Quotes

There is a tendency to reduce the MVP to something so small it cannot it cannot be evaluated by the market you seek. Or worse, it’s misvalued.

Christina Wodtke from Getting the V right

Technology almost always democratizes art, because it gives us better tools, better access and a quicker route to mediocrity. It’s significantly easier to be a mediocre (almost very good) setter of type today than it was to be a pretty good oil painter two hundred years ago.

Seth Godin from Now it's ruined

There are queues everywhere. Do you know an entrepreneur-wannabe who is on his sixth or twelfth new project? He jumps from one to another, and every time he hits an obstacle, he switches to a new, easier, better opportunity. And while he’s a seeker, he’s never going to get anywhere.

Seth Godin from The Dip

As we near our 11th anniversary, I can definitely think of a few former clients that fit this profile. It's something we try to spot in potential projects now (and avoid, if possible). We aren't here to build pet projects. We're here to help you build a business. It's going to be difficult. We know what it'll take. We know how to put in the hard work... especially when it's not as easy as anyone hoped (it never is). Do *you* have what it takes?

If you attempt to make sense of Engelbart’s design by drawing correspondences to our present-day systems, you will miss the point, because our present-day systems do not embody Engelbart’s intent. Engelbart hated our present-day systems.

Bret Victor from A few words on Doug Engelbart

Doug, we'll miss you. Thank you for opening up our eyes.

So often people are working hard at the wrong thing. Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard.

Caterina Fake

Always ask yourself, "how does this benefit our mission?"

Perfect doesn’t mean flawless. Perfect means it does exactly what I need it to do. A vacation can be perfect even if the nuts on the plane weren’t warmed before serving.

Seth Godin from Polishing perfect

In part, it’s not your fault. If you grew up and went to school in the United States, you were educated in a system that has eight times as many high-school football teams as high schools that teach advanced placement computer-science classes. Things are hardly better in the universities. According to one recent report, in the next decade American colleges will mint 40,000 graduates with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, though the U.S. economy is slated to create 120,000 computing jobs that require such degrees. You don’t have to be a math major to do the math: That’s three times as many jobs as we have people qualified to fill them.

Kirk McDonald from Sorry, College Grads, I Probably Won't Hire You

Admittedly, I don't know who has a college degree in computer science on our team. I don't.

The truth is this: Google destroyed the RSS feed reader ecosystem with a subsidized product, stifling its competitors and killing innovation. It then neglected Google Reader itself for years, after it had effectively become the only player. Today it does further damage by buggering up the already beleaguered links between publishers and readers. It would have been better for the Internet if Reader had never been at all.

Aldo Cortesi from Google, destroyer of ecosystems

My RSS consumption was at an all-time high in the few years prior to Google Reader coming out. Once I migrated from a desktop RSS reader to Google Reader, I found myself opening it less often. Over the years, it's fallen off my radar. I only check a few times a month. Did Google kill RSS? On purpose? Accidental? Is RSS dead? Do we all need to rely on the sites we "follow" now via Facebook, Google+, and Twitter? Better? Worse? Inevitable?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the social media marketing bubble will burst soon enough.

Dave Allen from Social media marketing affinity fraud

What do you think?

Try to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.

Peter Bevelin Seeking Wisdom