I feel like more people coming into open source projects need to understand how & why something is being done a way before just barging in the door and exclaiming “Hold everything! This all has to be changed. You’re doing it wrong!™”
A chef taught me early on in my career that’s it is important to know the reasons things are done a certain way before suggesting change. Often times, there’s a technical limitation preventing teams from doing things they know could be done better. Respect that experience.
A more specific example of the useful idea, that you ought to understand the rules before you start to break them deliberately. Not that you shouldn’t break them, but you should know why they are there and whether they are, in fact, helpful.