Overcoming the Learning Curve

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Something I’ve learned recently in business is no matter what product or service you may be selling, people will have their own perception of what it does and how it works.

I recently saw a girl try to work an iPod that has never owned one. It was amazing to watch her try and figure out this seemingly alien piece of technology. After chuckling to myself for a minute, I showed her how the click wheel worked and she immediately understood. It took all but 10 seconds for her to grasp the concept, but she still needed to be shown.

I’m trying to translate this experience to my work by not assuming everyone should just ‘get’ our software. Of course I know how it works, i’ve been exposed to it for over two years. I need to take that expertise and translate it to each potential customer and help them overcome the learning curve so they get the most value from our product.

This video is another great example of this concept…

via youtube.com

The first-to-market myth – (37signals)

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Fear: “I’m going to lose because someone else is going to beat me to market (or is already there).”


Truth: In business, there can be lots of winners in any niche. Look at how many shoe makers, Italian restaurants, and furniture manufacturers succeed. You can do well in a crowded field as long as you’re doing something that sets you apart from the pack. It can be price, style, substance, personality, positioning, or storytelling. There are tons of ways to establish your company as unique.

Don’t obsess over being first-to-market either. Successful businesses show up to the party late all the time. Google wasn’t the first search engine. VHS toppled Betamax even though it was later to market. There are plenty of things that are more important than being first.

via 37signals.com

This is a great point that also reminds me of those countless hopeful entrepreneurs out there that keep their ideas close to their chest or try and make you sign an NDA to discuss an idea. I don’t care about your idea, your idea sucks if the execution isn’t right.

First experience with Google Wave

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After a few weeks of trying to use Google Wave by myself (doesn’t seem useful without someone to Wave with you :-/ ), I finally engaged in my first realtime chat.

First thoughts… Google Wave absolutely cannot replace IM. Think about talking someone face to face in real life. Now imagine that both of you are trying to talk to each other whilst listening to the other person AND responding to what they’re saying. It’s impossible in real life thus is extremely frustrating online.

However, I do see the extreme usefulness of being able to collaboratively note take with a group of people at a meeting/class/ conference. But again, two people in a chat was frustrating. Any more than that working on one doc would be pure havoc!

I don’t think this tool will ever hit the mainstream, but people will find its useful niche and make it shine.

Photo

Test

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<object width=”400″ height=”225″><param name=”allowfullscreen” value=”true” /><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always” /><param name=”movie” value=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2745664&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=0&amp;show_portrait=1&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1&#8243; /><embed src=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2745664&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=0&amp;show_portrait=1&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1&#8243; type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowfullscreen=”true” allowscriptaccess=”always” width=”400″ height=”225″></embed></object><br /><a href=”http://vimeo.com/”>Highrise Case Study: Mazyar Hedayat, Attorney at Law</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/signals”>37signals</a&gt; on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.

Social Evolution via Technology

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I’ve been thinking about what kinds of online services are the most successful and why.  It seems to me that the great ones are those that tap into our society’s oldest goal of sharing.  News is a good example of this.

News originated as word of mouth.  Then evolved into a central source such as a town crier.  Then to a distribution method via paper, to radio which allowed even easier distribution and less barrier to entry (not having to know how to read).  TV merged radio’s low barrier to entry with newspapers embedded pictures to bring you sound with moving pictures.  The internet has allowed us to “get back to basics” by absorbing our news again by word of mouth.  News headlines are streamed via individuals on their Twitter feed.  I found out about Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac’s death as well as the recent LA earthquake via Twitter.  If those “headlines” interest me, I can dig deeper via a trustworthy news source.  But the first touch came from a peer.

Sharing personal information and gossip is also an old pastime.  Before the written word, we began with oral peer to peer sharing but only with those in our immediate proximity.  The postal service allowed us to more frequently keep up with those we cared about over long distances to be brought even further with the telephone.  Now a site like Facebook allows me to broadcast my life to those interested into small chunks that over time paint a broader picture of what is happening in my life.

The ways we go about our ingrained human goals evolve and change, but we’re still trying to accomplish the same goals we always have.  If you’re trying to create something, don’t attempt a new idea, try building on an existing one.

How to combat Russian SPAM in two easy steps

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This is such a simple and easy to execute solution that it made my head spin. I did this in Gmail but am sure that this can be done in any mail app.

Create a new filter to search for the keyword of a letter that doesn’t exist in the English language but is common in SPAM messages. For example: ‘И’

hasthewords.jpg

Have the message skip your inbox and go straight to delete and voila!

delete.jpg

Thanks to the 37signals for this tip…

WANTED: Multi-Platform Compatible Guitar Hero III Online Play

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Even though I know the answer to my own question, I keep Googling various keywords to try and find some glimmer of hope that Guitar Hero III fans using any supported platforms can play together.  I don’t know the specifics of the online play, but I’m suspecting that RedOctane is hosting all of them and developed the various incarnations of the game from the same core.  So can anyone tell me why this shouldn’t be possible?  Can the online play be hacked to be hosted elsewhere to support multi-platform online play?

Anybody out there?