There has been a ton of interesting web-discussion recently. Has software failed us? Are we building skyscrapers or ever-higher piles of mud?
I’m in the ‘mud’ camp, but I’ll share a secret with you: it doesn’t matter. It’s a question of intelligent design vs evolution. Unsurprisingly, software is on the evolutionary path, like a thousand other systems & industries both before it have been, and after it will be.
Do I believe in well-reasoned frameworks & foundations? Absolutely. Boundless Learning’s tech-stack is a statement itself of my preference & belief that better tools create better products. Intelligently-designed, quality tools don’t spontaneously create themselves, they take thought, iteration, and learning, particularly from anti-patterns. Furthermore, they only have staying power if they work, and work better than what’s out there to warrant switching/learning costs.
All the rest? That remains mud. That cool little library for parsing SWFs? Mud. That nifty tool that converts codecs? Mud. That useful proxying server? Mud. But they work, and again, that’s the only fitness function that matters.
To all the people who are attempting to improve the software status quo: I salute and support you, but I won’t bemoan the mud. It’s there and often frustrating, but it’s useful and gets the job done.
So rather than cultivating resentment, cultivate fearlessness. An engineering personality-trait that sits high on my list of must-haves is fearlessness. Can you approach a problem, and find a sensible path from A to B, and if the best path takes you through the dark forest of awkward command line tools and half-baked open source projects, can you persevere and get stuff done?
Construction is what matters. If you find an economic opportunity in fixing the mud, great, otherwise, let it fade into the background and soldier on.
(Source: kirklove, via fred-wilson)
Recently, I tweeted how including video in a landing page increased conversions by 50%. A successful friend, whose advice I greatly respect, cautioned me that “only creating value matters”. Despite my respect, and surface-agreement, it’s necessary to point out that making sausage is what creates value, not quote-sharing.
Creating value is #1 on a startups todo list, but for that to be actionable, it needs to be broken down into concerete activities, ie, what are the steps it takes to actually make the sausage and produce value?
It could be improving your messaging, improving your UX, optimizing your pricing, improving your reach, improving your retention, or any number of REAL value-adding activities. Each startup needs to understand what THEY value relative to THEIR mission. What works for us may not work for you. The onus is on you to take the time and actually define concretely what your measure of success is, and execute like hell against it.
Startup quotes are great, but startup progress is king. (see what I did there?)
PS:
Making sausage is a topic of much discussion here in Boston, and many small-table sausage-making conferences are being hosted around the city. In particular, I admire the efforts of co-founder Brian Balfour, and long-time friend & product-guru, Christopher O’Donnell.
Having trouble deciding if you’re in a Startup Crunch Mode? Victims usually suffer from any number of easily identifiable symptoms:
If you are experiencing any or all of these symptoms, commit all your code, test it locally and then in production, and follow with a small nap & and thorough laundry session. You’ll need your rest & clean skivvies, because chances are your condition is chronic!
#truestory
Aaron White
