Shooting down ideas is not a skill • Hacker News Board

Re: Shooting down ideas is not a skill

#81

Post by __MatrixMan__ » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 2:12 AM UTC

dsr_ wrote: post #49

> "I haven't heard any customers request this." "We can't use Python for that, it's too slow." "That introduces too much complexity." "We tried something like that before and it didn't work." "DevOps won't want to support another service." "People are used to the way it works now." > None of these people are wrong or stupid. And none of them have added any value. Bzzt. Since all of these people are correct and smart,…

That all sounds fine if they're not the kind of naysayers that will just let the company collapse around them rather than risk putting one of their own ideas out there on the chopping block. All too often nothing is the worst thing we can do, and there are a lot of professional do-nothings out there.

Re: Shooting down ideas is not a skill

#82

Post by osigurdson » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 2:13 AM UTC

I think what most successful people do is avoid getting in situation where they have to ask for permission to do things. While there may sometimes be legitimate gate keepers that stop you, be careful not to create a gatekeeper out of people that don't care one way or the other. Just go ahead and do it if you can.

Re: Shooting down ideas is not a skill

#83

Post by citizenpaul » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 2:15 AM UTC

dsr_ wrote: post #49

> "I haven't heard any customers request this." "We can't use Python for that, it's too slow." "That introduces too much complexity." "We tried something like that before and it didn't work." "DevOps won't want to support another service." "People are used to the way it works now." > None of these people are wrong or stupid. And none of them have added any value. Bzzt. Since all of these people are correct and smart,…

>DevOps won't want to support it? Burn down the company

Still true but you seem to blame the ops. I've been in a job where every dept was allowed free for all tech budgets. They would hire incompetent consultants to dump 3000hrs of work on devops then do it again next week and complain about how devops never gets anything done. Then 5 other departments would do the same thing.

You know how 99% of the work is in that last 5% of the project. Thats how all those consultants would leave everything.

Re: Shooting down ideas is not a skill

#84

Post by chr15m » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 2:16 AM UTC

The best systems incorporate an adversarial element because this makes them robust to problems and attacks. Science, democracy, freedom of expression culture, etc. are antifragile because of this.

Rejecting criticism makes systems more fragile.

Of course it's a balance and you also need to nurture new ideas.

Re: Shooting down ideas is not a skill

#85

Post by debazel » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 2:16 AM UTC

> It takes five minutes to explain how an idea could open up a new market segment. It takes two seconds to say "that sounds risky." But in a meeting, the two feel equivalent.

In what world do these sound equivalent? Simply saying that something “sounds risky” is not serious criticism and wouldn’t hold any weight at any place I’ve ever worked at. You would have to actually explain why it sounds risky and point to something tangible.

Re: Shooting down ideas is not a skill

#86

Post by loose-cannon » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 2:21 AM UTC

dsr_ wrote: post #49

> "I haven't heard any customers request this." "We can't use Python for that, it's too slow." "That introduces too much complexity." "We tried something like that before and it didn't work." "DevOps won't want to support another service." "People are used to the way it works now." > None of these people are wrong or stupid. And none of them have added any value. Bzzt. Since all of these people are correct and smart,…

There is value in critically evaluating ideas and possible endeavors. On the other hand, demanding an answer to every little pocket of uncertainty creates a huge burden that prevents exploration. It's one thing to be exhaustive in the criticism by examining individual scenarios, evaluating cost benefit in a measurable way, etc. That doesn't seem to be what the author is describing. He's describing critical & low effort cheap shots.

Re: Shooting down ideas is not a skill

#87

Post by xrd » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 2:22 AM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #40

xrd wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Shooting down ideas is not a skill" "This doesn't mean they know what they're doing. Their thoughts can be bad."

Can you clarify? The alleged typo is… not there? Or their? Or they’re? What’s ironic here?

Ok, I just thought it was ironic that the article was about how being critical of something isn't skillful. And, it appeared to me (but all my downvotes prove I'm in the minority), that you just added a critical comment without doing anything else the author wrote about.

For the record, I was curious about what else you have written, so I read some of your posts and comments. And, you seem to be a very thoughtful and intelligent person. I'm sorry if my comment was offensive, I meant it to be funny.

Re: Shooting down ideas is not a skill

#88

Post by wakamoleguy » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 2:31 AM UTC

loose-cannon wrote: post #86

dsr_ wrote: post #49

> "I haven't heard any customers request this." "We can't use Python for that, it's too slow." "That introduces too much complexity." "We tried something like that before and it didn't work." "DevOps won't want to support another service." "People are used to the way it works now." > None of these people are wrong or stupid. And none of them have added any value. Bzzt. Since all of these people are correct and smart,…

There is value in critically evaluating ideas and possible endeavors. On the other hand, demanding an answer to every little pocket of uncertainty creates a huge burden that prevents exploration. It's one thing to be exhaustive in the criticism by examining individual scenarios, evaluating cost benefit in a measurable way, etc. That doesn't seem to be what the author is describing. He's describing critical & low effo…

These are all risks. Not all risks need to be mitigated, but some can be. Others can be accepted. Saying “Python is too slow for production scale, but our goal is a small proof of concept,” is a valid answer even if it doesn’t “solve” the complaint. And if you don’t even have that answer, then the burden is not your problem. The lack of due diligence is.

Re: Shooting down ideas is not a skill

#89

Post by 000ooo000 » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 2:35 AM UTC

Seems like "shooting down ideas" here is just "criticism of my idea whose framing hurts my feelings". If you want to light a fire with wet wood and cry because someone points that out, you probably lack the grit to execute anyway. Nobody owes you a sugarcoated explanation of the ways your idea is shit. Grow up.

Re: Shooting down ideas is not a skill

#90

Post by chaboud » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 2:50 AM UTC

Shooting down ideas is absolutely a skill, and it's essential to driving out the mountains of slop people throw out these days.

However, the essential thing to do is to make sure that you're not shooting down the person. Better still, if you can socratically get them to the point of understanding why their idea won't work, that will have them own the shoot-down, and it may lead to a better idea that addresses the actual problem set more effectively.

When you know why something won't work, get other people there, but do it without being a jerk or crushing in inventive spirit.

I've been leading advanced development and applied science teams for decades. There aren't enough hours in the week to give every idea someone brings to me a full watch-them-realize shake, but I can (and do) take the time to make sure that the next time they have an interesting idea, they still want to bring it up.

Shooting down ideas is absolutely a skill; one that every innovator needs to have for their own ideas and the ideas of their collaborators. The way I learned it was to have others shoot my ideas down, and that's the way I teach it.