The Cult of Done
Developers Bre Pettis and Kio Stark have rocketed to Web fame recently with their "Cult of Done" manifesto: 13 rules for fast building, learning, finishing, and getting onto the next do.
The manifesto, as author and work-life pundit Daniel Pink remarked, "has been flying around the productivity geek crowd on the web". (yes, there is such a crowd: see also Lifehacker.com, read Getting Things Done (WorldCat, Amazon).
Below is the manifesto, but do check out also the very cool poster accompanying it.
- There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
- Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
- There is no editing stage.
- Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.
- Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
- The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
- Once you're done you can throw it away.
- Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.
- People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
- Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
- Destruction is a variant of done.
- If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
- Done is the engine of more.
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Thanks for pointing this out, but I'm mystified by how little it takes to "rocket to Web fame." This screed is a set of bogus assertions masquerading as wisdom. Perhaps all it takes these days is to write succinct sentences using assertive language. Let me take a closer look at some of these statements:
1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
Oh really? Where is "learning," for example? But then I suppose if someone goes straight from "not knowing" to "action" that explains a lot of modern politics as well as lousy code.
2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
No big quibbles here, but then this is not great wisdom either.
3. There is no editing stage.
What a load of bunk. If "everything is a draft," then how does one get subsequent drafts?
4. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.
This is truly stunning. So by this logic these people would climb on a plane piloted by someone who is pretending to be a pilot? Give me a break.
5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
Again, what bunk. Some ideas need time to ferment before being ready for action.
6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
I really don't know what this is supposed to tell me.
7. Once you're done you can throw it away.
Again, stunning in its audacity. Some of the things I value the most are things that I have actively maintained over YEARS. Like the electronic discussion Web4Lib, the current awareness newsletter Current Cites, and my marriage -- just to name a few.
8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.
I suggest putting these people on a space shuttle built to their specifications.
9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
So this is a kind of "Revenge of the Nerds" statement, where only coders are valued and everyone else is baggage? Please.
10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
Failure counts as learning, so therefore it can have a kind of value, but it is not something to aim for.
11. Destruction is a variant of done.
Destruction is destruction, and it is not valuable on its own. It only has value when it allows for, or supports, something of value.
12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
Again, I haven't a clue what this is trying to say.
13. Done is the engine of more.
What can I possibly say? These people are something else. I think I'll go write my own list of assertive statements and get famous.
Roy, I think those criticisms miss that "The Cult of Done" is a manifesto, for the domain of Web & software projects.
Manifestos are provocations, designed to spur action and reaction. They are not the same thing as an article, analysis, or exposition, and can't be read as such; they don't aim to be complete, substantiated, rigorous, unambigious, or free of contradiction.
Also, this manifesto arose in the context of of Web / software development -- not pilot training, space shuttle design, or marriages. The criteria for it is simply, does it give one a useful or interesting new angle for action, in the domain described?