Effective, or just efficient?
Today’s technology enables huge leaps in efficiency overnight.
Once someone realizes a solution to a problem is repeatable, especially if the problem relates to sorting and analyzing information, then building (or hiring someone to build) a piece of software that solves the problem repeatedly is almost certainly possible. Hard work, possibly requiring a good dose of genius, but the world makes such things happen every day.
This is good.
But somewhere along the way, we lost something.
In our strivings to become as efficient as possible, we stopped asking ourselves what we were becoming efficient at.
- I may efficiently schedule tweets to post at certain times, but to what purpose?
- I may efficiently read about 400 friends whom I barely know, but to what purpose?
- I may efficiently microwave a burrito, but to what purpose?
The right questions are about effectiveness.
What is the real point of this task, and how can I effectively pursue that goal?
- I sometimes have many creative thoughts at once, but I want to spread my tweets out to have the most impact. Could software decide how quickly to post my tweets, leaving me to simply add to the queue?
- I want to invest in my friends’ lives. Who is available? Who can I encourage?
- I need to fuel myself. I can efficiently microwave a burrito, but would spending 15 minutes in the kitchen creating a more balanced meal be more effective?
The world has more than enough people pursuing efficiency. Steve Jobs asked, how can I effectively help the world enjoy music? The answer had nothing to do with FM tuners, large hard drives, or wifi.
It had everything to do with 1,000 songs in your pocket.
Go be effective.
Think Big.
Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty.
Think big.
— Daniel Burnham, Chicago Architect
Ease of Use is Everything
You must invest in high quality design to succeed.
Why? Isn’t it a luxury? Couldn’t we hire a designer once things take off?
I don’t think so. And here’s why. It’s one thing if you’re selling custom applications to specific companies, because they’re probably stuck using Excel. If you’ve landed the contract, then you’ve already sold them on the benefits, and they’re happy to learn a new tool.
But if you’re trying to sell a product to many customers, then your product better be brilliantly simple. The danger here is not that the customers won’t want to spend money. The danger is that they will feel threatened, because they don’t understand your new technology.
If your software is brilliantly simple, then they can understand it. They won’t fear it. They’ll be more open to change.
There were other MP3 players before the iPod. Only the early adopters used them. Once Apple released the iPod, the market exploded. Apple didn’t just steal the early adopter market. By creating an easy to use, easy to understand product, they created a new market from the people who didn’t even realize they wanted an MP3 player.
It’s your job to do the same.
hello, world
~$ irb
ruby :001 > puts "hello world"
hello world
=> nil
ruby :002 > # infinite possibilities.