Friction is where good ideas go quiet

Friction is not a lack of talent. It is the distance between intention and action.

Think about the last idea that stayed an idea.

Maybe you could see the problem clearly, but not the technical path. Maybe you had the skills, but not the time. Maybe you had the time, but not the permission. Or maybe you had everything, and still a small voice asked, who am I to start this?

Look at the doors in the picture. They are old and heavy, and somewhere behind them a light is glowing. Nobody locked them out of malice. They are simply the doors that grow over a path when nobody walks it often enough.

The five doors

• Time. The idea needs hours, and your week has none to spare.
• Access. The tools, data or people you need sit on the other side of a gate.
• Language. The idea has to be translated into a vocabulary you were never taught.
• Process. Every step needs a form, a meeting or a sign-off.
• Confidence. The quietest door, and often the heaviest.

Most ideas do not disappear because people lack imagination. They disappear in the friction between intention and action.

A quiet question for the room

Who here has an idea waiting for its first version?

Keep your hand low if you like. Just notice that you are not alone. Most rooms, most teams and most communities are full of ideas going quiet behind doors.

The good news is that doors can be opened, one at a time.