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Bring your expertise and be willing to argue for what you think is right.

There are a few key points here:

  • You have to have a good sense of what you know and what you don't.
  • If you see people making a mistake, and it's about an area that you know, don't be afraid to point it out.
  • People don't always understand the first time, so sometimes you have to stick with it a bit.

At the same time:

  • If you are going to raise an objection, you have to be willing to make your case. You can't raise concerns and block indefinitely.
  • It may well be that others do understand your point, but just don't agree about how important it is. Ultimately, you have to trust that others have the best interest of Rust at heart, too.
  • The hardest disagreements to resolve often have underlying disagreements in values or the priorities of those values. Resolving such disagreements in an ideal way often requires introspecting on your own values, and understanding and empathizing with the values of others.

Examples

Raising an objection about a design

You are a member of the Rust lang team and you are concerned about the proposed syntax for a design.

What do you do?