Made in Humane Club
Veer-raj the deer was really good at arm wrestling. He and his friend Jumper the rabbit would arm wrestle every recess. One day, their teacher, Madam Hoot, saw them arm wrestling. She told them to stop arm wrestling, as it was violating the rules.
Veer-raj thought to himself, “Madam Hoot only said no to arm wrestling. She did not say no to thumb fights!“. Veer-raj shared his thoughts with Jumper, who immediately agreed.
The next day, both of them did thumb fights. Both of them were having a lot of fun. Finally, Jumper asked Veer-raj how they were able to go around what Madam Hoot was saying. Veer-raj replied, “Madam Hoot keeps giving us an inexplicit rule. This is how we will always be able to have some fun like this”.
But one day, the headmistress swooped into the class. Veer-raj was doing thumb fights with Jumper. They were both heavily scolded.
Veer-raj said, “Maybe we should ask Madam Hoot why she was saying no”. Jumper immediately hopped over to Madam Hoot and asked her the question.
Madam Hoot said, “I was afraid that you would get hurt. After all, if you get hurt, the responsibility is on me. I want to make ‘no physical contact’ a new class rule.”.
Jumper said, “But that would mean that no high-fives or handshakes were allowed either”.
Madam Hoot said, “No contests that require rough physical contact.
Jumper said, “Perfect!!!!”.
Madam Hoot wrote the condition with all the other rules on a chart paper and then stuck it on the wall. Veer-raj thought, “Making a good condition is hard after all!”.
Then in the next recess, Madam Hoot saw Veer-raj and Jumper playing push-ups. Jumper looked up at Madam Hoot and said, “No rough physical contact, just fun.”
Madam Hoot approved.
Things to learn: A condition is a rule. A vague condition has gaps that anyone can walk through. But writing a precise condition is harder than it looks, and you have to think through every edge case before someone else finds it for you.