| Don't ask, just do |
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By S11 or sirian, Section Diaries
Posted on Wed Feb 12th, 2003 at 23:49:45 GMT |
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Like many Free Software developers in history, I've hit upon a development philosophy that seems to work wonderfully...at least for me...so far. It's called, "Don't ask, just do", or more likely "Don't be a chickensh*t".
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Here are some of the tactics involved. Feel free to dismiss them as foolish nonsense:
- Be vague about your future plans. No matter how much you plan, and try to stay "on course", your project will turn out to be something you didn't intend from the start. So vagueness is the appropriate way to go, as it leaves you the flexibility to change your goals and stick to them at the same time.
- Push forward with whatever you have available at the time. Instead of saying, "let's meet in a month and discuss all these plans we have", say "well, not everyone's here, but what can we do next?" There ought to be something to do; it's a bloody community project, after all.
- As part of the previous bullet, figure out what you can do immediately. Then force yourself to choose among the possibilities.
- Don't be a chickensh*t. As you're about to do something that may either offend or please the community, or could step on someone's toes, or could make you out to be a big idiot if it backfires, do it anyway. For most of the community, any action is better than no action. I say this because, I've had to say it to myself to head off a big round of second-guessing.
- You're working in a project. They're asking for your contributions. Don't ask their permission before making them. If they reject your work after the fact, move on.
I could list more, but then I would be spending less time applying what I've learned in the past couple of weeks, and more time writing about them. So I stop.
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