# Idea to Impact ![[Attachments/77e0de0bff4087546b0dd8fa51c04e23_MD5.jpg]] ## Metadata - Author: [[Kent Beck]] - Full Title: Idea to Impact - Category: #articles - Date: 2023-08-08 - URL: https://tidyfirst.substack.com/p/idea-to-impact - [ ] #toFile ➕ 2023-08-08 - [ ] #toProcess ➕ 2023-08-08 ## Highlights added 2023-08-08 - Pretty arrogant for an 18-year-old, but at least it gave me a way to measure progress (since then I’ve gotten even older ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7atqsrac2s3w9egsdf2yxt1)) - Note: I can relate to that 😜 - Here are the stages: 1. Adopt personally 2. Find the totem 3. Repetitively broadcast ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7atrqayg3n7xj1ycetkx37d)) - Note: Yep. And I’m way far from being there. Never took the broadcast part seriously enough, but now I want to - Before I go into detail, let me first say that one difference between success and failure turning an idea into impact is work. Lots and lots of work. Consistently, the people who have impact work harder than other people. Working hard isn't enough, but it's necessary ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7att2cnkvv62k8jkefzjdkt)) - Note: That I know how to do - Work, oh, and time. I gave a RailsConf keynote in 2008 where I laid out the 20-year timelines of my most impactful ideas. Each took twenty, two zero, years from idea to general acceptance. It's just going to take a while ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7atth3qh158fgjhxdxvba4f)) - Note: Ok that I can relate to as well and know how to do. In a way, learning to draw and keeping sketchbooks was the start of the thing I'm still working on. But I really haven't broadcast too much over the last years. - • What is my intention towards my audience's power to choose? • What do I hope to gain by spreading this idea? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7av7z2s0zdatrexa6bfewkz)) - Note: That is maybe where I fail. Am I actually interested in spreading this idea beyond "I think this is cool and it works for me". Maybe that is enough as a message? The audience can choose, and my message is "this helps me build better software" in the sense that I would never posit that anything I do helps build better software, except if I were in the position to measure that objectively, which we all know is not possible - I am controlling (thanks to Larry Constantine for pointing this out). When I am not in my right mind, I see other people as extensions of myself. I'll do whatever I can think of to get them to act how I want them to act. I know, I know, that trick never works, but it doesn't stop me from trying. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7avb0630tpyx2zycjwrgepy)) - Note: I am too, I think. I've just learned to let it go / to concentrate on my own stuff. By controlling other people to not interfere or come in contact with me, lol - I also need to check my own motivations. What is the balance between getting validation, selflessly serving, and pure geek joy? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7avcqh876ytd6ah2yy8pdf4)) - Note: I guess that is what I was referring to above... - I don't know the intellectual and emotional hooks that will interest and motivate other people to try what, if I'm doing it right, sounds pretty crazy. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7ax4n7heq1dgmm9m7h2mpvr)) - Note: yeah i think i need to work on that lol. but the ideas are so intertwined and expansive and holistic, and it feels so painful to restrict to a tiny little feature of the actual idea. - Name. Names connect people with ideas. Names suggest similarity and difference. Sometimes names are pure whimsy. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7ax3z8w34exqaa8aanhhaqn)) - Note: always pure whimsy, please. We are here for fun. - Mascot. A caricature of a person, animal, or object can help people identify with the difference introduced by an idea. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7ay6rp7x80ft056ea26zs1w)) - Note: Need to make some that are not just AI generated crap. - Gesture. Stylized movements can reinforce an idea, whether it's a salute, the Bash Brothers , or my tradeoff gesture. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7ay7ajcv7834q08sprd675s)) - Note: lol wat - I'm up front with my friends about this process. "I think I figured out something this morning. Do you mind if I run it by you?" I do that ten times (or a hundred) and my patter is pretty well set. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7aw8z8xnam2d94j1ch54zbw)) - Note: maybe i should have friends... - Personal adoption is a *lot* of work. This phase can last years, trying different variations, researching the theory behind the idea, waiting. Everybody is so damned impatient about innovation, but I've never had time pressure or competition for any idea that I've turned into substantial impact. Waiting for the right moment is a powerful skill. It keeps you from lighting off the rocket before it is fueled. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7ave4k00q996bb86q3ma1jg)) - Note: yes but also, why else would you have an idea and the hubris to spread it if you haven't even tried it out and lived it? weird... - Diagram. The right three boxes and two arrows can demystify the idea. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7ay7rqtxyk8g2p6kjhshwz1)) - Note: need that for the commands and flags abstraction for sure - After repeating my explanation enough times, either my idea is back on the drawing board or I have shrunk my explanation by nine tenths and it's starting to sound slick. Now it's time for the rooftop. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7ay8jpyhfge6g6dmcww8hpx)) - Note: yep, i think i might start to get there for the glazed command and flag part, the go go golang meetup showed me that i just can't show the whole system at once, and that the ideation part that i presented at the GPN is a separate thing altogether. Not sure how I can totem that one, if I can give it a workflow name and if it is really best emobied as a book (creativity for programmers) or something like that. - I always start one-on-one. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7avfkrnw66nsgxd7zhnrnb0)) - Note: I *am* getting better at this, I think. It was the burnout from before, plus discovering I'm autistic and thus helping me frame my communication problems and actually giving me enough of a confidence back to even talk about my stuff, instead of assuming that everybody thinks I'm obnoxious and deluded. - My explanation is going to be terrible at first ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7avjxx09r3505v11w6gsftb)) - Note: In a way, mastodon at least helps me formulate the idea in text. Now that I've started capturing threads more often I hope I can turn those into microessays and put them in a form that is not so transient. - This part of the explanation makes sense, that part is irrelevant, and this part should go first. Thanks for listening. Next. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7avhfzhfv9xdw1g4mp2wm49)) - Note: yep, and I really should start (how I am lambasting myself...) on the LLM book to be able to share it even one on one but a t least in written form and about a whole idea, not just the latest thing I've discovered. - With a powerful, validated idea and a refined presentation it's time to broadcast it. Over. And over. And over. And over. And you get the idea. Every idea I've turned into impact I have repeated for years. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7ayfpcms6mjgecbdht02wa9)) - Note: Ok makes sense to me. It's good to be older, as well. - I use blogging (like this), Twitter ([like that](https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FKentBeck%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3xyoV5ttwtvycc9dnfH73VWKP8ZdaCaqFK4z-VZBxB4GZjolVqrc_kwe4&h=AT27yddEd4r-oZZ9-MtAWJbLLBnlECRfc6xTONI2q4gqJyW1j1SwPhAyZny9EKFJE3PJ0e-HitckiSBd64kVMdjioz_3fTh8IIhqMYJZP0dREj71vOCIyCRjtzbH4NsH81Hw_989sosax_8xztyte-vA)), speeches, one-minute videos, Facebook groups, and maybe someday comics to get the word out. I pay attention to the response and tune my message along the way. I also continue applying my idea along the way so I have fresh stories (plus I just enjoy doing stuff). ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h7aygpbdgy9a8xnsrhy6gzrk)) - Note: videos videos videos and practical exercises