Being the Worst Player in the Band
There is this great quote from jazz legend Miles Davis that I’ve read recently:
“You should never be comfortable, man. Being comfortable fouled up a lot of musicians.”
There is a lot of truth in that — not only in the jazz world, but in any team activity. See, there is this famous saying among jazz musicians that being the worst player in the band is a blessing in disguise. It’s an opportunity to learn from people much better than you. Any other situation will put you in a position to rely on the comfort of your experience. If you are in the middle of the pack, or above, you are much more likely to stop trying to look at things from a different angle, because you have something to lose — your credibility. If you are “the worst”, you have all the room in the world to go up.
I think this applies equally well to any team activity, and especially, building software. Throughout my career as a developer, I have always struggled to prove that I am smarter than the rest. However, in retrospect, the moments I have learned the most out of were the ones where I clearly wasn’t. Or, at least, there was someone else, whom I could learn a new trick or two from.
Some trivia: I came to this train of thought after listening to a podcast interview with Matt Mullenweg, the creator of WordPress. I did not know that Matt is also a saxophone player.
