What if Nothing Matters but Communication

Last year I gave talk — Hot Garbage: Clean Code is Dead. It’s about my journey as a programmer and accidental decent into being an asshole. The practical take away is that uncertainty isn’t as bad as we fear. Often we don’t have enough information to make a right decision and that’s fine. We make an incorrect decision and fix it in time.

It’s good. You should watch it.

That talk spun up a question that I can’t shake: What if nothing matters but communication? Can a team that’s naive — but united — cover more ground than a team that’s right but individualized?

That question has changed the way I work.

Instead of seeking an answer, I seek discussion. Instead of trying to persuade, I try to educate. For every interaction, the goal isn’t an outcome but a continuation of the conversation. And that conversation is delicate.

My hope is that a strong team, with a healthy process, will make better decisions with time — Even if we have to burn a few early decisions.

This is new experiment for me. What’s your experience? Have you been on teams that focus on unity over outcomes? What was the effect on work and moral?

🤔 chan