I think The Good Place really nailed this one on the head: as our world has become more connected, it no longer fits in our heads. It becomes impossible to know

I think The Good Place really nailed this one on the head: as our world has become more connected, it no longer fits in our heads. It becomes impossible to know for sure what impact we are having, or even what we might want to change. Basically, we are living inside a spaghetti mess of a civilisation. But I’ve also spent twenty years working in various big balls o’ mud codebases, at companies that had big systematic problems that got them that way, and in that time I’ve found some strategies that can make positive changes, even under conditions of extreme chaos & status-obsessed executives. And they all start the same way: Find a coworker, ask them how their work is going, and then really listen. Don’t go in with any agenda except building a relationship with you coworker. If the have stuff they are proud of, tell them what you like about it. If they have stuff they are struggling with, you can commiserate. You might be able to help, but probably not: you are both living in a giant mess of a disaster world full of incentive systems that push people to behave the ways they are behaving. But by setting that aside, by prioritizing your relationship with even just one other person over that perverse system that exists today, you are resisting. Authentic, caring conversations that prioritize people over process are radical acts. Maybe the first person or the first dozen aren’t interested. That’s okay. Eventually you’ll have a second genuine conversation, and now you have two relationships. You can introduce those two people to each other, and suddenly you have a community. A community can get things done none of us could do alone. I learned these techniques from the grouchiest, grumpiest old grey beards I worked with, because they were how they built support for the infrastructure they wanted to use. I’ve use the technique for different purposes (livable code, low alert volumes, sufficient time & space to mentor junior engineers into being the mentors of junior engineers, not selling contracts to Palentir, more than two weeks vacation time, fixing user problems before adding shiny new whistles to get the PM promoted, not planning two years of work at once, etc), but fundamentally it is the same. Positive changes start with building a tiny little corner where we set aside our doubt, gather up our courage and build a community rooted in sufficiency and willing to trust.