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by specialist 5223 days ago
> Very often I had nothing to say, because how do you tell a team of co-workers that everything they're saying is wrong?

Yup.

I (think I) have four buckets:

1) Awesome! I'm stealing it!

2) Worse than wrong (h/t Murray Gell-Mann) aka not good enough to criticize.

3) Hmmm, worth chewing over.

4) I have absolutely no idea (please talk more).

I'm more like Jason F, where I felt I had a moral obligation to fix things, and have had to learn to keep my mouth shut.

The most insightful advice I ever got was "Sometimes you just have to let people fail. It's quicker than opposing them."

Now I try to save my breathe for people who are worth my time and effort (investment).
3 comments
stdbrouw 5223 days ago
> "Sometimes you just have to let people fail. It's quicker than opposing them."

This can be incredibly annoying if you're on the other side, though. One of the most effective ways of killing a project can be to support it publicly but then do nothing at all to move it forward. Anything at all to avoid having a difficult conversation.

It all depends on the situation, I s'pose.

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derroboter 5222 days ago
> "Sometimes you just have to let people fail. It's quicker than opposing them."

Yes, that seems to be the case more often than not… As a consultant I see it almost as a guarantee for success in projects that come after/are replacing failed ones. I think it’s all about ego at the end of the day… people have to have their say and pursue it even if they’re not experts in the field (while they certainly think they are experts - hence the ego thing). I wonder - how can this thinking be undone?

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einhverfr 5223 days ago
Sometimes failure is a great teacher too.
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kstenerud 5223 days ago
Failure is ALWAYS a great teacher. As long as you're listening, you'll learn far more than you would from success.
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einhverfr 5223 days ago
I think the assumption there is that if we do everything right we will always succeed. I am not sure that is the case. I would say that failure (and success) both give one an opportunity to analyse what was done well and what was done poorly.

Sometimes when you take risks, you will lose.

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