Ultralight Backpacking and Other Saturday Morning Musings

I’ve been a pretty big fan of Seth Godin for the past few years. I don’t love everything he does, but his latest book Linchpin is excellent, and he’s been on a roll the past few weeks putting some great stuff up on his blog.

Last week Seth relayed a story about an ultralight backpacker that was able to get his pack down to 14 pounds… including food. I like to fancy myself a bit of backpacker, and I can tell you… getting a pack down to 14 pounds, including food, is really hard.

When people asked this guy how he was able to pack so light, he would tell them “all you need to know is that it’s possible”. The point being, that when you stop saying that things can’t be done, you figure out how to make them work.

That comment has been haunting me for the past few days.

Think about it… we can’t do agile here? All you need to know is that it’s possible. Can’t get stories small enough to fit into a sprint? All you need to know is that it’s possible. Can’t get developers and QA to work together? All you need to know is that it’s possible.

What else is possible if we stop saying that stuff can’t be done?