I had read the “anything else is probably not going to work out, or is unreliable at best” as an insinuation that providing your thoughts regarding gaps or problems that one believes would be worth addressing is not worth doing.
Denotatively, I might agree that this assessment is correct; that is to say, it is unlikely that one comment on a matter is going to be decisive in influencing another person or institution to take the a positive action.
However, the framing does not make much sense when you consider the cost-differentials between providing an insight/comment and either persuading or otherwise causing someone to take up a proposed solution and/or taking up the project yourself. The cumulative effect of such low-cost contributions can be really substantial, and thus I would not want to discourage them.
I read (and perhaps others read it differently) this as discouraging a low cost contribution by subjecting it to an impact assessment appropriate to a higher cost contribution.
I totally agree that comments and observations will not solve problems by themselves and I would strongly encourage those who are able and willing to take the bull by the horns or find someone else who can do it.
Linch didn’t say there was “something wrong” with making general observations in the hope people acted on them; he said it was very unlikely to work.
I had read the “anything else is probably not going to work out, or is unreliable at best” as an insinuation that providing your thoughts regarding gaps or problems that one believes would be worth addressing is not worth doing.
Denotatively, I might agree that this assessment is correct; that is to say, it is unlikely that one comment on a matter is going to be decisive in influencing another person or institution to take the a positive action.
However, the framing does not make much sense when you consider the cost-differentials between providing an insight/comment and either persuading or otherwise causing someone to take up a proposed solution and/or taking up the project yourself. The cumulative effect of such low-cost contributions can be really substantial, and thus I would not want to discourage them.
I read (and perhaps others read it differently) this as discouraging a low cost contribution by subjecting it to an impact assessment appropriate to a higher cost contribution.
I totally agree that comments and observations will not solve problems by themselves and I would strongly encourage those who are able and willing to take the bull by the horns or find someone else who can do it.