I was recently listening to a podcast about the Branch Davidian cult, led by David Koresh, and how the FBI attempted to end the standoff by, among other things, flooding bedrooms with light to prevent sleep and blaring the screams of dying rabbits over loudspeakers to drive the Branch Davidians insane and hasten their surrender. Apparently, someone thought this was a good idea, and apparently, no one was brave enough to tell that person they were wrong.
The lesson? Speak up. Trust yourself. If you don't pursue your own stupid idea, you'll end up pursuing someone else's stupid idea, and the latter will often be much, much more stupid.
Two nights ago, I slept on the floor next to Kika, my sweet black cat, as she neared the end of her life. I told her something that I'd like to remember, because it may be true and it may be important.
I don't know if there's any problem that can't be solved better with love.
I vaguely recall the phrasing being a bit different, perhaps slightly less awkward, but I can't remember the exact wording now. No matter. Rephrase it if you like.
Kika passed peacefully early yesterday morning. She was a wonderful cat, and I miss her very much.
About two years ago, I wrote that the Beatles never set OKRs. It was the punchline to a larger point, but at the time, I was working for a company in the music industry, and I didn't want to criticize music manager types.
Now that I've moved on from that company, and especially because my car sports a custom bumper sticker with the phrase, I've decided to share the unabridged version:
I tend to believe that working too hard to come up with a name for a brand or product is pointless. A name doesn't need to be good to stick. I could point to Facebook or Apple, but there may be no better example than The Beatles. It really is a strange name. It's a pun! It's a dad joke! And yet, I can't imagine them being called anything else.
Can you imagine what a committee would have named the band? For that matter, can you imagine The Beatles writing roadmaps and setting OKRs? Sheesh.
Now that's a t-shirt. “The Beatles never set OKRs.”
I obviously feel the same way today. Speaking of music, maybe that's why one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs, both lyrically and musically, is “Have a Cigar”. A lot of management—certainly not all, but certainly too much—is worse than pointless. It's actively harmful.
Photos are more interesting when much of the landscape or subject is cropped out. (Too many people take full-body portraits, which I often find utilitarian and boring.) Songs are more interesting when instruments can be appreciated individually. Try listening to “Sailor's Tale”, but only listen to the drums, or the bass guitar, or my favorite, the mellotron.
People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter inch hole!
—Theodore Levitt
I read this today in the 2013 edition of The Design of Everyday Things, and oh goodness, is it true. For the vast majority of people, software is a means to an end. How easily we geeks forget that. The world is not like us.
My mother doesn't want to use Facebook. She wants to connect with relatives. She certainly doesn't want to remember her password, complete multi-factor authentication challenges, create a profile, change her settings, add people as friends, upload images, check her notifications… She wants to connect with relatives. What we techy people call “fun,” what we enjoy perfecting and tinkering with, my mom calls “crap that gets in the way of what I want to do.”
No one wants to use your software. Well, no one but the geeks like us, and even we don't want to tinker with everything. Most people most of the time just want to get things done.
How different would software look if we remembered that?
On the password front, I'm certainly not suggesting we sacrifice digital security for user experience—being hacked isn't a great experience, anyway—but let's use something better, like passkeys. They're just as secure, if not more secure, and they're practically invisible. People hardly even notice themselves using them. That's a good thing.
