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Whenever I consider writing a new blog post, I have to ask myself what the hell gives me the right to believe that I have a credible perspective that is worth consideration. Americans are notorious for expressing themselves with a tone of certainty in spite of having virtually no education on a subject whatsoever. I like to think that I’ve reached a point in my life that I am humble enough to avoid such pitfalls, but sometimes I feel uncertain. Anybody can declare himself an authority on a subject.

People become an authority based on audacity. People become an authority based on charisma. People try to turn themselves into an authority out of necessity because they need a job. People become an authority because they are in the right place at the right time and somebody needs to rely on them. But none of this actually makes a person a credible authority.

Challenging an Authority on a Subject

Authority can be unreliable, Authority can be unnecessary. Authority can be scary. Authority can be unlikeable. So people can become dismissive of authority. But this doesn’t mean the authority figure isn’t legitimate.

A lot of times all you have to define you as an authority figure is logic and reason. But this assumes that someone who is considering you as an authority figure is capable of understanding what you’re saying. You can be vague and you can be emotional. Authority figures can use these techniques to manipulate people.

I suppose the only truly legitimate authority figure is one who provided something useful or good, and it was appreciated by the person accepting the authority figure. Of course the accepting person may only believe that the thing is useful and good, but in reality it is bad. In which case, all that has been accomplished is someone has become an authority on a subject.

Am I an Authority on Web Development?

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You can always make it better. but the nature of software is the expectation that it will be updated, so how are you supposed to decide when your software is ready to be released? So when is it good enough?

It’s easy to justify putting things off a little bit longer so you can build something else.

If you’re working on the front end of a website, it’s easy to wait until your back end adds more features. And if you’re working on the back end, it’s easy to expect more out of your front.

So When is it Good Enough?

My experience has been that reason and logic are not terribly effective devices for making a decision. At a certain point, if you’re the decision maker, you’ve just got to decide that you believe in what you’re doing and put it out there. People will criticize. Some of it should be listened to and some of it should be ignored.

I realize that most of this just sounds like stating the obvious. But sometimes I need to tell myself the obvious to remind myself that the answer isn’t something more complicated than it ought to be. And I know from experience that sometimes hearing or reading the obvious is also helpful too.

If you read my last post you know that my current project has put me in a philosophical kind of mood. In times like these when confrontation and unexpected events are normal, sometimes I think it’s important to remember that America wasn’t built on big data and marketing gimmicks. It was built on great ideas and the ability to execute them and the guts to believe you have something good to offer.

Now Get Back to Work

Go find a blog post that teaches you how to build something.