“The truth is that most everyone has plenty of ideas that could work out to be great businesses. The kicker is most often the right execution, that they’d be responsible for anyway, at the right time, which is almost impossible to predict. The value of The Perfect Idea is very small indeed.”
“That’s the true value of estimates. That it sets up conversational constraints that can be used as boundaries for trading concessions. Not that they’re nails for your own self-erected cross.”
13 video player UIs in 24 hours by 37signals. Vimeo wins this face-off hands down, in my opinion. (via slantback)
“Often, the “wrong” things you choose to do are what set you apart and make your product unique. They’re the spice that make your dish special.”
“When you cherry pick, you lose integrity. You lose the below-the-surface aspects of what makes something great. You cut the invisible strings that hold the whole thing together. You wind up with a mash-up instead of something that’s got soul.”
A lot of my friends, colleagues, and flat-out heros have released some excellent books recently. I’ve mentioned a few of them, but I think it would be fun to run a giveaway and help spread some of this fine knowledge around the community. Here are the books I am giving away:
To participate, just leave a reply below with the number corresponding to the book you want most, a quick note about what type of content you’d like to see more of on this blog, and your Twitter username. I’ll select winners randomly at the end of the week. Also, make sure you’re following me on Twitter so I can DM the details to the winners.
So, which book would you like?
“If you build a simpler, more affordable alternative to what’s out there already, you can bring new people into the fold. You don’t have to grab a piece of someone else’s pie — just bake a new one.”
““Because it sucks” is not a reason to redesign. “It sucks” leaves the scope wide open with no measure of success. It’s a sure way to scrap the good decisions you made along with the mistakes.
Instead, start the redesign with a question: “What is right about this design?” Use that perspective to identify specific problems and then target those exact problems.
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“Would you take your next paycheck in page views? or users? or followers? or visitors? or eyeballs (remember that one from the 90s)? Go down to the corner store and plunk down a million impressions for a gum ball. They’ll probably call the cops.”
