Chamber 🏰 of Tech Secrets #36
The beauty of destruction
The Chamber 🏰 of Tech Secrets is open.
Any year that passes in which you don’t destroy one of your best-loved ideas is a wasted year. - Charlie Munger
One of my favorite experiences is watching things that I designed or built be retired and replaced by something new and different, led by someone new and different.
This generally means that things continue to progress and improve in our organization, getting simpler and better over time. As a bonus, it means I am no longer responsible for those things. 😁
The best line of code I have ever written is the one that was most recently deleted and replaced.
The best architecture I have designed is one that is actively evolving into something new and better.
The best leadership I have provided is giving others the freedom to destroy the things that got me to where I am.
These ideas only become tragic when nothing replaces my work, which means I worked on something that did not truly matter.
A few reflections on this idea…
There is always room for any idea, system, or architecture to improve and evolve to become better. Even if it is already simple and “just works”.
Being a stepping stone on the endless path of improvement is a high honor.
The hard break from one of your “best loved ideas” is destructive to the ego, which is good for the soul. This is particularly true if you have an identity (even just in work) that is associated with your discreet successes.
Breaking up with your “best loved ideas” creates margin for your next great idea. When we destroy and demolish, we make room for the new and better.
In my experience, successes are often bred of past failures and learnings. As things that were mine become someone else’s, give these new creators the grace I wanted as I iterated through the failure-to-success journey.
Which of your best-loved ideas have you let go of or destroyed this year? In that newfound margin, what is your next great and best-loved idea?
RIP Charlie. ❤️
This 5min video of Charlie is too good:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/garryconnolly_ripcharliemunger-commonsense-ugcPost-7135911648845832192-RJ63?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
with 1:43min left in the video he says
"It's extraordinary how resistant some people are to learning anything"
Are we truly "learning" if things are not evolving and becoming better? I love that you celebrate the "death of an idea/creation", not as a death, but if what was created was worthy, it was the catalyst to the "birth" of something better. Which deserves celebration, not grieving. "Being a stepping stone is a high honor" <--- love that!!