Why the Celtics Won—From Auerbach to "Unbuntu"

Bill Taylor explains Why the Celtics Won—From Auerbach to "Unbuntu". (The Celtics are an American Basketball team). The key elements were pride and community.

The legendary coach, Red Auerbach, was interviewed in 1987:

“How do you motivate the players?” Alan asked, expecting, I imagine, a complicated, multi-faceted answer. “Pride, that’s all,” Red answered. “Pride of excellence. Pride of winning. I tell our guys, ‘Isn’t it nice to go around all summer and say that you’re a member of the greatest basketball team in the world.’”

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Unfortunately, under Capitalism, pride in workmanship is diminished as the extra care and time is an extra cost that apparently adds nothing to the bottom line.

The blight that affects computing today is that of "good enough". It is within our power to make Windows operate without the BSOD, but it is good enough that Windows works most of the time.

The pride of workmanship in computing is going. The user interface of choice is now a web page! Yes, it is good enough! But can we do better! With a shit facade like that, why would anyone spend effort making the code in the back end a source of pride?

The community aspect of the Celtics win is due to Archbishop Desmond Tutu:

As Tutu explained, “A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished…”

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Yet in our workplaces, we have competition between individuals for jobs, promotions, projects, and pay rises. We are only evaluated on individual performance. We are replaceable components in the industrial machine.

There is no community interest - only the interest of the Capitalist. The workplace is an artificial community created to serve Capitalism.

How can we have pride in what that does not belong to us?