When you’re on a smaller team and everyone does things the same way by using a de facto standard communicated out-of-writing it’s not so bad. When you start dealing with larger teams and have old code in need of a refactor it certainly helps to try to unify everyone’s efforts.

“Thinking outside the box” is indeed dangerous when you’re not looking for… well, it’s probably dangerous period. A scientist thinking outside the box might end up with VX gas.

I’ve seen frequent incidents here that are WTF Worthy. Like a website where all the links make Javascript calls to location.replace(“”) and where all the content of pages is essentially in include files instead of in a stable framework of template pages and where there’s only one real page in a site and the content of the pages is replaced based on a query string parameter.

“Outside (of) the box” is outside the limits of tested, structured, and working processes. Ideas get inthe box from the free thinking outside, but just working outside is going to be chaos.

If you really want someone who “thinks outside the box” you should probably append “… to find what’s in other boxes” or “… to form new tested, structured, and working processes for our company.”

On a related/unrelated note: Taco Bell’s have been paired up with various other restaurants in the dual occupancy model. One of the funniest instances of these pairings was a Taco Bell with a Backyard Burger in it. You can “think outside the bun” and get a burrito or you can go to Taco Bell for a burger and toss that slogan right out.

Thanks for writing again. I’d almost lost hope!