New is Hard

"Thousands of years ago, the first man discovered how to make fire. He was probably burned at the stake he had taught his brothers to light."

  -- Ayn Rand, "The Fountainhead"

Creating something new is hard. Yes, this is not news, but a few things hit home today for me that brought this into perspective. My company is trying to do something truly new in telecom and public safety, I should have known this would not be easy. I've identified the following sources of friction:

1. Lawyers. Lawyers are in their element when they are enforcing the status quo. They are the "sticky" in "sticky spaghetti".
2. Bureaucrats. We all know what a bureaucrat is. I think the most direct definition is this: it is someone who succeeds by effectively making others fail.
3. Fear of failure. This is a hard one. In fact we probably all fear failure to some extent (yes, I acknowledge that the rare exception exists, and we need these people too...) This is probably an important survival trait, but in modern society subverting it can be a challenge.
4. Paralysis by analysis. This is common in business. We need analysts. People who can sift through the data, add up the columns, and come up with the decision that maximizes benefit while minimizing risk, etc., etc. I just don't want these people responsible for actually making the decision. That is just plain dangerous.

We'll get there.