Opinions vs execution

September 16, 2024

Something happens quite often on the internet that I find quite annoying. In fact, it happens at work & even in email responses to my daily posts.

People have strong opinions that are based on next to no first-hand knowledge. Conversely, they try to dunk on people who are actually building viable solutions with their bad opinions.

One example from recently: Someone told me that an idea we discussed for how to solve a problem wouldn't work & that the code couldn't be constructed that way. After a deep breath, I illustrated to the person that that's exactly how the code works today! I was explaining our current architecture, not asking for feedback! And the architecture is working just great!

Similarly, Twitter threads & YouTube comments are full of naysayers & what-abouters. People with little experience actually executing on things giving unsolicited opinions on why your idea - that's working to solve a real problem - is bad.

This is probably a broader lesson in life. Before you think you know everything & jump to share your opinion, take a minute to consider that you might not have all the information. There may be a real reason why things work the way they currently do.


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