Before You Start

Good energy deserves not to be wasted on work half-done three chapters over. Duplicated effort is its own kind of dead end — and the fix is five minutes of looking around before you begin.

Ask at chapter. Someone in the room usually knows who tried this, when, and what happened. Search this site. Many problems here already have a page, a route, or a finding — start from what is known. Check the ones who never stopped. Long-running efforts — like the Diné Nihi Kéyah Project on the Code — may already own your problem’s neighbor. Ask us. The mission form reaches a volunteer who can tell you if anyone else has raised the same thing — and connect you if they have. Then start anyway. If nobody owns it, it is yours — and starting before conditions are perfect is the Nation’s proudest habit.