You are not your code

26 Oct 14


Admittedly, it feels disconcerting to freely disclose legal text that you've grown quite proud of over the years. It's your IP, your know-how, your craft. You feel like you are somehow giving away a piece of you, and for seemingly nothing in return.
 
But here's the lesson to be learned from Redline: you are not your legal text, but the counselor and advisor behind it. Your years of accumulated experience and wisdom cannot be reduced to a mere indemnification clause, or a MFN provision, or a redlining tactic. We share what we consider to be extremely valuable legal text on Redline because we know that we're never as good as we think we are, and that there's always someone who can teach us something.

This notion is validated by the quality of the work product on Redline. It far surpasses anything available in any online or offline form libraries or repos, and it continues to improve as more seasoned lawyers join us, increasingly from members inviting in trusted colleagues. We've had our mistakes corrected and our assumptions challenged, and we are far better lawyers because of it.

Open source software development offers compelling inspiration to Redline collaboration. In the words of a highly esteemed software developer:  

In order to advance the state of the art, we have to be willing not only to try new ideas, but to retreat when those ideas prove untenable or when something better comes along. And we have to be able to speak candidly about problematic code without fear of offending the egos behind it.
 
I have learned that in the open-source world, you are not your code. A critique of your project is not tantamount to a personal attack. An alternative take on the problem your software solves is not hostile or divisive. It is simply the result of a regenerative process, driven by an unending desire to improve the status quo.

Sam Stephenson (programmer, 37signals), You are not your code (2012).