Community as a water park

I stood patiently in a queue at the highest point of the water park. Music blared out as several people spoke loudly in multiple languages as anticipation grew. I reflected on how many people had previously walked this exact path and how many future generations would too. I was having a TOFU moment.

My focus snapped back to the present as it was nearly time to step up to the big plastic tube before plummeting down at top speed, only to be back at the bottom in a fraction of the time it took me to reach end of the queue.

Water parks are exhilarating and utterly terrifying. Busy, overstimulating and prone to uncontrollable smiling. I found this out on a recent family holiday. Loved it but it was also a lot! I wondered to myself, “How are tech communities like a water park?” and decided to explore.

First up, we don’t need to ride everything to find joy. There’s joy in riding some slides and choosing not to ride others. Much like a tech community there are choices to be made to find our groove and ways to show up. We don’t have to participate in everything. With choices we can be smart with our options and how we show up to participate.

It’s ok to get egged on. Just like my kids egged me on to try as many slides as possible even if I was bit reluctant. I managed several yet not even close to all of them. My kids are way more fearless than I am. In a tech community the people who tend to do well are those who encourage others, they are not just thinking of themselves. They become people to go to for help, to seek direction and support. People who take on these informal goto roles can influence the direction of the community.

There’s joy in watching others find joy. “Oh my god Dad, Disco River was so good!” Like the slides we fear, it’s never as bad as we think. Although with some slides, sometimes once is enough. And that’s ok. Much like trying stuff out with a tech community. For example, we might be blogging and worrying what others think, yet once we get started we find value in sharing in public and positive feedback we receive.

A water park has a physical boundary so we can’t go beyond it. Boundaries in a tech community are good. They help members work out what they can and can’t do. There’s safety too with signage and people on every slide making sure the riders are ok. Good to have community leaders keeping things moving.

Behind the scenes, there’s plenty at work to ensure the water flows, the staff stay attentive, and the music keeps playing. In community this is the role of community leaders and the community builders. Get to know them and their goals. Then find a connection between our own goals and theirs. That’s when the good stuff happens.

Much like the scary slide, we can only find out what it’s like by riding it. In community it could be volunteering to help out at a local event, starting a conversation with someone we’ve just met or asking if someone would be open to a call to help out. Try it once and it might not be as bad as we think. Or maybe our intuition was right and it wasn’t for us. Either way, we climbed the steps to the top and flew back down to the ground with a fresh perspective.

We should talk about the queues. They vary in size and the joy payoff varies. Longer queues tend to equal more exhilarating rides. But that’s not always the case. We don’t always have to follow the crowd. The queues require real patience. We can make games up as we wait or get annoyed by how long things take. My kids managed to quickly get to the front of three slides at the very start of the day, just as the park was filling up. In community, timing is important. Try something one day and it doesn’t land and we feel disheartened. Try the same thing another day and it just happens to resonate with someone else and positive things unexpectedly happen.

Too much sun by the end of the day and everyone’s gone a bit cranky. Sometimes we have to step out of the sun and into the shade. Take a break. Switch off from our favourite tech community for a bit. Take stock and come back with a fresh perspective.

Water parks are seasonal. Good tech communities run 24/7/365. And while no two experiences in a tech community are ever identical, can the same be said of a water park? Once you’ve ridden every slide, where else is there to go?

“I’m done.” said my wife. “Yeah, me too!” I replied. The kids showed up with smiles on their faces. They’d had the best time.


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