[#17] Strong Opinions ⛱️

This is one of those topics which does not have a head or a tail. But most of the time we fail to acknowledge the options we have in between right or wrong, yes or no, true or false, 1 or 0, and so on. In my experience, a clear decision may not lie within the extremes but certain realizations end up giving you great insights and perspectives which you can use to take better decisions next time onwards.

A few weeks ago I wrote a technical post, which was essentially a compilation of IaC tools. It, in no way, was a comparative analysis or had any order of favorites.

I read a comment somewhere saying a particular tool should have been on the top. I hardly give any funk in general. But a thought triggered in me - keeping the technicality aside, what could be the reasons a person may be so convinced that they have formed such an opinion about a particular tool?

That thought led me down memory lane, and I recollected many such instances. Architects tend to have similar but strong opinions, but that's a different rabbit hole altogether. A few years back, even I had preferences and I, for sure, was not shy in expressing them in the irrelevant social dinners.

Over the period, exploring many things has made me realize that these opinions do not matter much. First of all, the existence of a certain tool by itself says that there is a huge set of people who find it useful, to say the least. We should first learn to acknowledge that. Just because we have spent our life understanding a particular tool, does not mean others are not useful.

The lesson here is, to give space to others' opinions and understand their perspective and context. Listening to others will always be a virtue. Sometimes, our ego often lets us believe in ourselves a bit more than required.

-- Sumeet

LDT | Guest Posts | Resources | Wisdom