Meta Learning

Learning how to learn.

Try also http:like (right column).

KentBeck's DrivingMetaphor talks about constant adjustment. It implies great things can be accomplished by keeping your eyes and your mind open, and constantly adjusting yourself and your actions.

Can this approach be applied to itself? i.e. can we make constant adjustments to our constant adjustment process?

Sure we can make constant adjustments, that requires only imagination. Can we figure out how well these adjustments work? How do we get feedback on how well we're learning? -- MatthewAstley

For years, I struggled to keep my apartment picked up. After I found collecting little rules helped my software development (see ThreeRules), I tried collecting little rules for apartment cleaning. The following little rules helped:

Have what you use, and use what you have.
A place for each thing, and each thing in it's place.
Clean the worst mess first.
Get a friend to help you do major cleaning.

Looking at my empirically-arrived-at apartment cleaning rules, I noticed the first two rules were alignment rules - rules that say match or measure one thing with/by another (have <-> use, place <-> thing).

"Have what you use and use what you have" is an apartment cleaning rule. "Collect alignment rules" is a learning rule, i.e. MetaLearning.

MetalEarning: see GoldOwner.