Microcosm

I live in a microcosm. 

So last week I went to SCNA and talked to a bunch of people there that I don't talk to enough. I've also been having lots of conversations about How it Should Be Done™

So many of the people I've been working with over the past 10 years or so have very similar back grounds, have read the same books and white papers, and worked in the same environments. There is a significant degree of group-think involved. 

Recently though, I've been exposed to some new people who don't have those characteristics, or rather, come from a different group. I'm learning a lot about how other people think about problems and I'm learning a lot about how other people think. 

I don't agree with some of the things I'm learning; which is to say, I've learned a few new techniques and ways of looking at problems and I don't agree that they are more effective or better than what I was already doing. I'm trying to be careful to avoid a false confirmation on these things of course.

What I find most useful about this experience is that I gives me a change to question how I've gone about solving problems for the last 25+ years. Some days it sucks, because you stand there questioning something you've been doing for 10 years and wondering if you've been 'wrong' for that long. Sometimes it's awesome because you get validation of your technique.

All of us live to some degree in a bubble created by those who surround us. All of us could be fooling ourselves every day in terms of How it Should Be Done™  

I highly recommend that you get out, meet some new people (or read some new blogs) and consider that what you think you know as the right thing might be improved upon.