Sunday 9 June 20243 min read

Be the source of your technical decisions

Let people be your lenses, not eyes

Evaluating my technical choices always proved difficult. But I think it gets easier with time. Today I would die on the hill that learning to trust your gut while not being deaf to others is the way to go.

Looking for an answer to a problem you will be bombarded with opinions (even your own), case studies and even research. But to make any real use of them, you quickly discover that you need to filter them:

Being able to think critically is probably just the starting point. Next goes self awareness, of which we probably have less than we think, especially in the world of overstimulation. Lastly, how you perceive and model the world in your head is crucial to develop correct ideas and communicate them well. It's not just about being able to think and talk, but also to listen, to understand, and to be understood.

Maybe it is not only hard for me sometimes? I think I have done a few jobs with satisfying results to have a bit of confidence that while trying hard, I can do things right. So if I find decision making difficult, maybe others do too?

If at the end of the day, you are still unsure, even after asking for help - there are two ways to go:

Ignore the idea or just do something.

Make it personal.

Acknowledge that this stuff is too complex, that maybe you are too stupid, that this won't work for you or your team!. It's ok.

Or do it. Believe that it will work, that you can make it work, that you are going to learn to make it work. That it is in you and in others too. That you can bring that something out of everyone, or find others that can do it by default.

And in both cases, you will make what you learned yours. You will now be really able to say if the idea was good for the world you live in.

It is true that if you don't try you won't know what is possible. But you are here to move boundaries of what is possible, not break them. The first one leads to growth and success, the second to personal disaster. You will listen to stories of failures and successes, and won't hear about thousand more. And for those you did listen to, are those people happy now? Those stories won't be about you most of the time, so should you always consider them or even worse, try so hard to fit them into your work and life?

This got philosophilcal, but we started talking about technical decisions. Sorry about that. Tldr; I am making my own choices this way:

Not everyone is competent enough at all times, ourselves included.

Let people be your lenses, not eyes.

See for yourself.