HomeDon't bullshit a bullshitter
Some (probably politically incorrect) advice I gave to my devs a few years back.
Many years ago (in the late ‘90s) I flew out to Denver, Colorado to meet with a hotshot ag internet startup. I guess they were a ‘startup’, I’m not sure if the terminology was in use at the time, it certainly wasn't in my vocabulary. They were a company run by some cowboy (figuratively and literally) out of Alberta, Canada. His (supposed) millions were made in a rural satellite TV cattle auction company. Now he was trying his hand at striking gold in the dotcom bubble. He had just bought a small outfit in Colorado and had listed on the OTC boards (penny stocks, little regulation) somehow. It’s hard for me to remember what they even did. Maybe veterinary supplies or horse classifieds or something. They wanted to buy my ag search engine in a stock swap deal. I think they were basically going from one acquisition to the next, using the press releases to pump the stock price. Anyway, lots of big talk with little substance. Even back then I wasn’t green enough to be sucked in. Six months later their stock price collapsed and they disappeared off the scene.
One thing I have retained 20-something years later from this episode is the saying “Don’t bullshit a bullshitter”. It was a phrase used by the cowboy CEO. I don’t remember the context in which it was used, but I had never heard it before and it made an impression on me. Urban Dictionary defines the meaning of the phrase as “A warning given when someone tries to talk around someone on a certain subject, but the person is very familiar with the subject matter.” Although new to me, it was immediately clear what it meant.
Every now and again the saying comes to mind. Normally it’s when someone starts in on an authoritative explanation of why something I've asked for can’t possibly be done. There is often a convincing justification delivered with conviction and sincerity, tinged with a hint of condescension, and a smattering of empathy/sympathy/commiseration regarding the unjustness of the universe for not allowing my needs to be met.
There are many many topics about which I know nothing. There are a few about which I know quite a lot. In those areas where I am ignorant I normally don’t expect to achieve something until I know it is possible. In those areas where I am knowledgeable I normally don’t ask for things I don’t already know are possible (or at least highly likely to be so).
Software is one area I know quite a bit about. It's irritating when I ask a developer for something software-related and get told it isn’t possible (this is different from when the request is a query regarding whether or not something is possible). If I am asking for it, it generally means that I already know it is possible and how it should be achieved. The dev either doesn’t understand what is being asked for, are not yet as skilled as they suppose, or are trying to avoid doing what is being asked of them.
When someone attempts to avoid delivering based on ill-considered, specious, or ignorant grounds they look bad. More so if they have cloaked their reasoning in a veneer of self-assessed expertise.
There are cases where I am hopelessly wrong. But based purely on the percentages it's a conclusion that should only be reached carefully. The good news is that if that conclusion is reached, and the evidence is solid, something useful has been achieved. I'll have learned something, and that is awesome. This happy circumstance will be rarer than most young developer egos would like. Accordingly, always be cautious about trying to bullshit a bullshitter.
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