Comments on: In praise of mistakes

By: Michaël Guitton

Michaël Guitton — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:04:30 +0000

For the record, PPK’s addEvent() recoding contest in September 2005 is another example of javascripters looking at each other’s work and derive something great from that. When Dean Edwards — a member of the contest jury — released his addEvent() solution a month later, it beared some striking similarities with the DOM0-based solution (entry #21) I had submitted but it improved things significantly enough that I didn’t raise the hue and cry.

By: Basavaraj kanavalli

Basavaraj kanavalli — Fri, 16 May 2008 06:47:01 +0000

hey dude,

Thank you very much for this writing. Its rtrue that we must admit our mistakes in order that prevent others from repeating it.

The ego that we have has to go in order to attain better team performance.

By: Isaac Z. Schlueter

Isaac Z. Schlueter — Thu, 15 May 2008 20:41:14 +0000

I’m a big fan of being one’s own harshest critic. A few years ago, after a similar (though much less public) experience, I decided that I’d try to get as much criticism as possible, and try to always be the first to pwn my own mistakes, but be genuinely grateful when it comes from someone else, and try to let them know that I appreciate it.

I’ve found 2 effects since then, which have convinced me that this is the right course of action.

1. It has a huge social ripple effect. Teammates are much more likely to point out my errors. They see me do it to myself, so they tend to not be uncomfortable about how I’ll respond. This means that my errors are more likely to be exposed. It also creates an atmosphere where others tend to be more receptive to criticism, and we can all stop tiptoeing around our code.

2. When mistakes don’t hide, there’s a lot less tendency to green-shift. (”Green shift” is what happens to a project’s status as it is reported up the management chain. The CTO thinks everything’s green, but the devs involved know it’s in trouble.)

Software demands honesty, and we should all still be friends afterwards.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:30:40 +0000

We all know “fail quickly, fail often” but failing visibly is also incredibly important. At so many conferences speakers only talk about the great stuff they did; how awesome their clients are and how happy they are to be on stage. I want to hear about what went wrong, how the client was a arse and how you fixed it.

By placing the metaphorical ‘head on a spear’ and making it visible on the cross-roads of a decision helps other people who’re facing the same decision learn from your mistakes.

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:22:49 +0000

I couldn’t agree more. It’s scary to put yourself out there, especially when you look up to the people critiquing you. So when I make mistakes, as I do on a regular basis, I take comfort in the fact that even if I’m wrong, I’m still ahead of the people who avoided risk by not even trying.

On the flip side, there’s no excuse for contempt when giving feedback; it doesn’t make you look stronger and can create an enemy when you could have had a friend.