Have you ever heard of the “Not Invented Here” (NIH) syndrome? Maybe not explicetely, but you might experienced with a team of juniors. NIH refers to the tendency to reject ideas, solutions, or technologies that originate from outside our own organization or team. This mindset can hinder our ability to collaborate effectively and limit our potential for growth and success.
Firstly, it’s essential to understand that innovation thrives on diversity of thought and perspective. By embracing ideas from external sources, we open ourselves up to new insights and opportunities for improvement. Rejecting external ideas solely because they were not developed internally can lead to missed opportunities for innovation.
Moreover, the NIH mindset can create unnecessary duplication of effort. For example, if we insist on developing a solution in-house when a similar, high-quality solution already exists externally, we waste time, resources, and energy reinventing the wheel.
Furthermore, NIH can foster a culture of isolationism and arrogance. When we disregard external contributions, we risk becoming complacent and closed-minded. Collaboration with external partners, vendors, and industry experts enriches our understanding and helps us stay at the forefront of our field.
To illustrate, consider the example of a software development team refusing to use a popular open-source library because it was not developed internally. By doing so, they may miss out on leveraging the collective expertise and contributions of a global community, ultimately hindering the progress of their project.
The NIH sysdrome is related to the Dunning Kruger effect.
Try this: in feature development, always ask for external references, like existing libraries, examples or literature. Discuss how you can adapt the insights of other teams.
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Albrecht Günther 