Shooting down ideas is not a skill
Is “shooting down ideas” a skill?
- Many disagree with the article title: identifying bad ideas, knowing when they’re bad, and knowing when you don’t know are seen as distinct, valuable skills.
- Others argue the reflex to negate ideas without thinking is common and low‑value, which is what the article is really attacking.
- Several note that in academia, engineering, and high‑stakes work, culling bad ideas early is essential, not optional.
Role and timing of criticism
- A recurring distinction: exploration vs execution.
- In early brainstorming, premature naysaying is said to stunt creativity.
- Later, rigorous critique (risk, cost, stakeholder impact, technical limits) is seen as necessary.
- Some suggest letting ideas “breathe” first, then stress‑testing them with structured questions (e.g., DARPA’s Heilmeier-style catechism).
- Others emphasize classic “design review” cultures where the explicit goal is to shoot holes in proposals so they emerge stronger.
Organizational dynamics and politics
- Commenters describe teams where people compete to sound smart by finding flaws, creating a “kill zone” where nothing new survives.
- Conversely, there are environments where criticism is unwelcome; pointing out problems gets you labeled “negative” and harms your career.
- Power asymmetry matters: the burden of proof often falls on the less senior person, regardless of who is actually right.
How to critique constructively
- Productive patterns mentioned:
- Ask questions instead of declaring impossibility.
- Pair objections with possible mitigations or at least a path to investigate.
- Separate judgment of the idea from judgment of the person.
- Use written RFC/DACI docs so ideas can be examined asynchronously and iteratively.
- Improv-style “yes, and…” to extend ideas before pruning them.
On ideas themselves
- Many stress that most ideas are bad or trivial; “ideas are cheap, execution is hard.”
- Some argue that good ideas don’t inevitably “win”; timing, buy‑in, and politics can kill them.
- Others counter that if an idea can’t withstand basic questions (market, stakeholders, feasibility), it likely isn’t ready.