Work on the wrong things first

work on the wrong things first

@amye - [email protected] - someone who has done this

This I believe.

Why does this matter?

No, really, why does this matter for you?

It creates clarity.

Work On The Wrong Things First.

I believe in finding your way forward by doing more, not less.

I believe in experimentation.

I believe there is no one right way.

I believe that the world has expanded even further that we know about - and that no one person can understand all of it.

I believe in kindness.

I believe that kindness extends towards bridging that divide between 'non-technical' and 'technical'.

I believe that Shakespeare was right. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

I believe in parsimony.

Why use 18 words when 3 will do?

I believe this in email, I believe this in documentation, I believe this in meetings, and I believe this for technology.

I believe that kindness extends through using short words.

I believe in creating space for us to mess up in.

I believe that words have meaning, and we show our values through our words.

That our actions towards each other indicate our humanity, our goals, and our collective achievements.

I believe in the campfire rule -- that we leave places cleaner than we found them.

But I also believe that we have the best change to change things when we understand how they came to happen.

I believe in finding what moments led from here to there.

I believe that the agency that an individual person can have on the course of history is tremendous.

Given the right timing and the right colleagues and the right ideas, small day to day things can add up to monumental achievements.

I believe that the work that we can do will matter a great deal in the future, even if we do not see it now.

Work on the Wrong Things First.

I believe that you don't get a chance to figure out what you really want and are inspired to do by magic - this doesn't come fully formed.

I believe that you find your way slowly, like reading a map, and that this map is different for all of us.

I believe that you learn more about what you want from the things that you hate.

The experiences that leave us cold and give us nightmares - the ones that stick with us - are our most valuable, useful memories.

Those are our wrong things.

They instruct us, they keep us honest, they tell us of where on the map -- here be dragons.

If we're good, we remember these times where we completely failed.

We take the lessons we needed to learn, but we also leave the things that we have no control over.

Situations, environments, people that we weren't good with.

I believe that things don't always have to work.

I believe in walking away when you've done everything you can.

I believe in walking away to save yourself.

I believe that not everything is perfect.

I believe that we have a duty to work on fixing the messes that we can see.

But I also believe that everything has a downside.

I believe that nothing is perfect.

I believe that engagement matters more.

That we work best when we become entangled in something to be able to see the important things but also the flaws.

I believe that we do our best work when we can see our impact immediately and also over time.

I believe that we can all have this capacity, and that we can encourage it in others.

I believe that we can work on something imperfect in order to be able to see what doesn't work.

I believe that when we belittle each other for our work in the space, we lose sight of the power we have.

I believe that this is inadvertent. That it comes out of ignorance.

I refuse to believe that this is malice.

I believe that our technology exists for a more free and open world.

I believe that we need to build for everyone, not just the people who can afford it.

I believe that we need to think about our technology infrastructure as a public good and not as a private pay-for-access.

I believe that we need to have access for all people.

I believe we can do better.

This I Believe.

Give yourself that kind of permission.

Except maybe, I've got one last suggestion. Just one. And that is, gear yourself for the long haul. Whatever path you choose -- business, nonprofits, government, education, health care, the arts -- whatever it is, you're going to have some setbacks. You will deal occasionally with foolish people. You will be frustrated. You’ll have a boss that's not great. You won’t always get everything you want -- at least not as fast as you want it. So you have to stick with it. You have to be persistent. And success, however small, however incomplete, success is still success. I always tell my daughters, you know, better is good. It may not be perfect, it may not be great, but it's good.

That's how progress happens -- in societies and in our own lives. Barack Obama - May 15, 2016

Work on the wrong things first.

What do you believe? Thank you.