I appreciated Kevin Fenzi’s post on Knowing Vs. Doing and it pushed me to clarify the thinking behind my original post.
Kevin has a great point that there can be a lot of enjoyment from “knowing” and acquiring knowledge to which I would add, “even if there is no plan for what you will do with that knowledge.” There is nothing wrong with that.
I want to be a person of greater forward progress and accomplishment. These are two things that I value. I also value knowledge. I’ve found, however, that when I place all my value on knowledge things get lopsided–more and more time gets invested in “wanting to know” and the resistance to “doing” gets higher.
This makes me wonder if the discussions in the Fedora Project are too focused on “being right” before “doing.” Mitch Joel had a recent article along similar lines called Complaining vs. Doing. I’m hoping for more “doing” and less talking, arguing, and complaining.
No one is required to share my values of forward progress, accomplishment, and knowledge. I do think it is important to consider the affect our values might be having on the Fedora Project. If someone places a high value on arguing and debate, does that create an environment for a pleasant, sustainable Fedora Project?
Someone could equally argue my values of forward progress and accomplishment are detrimental to the Fedora Project, though if I thought that were true, naturally I would not focus on them.
What do you value most as it relates to the Fedora Project and what are you doing about it?
March 10, 2010 at 9:53 am
The vast majority of work done in the Fedora Project gets done without controversy, debate, argument, or complaining.
When the work that you want to do has or is perceived to have an unpleasant consequence on others doing their work then we often see these sorts of interruptions. These are times where thoughtful deliberation is something I place high value on, but it is ultimately the responsibility of the “doers” to carefully consider the feedback they have received (some thoughtful, some constructive, some hysterical, some unpleasant, …) and make a decision to move ahead with doing or to drop it and move on to something productive.
You can’t expect or wait for 100% buy-in in these cases, that never happens. You need to recognize when it is time to stop the talking about and begin the doing if you are committed to it. Otherwise you fall into the trap you describe here of getting stuck in the “gathering information” stage at the detriment of the “getting something done” stage.
I will add one other thought about this regarding failure. Failure can occur at different points. You’ve talked about the likely consequences of failure at the doing stage before and I largely agree with your thoughts about that. Failure can also occur at the rallying the troops to buy-in to a change stage. Failure at this effort also likely doesn’t cause any long-term irreparable damage to the project. Often good ideas that lack broad support gather that support over time, after a false start here and a false start there, to succeed in the end. How much value you place on the buy-in before the doing is another choice you make.