Write about something that annoys or frustrates you

A pessimist, optimist and realist are talking about writing. After agreeing they could write about things that worry us it was time to explore more ideas of things to write about.

Optimist: Getting stuff of my chest is cathartic and rewarding. There are many things I find annoying and frustrating in tech and I try my best to turn them into opportunities to grow and support others. For example, I find it frustrating that we still haven't got better at hiring for diversity. I use this frustration to take action and do something about it. And I can write about that process, my own reflections of hiring and the biases I have and the injustices I see and feel.

Pessimist: Where do I start? I'll give you a list of things I find annoying: Archaic processes, AI hype, overcomplicated deployment pipelines, ignored tech roles, UX dark patterns, vapourware, tech bros, waste, injustices, hiring biases, flimsy documentation, tools that don’t integrate, poor-quality software, metrics obsession, lack of accessibility ...

Realist: ... err ... mind if I interrupt? I'm hearing you both, so let's get real. We can only write so much given the time and space we have to put aside for writing. When I recognise a frustration I tend to relate it to something I'm either observing at my workplace or something I've read that caused a reaction in me. I also find writing about frustrations reveals my own biases and leads me towards empathy.

Sometimes our frustrations come from not knowing enough about something so writing about it helps us become more familiar. More on that in a moment.