When I was in my twenties, I did not respect authority. I
colored outside the lines. When a teacher or a boss told me what
they thought I should do, I asked "why?". Most didn't like
this much. When I told others what to do, they didn't ask me
why, nor did they particularly enjoy the experience. I found
the satisfaction of being able to tell them "I told you so" later
to be quite hollow.
When I was in my thirties, I did not respect authority.
Telling people what to do and asking "why" continued to yield
similar results with people who "ranked" higher than me. But
I found that more and more people were coming to me and asking me
for my opinion. Some of them even asked why. Those that
did seemed to like the fact that I would try to answer the
question. Once, one of the people who had sought my opinion
remarked about my tendency to color outside of the lines. My
response was instantaneous: "What lines?".
Now, I am forty. I still do not much respect
authority. I still occasionally ask why. But mostly I
plant seeds. I do things that cause other people to ask why.
Generally, the response is along the lines of "why not?".
When asked for clarifications, I rarely respond with generalities
any more, I try to cite specifics. It doesn't always work right
away, but I've learned to be patient. Trying to rush things
that can't be rushed doesn't work.
I rarely have the opportunity to tell people "I told you so" any
more. Instead, I now have people who come back to me and say,
"it would have been more helpful had you been more direct in the
first place". To which, I smile, nod politely, and resume my
planting of seeds.
So Sam, what happens when you do something new where you don't know all the answers and other people are planting seeds instead of being direct? How frustrating is that? I see you planting the seeds sometimes and I can't figure out wtf you're saying. Sometimes like your old colleagues I find myself wishing you'd just say what you're trying to say directly instead of beating around the bush. Maybe that's what you'll do in your 50's.
I blogged this and said "Brilliant" because it is. I have been the benefit of Mr. Ruby's "approach" quite a few times particuarly when I started blogging. I would get quizical responses or responses with questions (reminded me of my Native American Medicine Men teachers!). But it always caused me to think and become a better blogger and even better person.
I'm coming to the end of my twenties, and am learning to not be so 'frustrated' when my ideas are ignored. I keep my I-told-you-so's to myself. I hope my future holds something similar to your past. BTW, even while I am still young, I can remember only 2 of my teachers—both were seed-planters.
This week Stefano Mazzocchi visited us here in Paderborn. We went out and chatted about this and that. I mentioned being fortunate enough to meet you at OSCON in San Diego and being able to take some seeds from our breakfast conversations back to Germany with me. When I read this blog it was almost a word-to-word repeat of how Stefano described you.
I also am coming to the end of my twenties, and i also don't respect authorities. I've always asked why and did told-you-so's. But sometimes i feel it not to be the right track to be someone of whom i ought to be. So is it that i've much more experiences and ages to gain as your life track?(That sounded pretty like apprentice anakin asking master obiwan about his immaturity. didn't it?)
I have just come into my twenties, and I dont know much else than ask "why?" at pretty much everything on this blog. Rest vs Soap? Interop? Why why why??
I'm still in my 20s...I'm more like the rotten plant sam keeps trying to water but obstinantly refuses to grow ;-). I don't really ask why too much these days being a bit too busy trying to stay busy (how is that for a diseconomy of scarcity) and conducting most of my deep thinking in the shower in the morning and then in the loo... What I generally feel like asking (being in my 20s you understand) is "Does that go nice with beer?"... but I digress ;-)
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Sam's posting on the LGPL/Java issue referenced a
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Sam's posting on the LGPL/Java issue referenced a post of his from last year. As I re-read it today (I think I read it last year), it strikes me that this is a very "Eastern" way of leading / getting things done. It reminds me of how my parents deal...
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I am in my twenties and I am becoming depressed because I was dreaming to work as an engineer in the USA And when I tryed I could not do it, so now I am working as a training suervisor around of plent of engineers younger then I and that is so sad to me.......