Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Let’s do what we can do bring more people into the solution-providing space.

I am going to repeat some things I wrote in a blog post in 2015. In researching today’s post, I found that old post and wondered a bit at how good it was.

Anyway, Linus’ Law is: “given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.” This is from Eric Raymond in his book “The Cathedral and the Bazaar” (1999).

If someone wants to come and look at what I am working, I should let them. But it’s not ready to be seen! So what? But, I am embarrassed! So what?

From 2015…

Someone out there knows the answer or knows a different approach that makes the answer available with a little (not a lot of) work.

Some technical “availables” include the ever less expensive:

• computer
• health monitor
• microscope
• telescope
• blog platform
• pencil and paper

All these things put more eyeballs on more problems. Perhaps the cure for cancer is coming from an unexpected (unfunded) source in an unexpected place. Wouldn’t it be great if a 13-year-old in Tibet raised her hand with the answer?

Give that person a second-hand $100 Chromebook and show them how to get a one-month, free-trial of a cloud computing platform. Stand back in wonder.

Have a set of used pots and pans? Someone needs them to discover the next great thing in cooking or chemistry or medicine.

And, have a kind word? Sometimes that is what is needed to expand the set of eyeballs and make the problem so shallow that the solution is provided.