Take a step even if you aren't sure of the end

Happy Friday!

Yes, I know you haven't received an email from me in a while. I hope you endured these dark times.

I was thinking about a common pattern that I deal with quite a lot, even in my personal life, and I wanted to write about it. I most commonly see this pattern play out in technical teams, so you'll likely see it, too, if you know what to look for.

Alright, the scenario goes like this—something needs to change, and everyone even agrees on the change, but nothing happens.

For one company, the teams know their technology has suffered from years of neglect. They all agree that they need to refactor and eliminate tech debt. Even leadership agrees. There is no resistance to this. Yet, the teams continue to avoid doing it.

I sometimes call this the "Clean house fallacy." It occurs when something intimidating, like a messy house, overwhelms you to the point that you can't make any progress, like cleaning a single room. In other words, the scope of the destination prevents you from taking any step.

Now, I find technical teams are especially susceptible to this. They want to feel certain their efforts will pay off, so they don't want to clean up if it only makes things worse. They often can't know that, so they stall out.

Think about this in terms of your own growth as a leader. There are countless issues that seem vague and unpredictable. It's easy to feel powerless and feel that you're just along for the ride. So, it's hard to take any steps because it feels futile.

The magic I've found is to move the conversation from the way things feel to the choices you have.

So, if you're on a technical team, you may feel like the clean-up may be a waste of time, but you have the choice to work on a small part and improve some small thing.

If you're a leader and things seem out of your hands, you have the choice to get more involved or shift things in the way that seems correct right now.

You always have a choice. Don't let the dirty house prevent you from cleaning one room.

Have you ever felt this way? I'd like to know about it and what you did to get through it.

Sincerely,

Ryan