Let’s momentarily suspend disbelief and say that:
- “building things” only means writing software,
- “shipping new products” only means releasing web apps.
OK, now consider two people:
Person 1
- Does not want to learn to code.
- They do not ship new products.
- Therefore they are not a builder.
Person 2
- Knows how to code.
- In fact, loves to code.
- Through this love, they’ve built a complex deployment infrastructure.
- It seemed like a great idea at first.
- But like many things, over time, it started becoming burdensome to maintain.
- Without maintenance and upkeep, it gets more and more complex and riddled with tech debt.
- Eventually, its complexity becomes to overwhelming that the person stops shipping things.
- “I’m not gonna do a re-write this weekend” and “but inertia”
feelsbadman.jpg- They do not ship new products.
- Therefore…
Is there actually a difference between the two people?
Actions speak louder than words.
Identity Politics
It feels so good to say that you are something. We strive for meaning and grasp onto labels that define who we think we are. But something feels deeply wrong about bestowing upon yourself a label while simultaneously not doing the thing the label bestows.
Footnote: ok, now let’s un-suspend disbelief
I haven’t put much thought into how this applies outside of “being a builder.”
For example
- Warren Buffet is definitely an investor.
- Warren Buffet also passes on a lot of investment opportunities.
- I don’t remember who said it, but I think one of the most important parts of being a good investor is to be able to “sit on your hands and do nothing 99% of the time.”
- Seeing and evaluating opportunities and deciding not to invest in them because they’re a bad investment is definitely the job of an investor.
So maybe the issue is with calling yourself a builder? Or maybe an important part of being a builder is being discerning about what you will and will not choose to build, as well as the self-awareness to throw something away and start over even when it seems like a rash decision but deep down you know it’s right.