.
- Hearing the old name in a new context causes you to pay more attention to it -- you want to know who is important enough to joke about in that way.
EXAMPLES:
- GoF or GangOfFour
- Old use: Four leaders in China's Cultural Revolution[1]
- New use: The authors of "DesignPatterns" (Gamma, Helm, Johnson, Vlissides).
- The ThreeAmigos
- Old Use: Numerous... a Comedy movie, for one.
- New Use: The UnifiedModelingLanguage Guys (Jacobson, Booch, Rumbaugh).
- PartyOfFive
- Old Use: A Fox TV show.
- New Use: The authors "Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture" (PoSa).
- Does this count? TheThreeExtremos
- Old Use: The ThreeAmigos
- New Use: The ExtremeProgramming guys (KentBeck, WardCunningham, RonJeffries)
Originator: ?