In Joel Spolsky’s most recent essay, he discusses some differences between the Hebrew(?) terms ‘rosh katan’ and ‘rosh gadol’, meaning ‘little head’ and ‘big head’ respectively. Rosh katan may be translated most effectively in to the phrase “pinhead”, or, as he argues, someone who does exactly what they are told, to the fullest literal extent of the instruction. The rosh gadol takes the instruction and carries it out to the fullest extent of the instruction’s intent. These terms qualify quite accurately the difference between a programmer and a developer, Joel claims.
He makes the interesting point that in a system likely to “penalize direct disobedience with swift and harsh penalties,” acting as a rosh katan is one of the only ways to resist authority. I somehow identify with that, even if it is on a much smaller scale than the actions of an individual facing some sort of totalitarian regime. Have you ever worked very hard only to find that your efforts were not rewarded, because you followed the spirit of an instruction, and not the letter? How did you respond to it?