The Simple Beauty of Not Having an Opinion

I think there is a temptation to try to have opinions, especially the more senior you get.

Sometimes, that is valid. The experience you have built up means that you may have a hard-won lesson that you want to share to stop someone going down a similar trecherous path.

Sometimes, it is mere noise. It is noise for you, as it is often another discussion you now need to keep track of. It is also noise for the discussors, who now need to take that opinion into consideration. In already noisy environments like Slack, having less noise is often better.

Before sharing an opinion, I try to stop and reflect. Will contributing my opinion meaningfully impact the outcome of the discussion? If it won’t then I can relish in the simple beauty of having no opinion.