Patterns and Foundations

I’m an emergent order kind of guy.

I think most of the time, when we try to plot and plan processes for everything from the top and beginning, we waste time and get it wrong enough that it will change anyway. Better to nail down a very few principles, and let the processes emerge organically from the interactions of real humans within the broad confines of these principles.

These emergent processes can later be codified for easier scaling. But by that point, the codes serve mostly for new people to speed up the acclimation process, and to handle edge cases more quickly.

Starting with a fat foundation of coded culture feels fraught.

However, I will admit I sometimes take this too far and fail to setup a clear enough and defined enough foundation. I rely on a few principles, mostly unspoken or ill-defined, and wait for the emergent order to come. It does come, but sometimes along the way everyone is irritated and confused by the vagaries.

Part of me wants to just blame people for seeking too much guidance, trained by schools and states to be rule-followers who fear their own freedom. Whether or not this is true, it doesn’t help anything. We’ve got to deal with reality as we encounter it, so people’s desire for more clarity and definition demands some bending on my part.

I’m still working on that.