Hacking the Psychology of Quality

Participation, Innovation and Transformation 

In the last barcamp (first of its kind in Nepal), I gave my talk on “participation, innovation and transformation”. Few days back then, when we were siting for a meeting about the national convention we had passed it as 5th NCSQC’s theme which was all in my head. When I came across the idea of barcamp, I liked it. As usual the best way to learn I take is to involve myself into the area of my interest. I registered to speak where the title would be the same as one in our convention theme.

I had already registered but then I started thinking, it was a theme of a quality convention and what it had to do with hackers’ meeting. So, I had to hack the psychology of SQC (Students’ Quality Circle) and see if they have some common grounds.

Ground Zero:

If we don’t buy the misconception about hackers, they are the people who want to master anything that matters them and know it to the level so they can use them to their need and people around. More than that they are happy to share the knowledge and resources for greater benefits of the society.

Barcamp is where people interested in learning and sharing the culture of learning meet. They take an out-of-box idea to do an unconference to share knowledge that turns out to be a barcamp.

A. PARTICIPATION

Meanwhile, I was thinking, what is that which binds me to talk about quality with hackers. I was exploring some sources on hacking. I came across wonderful documentation that led the common beliefs among hackers. They were much similar to what we had been teaching to our students those who were in SQC.

SQC is a team work, where students learn to participate and respect others views. Learning is accelerated with the participation is one good thing that we can learn from creative people all around the world. Today free software (I prefer the term ‘Swatantra Software’ though), movement has taken its best to give people powered technologies to serve the world which runs two third of the Internet. It is the greatest example of sharing knowledge in the human history.

Creative people of all ages, great scientists, philosophers and writers have them in common. Today, I shall explain such common axioms/ beliefs/attitudes that motivates them working so passionately.

Axiom 1: The world is full of fascinating problems waiting to be solved.

Successful athletes get their motivation from a kind of physical delight in making their bodies perform, in pushing themselves past their own physical limits. Similarly, to be a hacker you have to get a basic thrill from solving problems, sharpening your skills, and exercising your intelligence.

Being a hacker is lots of fun, but it’s a kind of fun that takes lots of effort. The effort takes motivation. You also have to develop a kind of faith in your own learning capacity.

When students are at SQC, they have three basic things to do, a) Identify their problems

b) Analyze the root causes and

c) Solve their problems

like much of what the hackers do on regular basis. They take problems not as a burden but an opportunity to learn about anything that interests them. One should put every effort to master the knowledge. Problems are windows to the knowledge. It is an opportunity to meet the purpose of our life that we want to pursue. It should be the attitude of students of SQC and all quality seekers all around.

B. INNOVATION

SQC helps to develop analytical skill and problem solving attitude where students learn to think out-of-box, to be creative and regularly innovate new ideas. Inventions doesn’t happen overnight nor it can be taught. It is such an extraordinary capacity of human brain, which takes lots of preparation yet cannot be predicted. It is a unique solution to existing problem with available resources.

Axiom 2: No problem should ever has to be solved twice.

Creative brains are valuable and limited resource. They shouldn’t be wasted on re-inventing the wheel when there are so many fascinating new problems waiting out there.

To behave like a hacker, you have to believe that the thinking time of other hackers is precious — so much so that it’s almost a moral duty for you to share information, solve problems and then give the solutions away just so other hackers can solve new problems instead of having to perpetually re-address old ones.

At SQC, we teach just identifying and solving problem is not enough but we should find the way to solve them permanently. Creative people like scientists come with their inventions and share in the community. Students at SQC also standardize their case study and present it in their school, national and international conventions so they should not ever have to be solved twice. It is next good example of sharing knowledge.

Axiom 3: Boredom and drudgery are evils.

Hackers (and creative people in general) should never be bored or have to drudge at stupid repetitive work, because when this happens it means they aren’t doing what only they can do — solve new problems. This wastefulness hurts everybody. Therefore boredom and drudgery are not just unpleasant but actually evil.

More than anything that corrupts any individual is boredom. It is such a malicious that it seizes life from living individuals. Active living is the secret of productive genius throughout the history of mankind. Beethoven once said, “I worked for 37 years when the rest of the world was sleeping and today people call me genius”.

Axiom 4: Freedom is good.

Hackers are naturally anti-authoritarian. Anyone who can give you orders can stop you from solving whatever problem you’re being fascinated by — and, given the way authoritarian minds work, will generally find some appallingly stupid reason to do so. So the authoritarian attitude has to be fought wherever you find it.

(This isn’t the same as fighting all authority. Children need to be guided and criminals restrained.)

World alliance on quality had a slogan for 2008, “Quality has no borders” and so does the learning and creativity. If we always walk on the same path we can not come up with new road anyway. Just a linear learning to pass exams doesn’t much foster the creativity among students. It is always important for students to think out of box and be creative. Its the creative genius that makes great people be remembered they are immortal with their creativity.

In SQC, we let students think and work in a free environment so they will take their own problem (set their own curriculum), analyze the problem (set their own text) and solve their problems (give their own test). Creative learning is possible in such an environment where there is no boundaries but freedom with responsibilities.

C. TRANSFORMATION

SQC enhance self confidence, communication skills, emotional stability and thus transform students into a complete person.

Axiom 5: Attitude is no substitute for competence.

To be a hacker, you have to develop some of these attitudes. But copping an attitude alone won’t make you a hacker, any more than it will make you a champion athlete or a rock star. Becoming a hacker will take intelligence, practice, dedication, and hard work.

Like it is said above, it is not all enough to have such an attitude alone but we should be able to workout them. It is one thing to like any idea but it’s different to practice them in the actual life. Students who practice SQC should always understand that just novel thought won’t solve their problems nor transform them. Competence among students is developed in due course of time with actual practice. It should come from the students to take the responsibility of the problem and solve it themselves, hence, a transformation is possible.

Sources:

1. How To Become A Hacker, https://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html

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