Precedents

Precedent. A dicey word. A lot of the time, it’s good to follow precedent: after all, that approach/policy/whatever has worked for so long. On the other hand, it causes people to play safe, be lazy and never think. Like the era when everyone bought IBM because “Nobody ever got fired for picking IBM”! Or the way bureaucrats behave everywhere, even today. Taken too far, following precedent leads to the mindset Bob Sutton worded thus in a blog title:

“The best you can be is a perfect imitation of those who came before you.”

Most of us know both these viewpoints. But another reason for following precedent was the one F.M. Cornford cited in his 1908 book, Microcosmographia Academica, a guide for politicians then as much as it is today:

“The Principle of the Dangerous Precedent is that you should not now do an admittedly right action for fear you, or your equally timid successors, should not have the courage to do right in some future case…It follows that nothing should ever be done for the first time.”

Cynical and sad, but true. And it’s not just true for politicians.

Apple’s famous “Think Different” ad from 1997 states the exact opposite mindset:

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

To varying degrees, that applies to much of Silicon Valley.