4 ms·

Something I say a lot, especially at work, is "I could be wrong. I'm often wrong." I think it's very, very important to constantly remind yourself that you're n

by beat 8y ago

Something I say a lot, especially at work, is "I could be wrong. I'm often wrong." I think it's very, very important to constantly remind yourself that you're not always right, and you're (hopefully) not the smartest person in the room. (Another rule of thumb - if you're the smartest person in the room, you need to find a better room!) This also makes me think of the book Factfulness, by Hans Rosling. Best book I've read in years. In it, he details thought patterns common to all of us that mislead us and cause us to misunderstand or ignore even basic facts. He's not talking about "dumb people". He's talking about smart people, and how utterly wrong they are most of the time. It'll fundamentally change how you look at your own way of thinking.

tialaramex 8y ago
I've always felt that ability to accept that I'm wrong was essential to being any good at what I do ("write software") because of course the machine is (almost without exception) right and so almost always when I do something and it doesn't work that's because I got something wrong. I thought the variable was named something else, I thought the content type defaults to XML, I thought the input value is never zero, I thought that tiny change didn't need me to re-run the unit tests... I find that being constantly confronted by the fact that I'm wrong in what I do for a living (and a hobby) sets me up to handle the same elsewhere in a more healthy way. Example: I really like the intuitive explanation of what's actually going on with digital audio in Xiph's "Digital Show and Tell" and I often cite that when other people don't seem to understand - but this isn't because it was always obvious to me that's how it works. On the contrary, I find their explanation compelling because it directly confronts a common misunderstanding I had when I was younger. This misunderstanding was resolved by a friend & ex-colleague showing me more or less what Monty shows in the video (but with whatever gear he happened to have in his flat). Just like the video, he showed me that what I had believed was defied by the observable facts, and voilà my eyes were opened.
- beat 8y ago
  I think you're hitting on part of the real pleasure of software development here. Software is the real world. You can't negotiate, you can't beg, you can't bully, you can't do any of those human interactions to make it work. If the code doesn't work, the problem is almost certainly between the keyboard and the chair. As such, it's very rewarding when we get it right. We're displaying mastery over our environment. The book Shop Class as Soulcraft, by Matthew B. Crawford, goes into this extensively. He's talking about more physical labor, but I find the substance applies to software as well. (And although I love the book, you can save a lot of time by googling his original essay, which is a much shorter and more concise read.) Crawford argues that labor against physical reality, as opposed to human interaction, drives both intellect and morality. It's a key to living an ethical life.
  - wool_gather 8y ago
    I have a friend who's a metalworker, and I've always been intrigued by the parallels between our trades (mine being programming). I think my favorite correspondence, though, is that the material we work with is the same material that our tools are made from. If my build scripts are broken, I fix them by writing code. If his mill is broken, he fixes it by fabricating a replacement part.* --- *Not always, of course, but you get the idea.
wool_gather 8y ago
At some level, "smart" people may even have an easier time being wrong: one important facet is creativity. In other words, coming up with convincing justifications for one's incorrect stance, and digging in.

by beat 8y ago

tialaramex 8y ago

I've always felt that ability to accept that I'm wrong was essential to being any good at what I do ("write software") because of course the machine is (almost without exception) right and so almost always when I do something and it doesn't work that's because I got something wrong. I thought the variable was named something else, I thought the content type defaults to XML, I thought the input value is never zero, I thought that tiny change didn't need me to re-run the unit tests... I find that being constantly confronted by the fact that I'm wrong in what I do for a living (and a hobby) sets me up to handle the same elsewhere in a more healthy way. Example: I really like the intuitive explanation of what's actually going on with digital audio in Xiph's "Digital Show and Tell" and I often cite that when other people don't seem to understand - but this isn't because it was always obvious to me that's how it works. On the contrary, I find their explanation compelling because it directly confronts a common misunderstanding I had when I was younger. This misunderstanding was resolved by a friend & ex-colleague showing me more or less what Monty shows in the video (but with whatever gear he happened to have in his flat). Just like the video, he showed me that what I had believed was defied by the observable facts, and voilà my eyes were opened.

beat 8y ago
I think you're hitting on part of the real pleasure of software development here. Software is the real world. You can't negotiate, you can't beg, you can't bully, you can't do any of those human interactions to make it work. If the code doesn't work, the problem is almost certainly between the keyboard and the chair. As such, it's very rewarding when we get it right. We're displaying mastery over our environment. The book Shop Class as Soulcraft, by Matthew B. Crawford, goes into this extensively. He's talking about more physical labor, but I find the substance applies to software as well. (And although I love the book, you can save a lot of time by googling his original essay, which is a much shorter and more concise read.) Crawford argues that labor against physical reality, as opposed to human interaction, drives both intellect and morality. It's a key to living an ethical life.
- wool_gather 8y ago
  I have a friend who's a metalworker, and I've always been intrigued by the parallels between our trades (mine being programming). I think my favorite correspondence, though, is that the material we work with is the same material that our tools are made from. If my build scripts are broken, I fix them by writing code. If his mill is broken, he fixes it by fabricating a replacement part.* --- *Not always, of course, but you get the idea.

wool_gather 8y ago

At some level, "smart" people may even have an easier time being wrong: one important facet is creativity. In other words, coming up with convincing justifications for one's incorrect stance, and digging in.