This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz by Carlos Perez. Original Post: Only Pessimism Sounds Profound, Optimism Sounds Superficial Feed Title: .:Manageability:. Feed URL: http://www.manageability.org/blog/stuff/rssDisabled?portal_status_message=Syndication+is+Disabled Feed Description: Random thoughts on the manageability of complex software. Latest Java Buzz Posts Latest Java Buzz Posts by Carlos Perez Latest Posts From .:Manageability:.

"The Knowing-Doing Gap" is a very insightful book that I encourage everyone to read.  There's one particular chapter, entitled "When Talk Substitutes for Action" that is particular relevant.

The chapter talks about the tendency to treat "talking" about something as equivalent to actually "doing" something about it.  The author writes about different variations on the theme:

• Making Decisions as a Substitute for Action
• Making Presentations as a Substitute for Action
• Preparing Documents as a Substitute for Action
• Using Mission Statements as a Substitute for Action
• Planning as a Substitute for Action

I guess we can all relate to the above themes.  In some interesting way "Extreme Programming" attempts to minimize those "talking" tasks in the hope of maximizing the real "action" tasks. 

The author however also asks "Why does talk matter so much?".  He finds that there are reasons why people who are all talk often reap more rewards than they deserve.  One interesting observation is that "Negative people seem smarter":

Unfortunately for getting anything done in organizations, one of the best ways of sounding smart is to be critical of other's ideas.  The devastating intellectual put-down is sometimes part and parcel of the academic game.

[snip]

Professor Teresa Amabile of HBS published an experiment titiled "Brilliant but Cruel" that showed that people who gave negative book reviews were perceived by others as less likeable but more intelligent, competent, and expert than people who wrote positive reviews of the same books.  She summarized her findings by noting, "Only pessimism sounds profound.  Optimisim sounds superficial."

So I'm pretty sure we all know someone who fits the description above.  Finally, here's some words of advice from the same book:

Be very way of judging people just on the basis of how smart they sound and particularly on their ability to find problems or faults with ideas.  These are dangerous people.  They are smart enough to stop things from happening, but not action oriented enough to find ways of overcoming the problems they identified.

So for all those critics out there, let's have some creative ideas for a change!