Month: January 2012

Michael Schrage has an awesome post
on why prototypes have to be tested
with users.

“Any innovator deploying
any prototypes in the field
can’t possibly assess
the economics and costs
of staggered roll-outs,
staggered builds and
optimization trade-offs
independent of the people
who will actually be using those prototypes.
Their level of training,
their abilities to observe and report,
their mistakes and misunderstandings,
the natural variability they individually introduce
are costs and risk factors
that invariably influence
design decisions around the prototype.”

***

“The great German General von Moltke
once observed that,
“All plans evaporate
on contact with the enemy.”
For serious innovators,
that aphorism becomes,
“All prototypes evolve
on contact with the user.””

Marketing copy, programs,
heck, ANY project
should be tested
with the end users
as soon as possible.

On an episode of The Millionaire Matchmaker,
the matchmaker knew her client
was about to f**k up big time.

Did she tell him?

No.
She said he had to learn.

That might be great TV
but it is bullsh*t advice.
The matchmaker is the millionaire’s consultant.
He is PAYING for her advice.
Her job is to give him that advice.

Last year, I wrote a Valentine’s Day romance.
Valentine’s Day romances don’t sell.
My publisher knew that.
I didn’t.
Every time I see the zero sales
on my royalty summary,
I get pissed off.

Did I learn something?

Of course.
I learned my publisher sucked
at giving advice.

If you want to be seen as an expert,
BE THE EXPERT.
That means giving your client/business partner
the information they need
to be successful.

According to the
Oxford English Dictionary Online
a money shot “is a
provocative, sensational,
or memorable sequence in a film,
on which the film’s commercial performance
is perceived to depend.”

In romance writing,
writers know that one hot, memorable scene
will not only sell a novel,
but make readers satisfied.
If there is no “money shot”,
there won’t be any sales.

With Apple products,
beautiful design is the money shot.
That is the feature
that sells their products.

No product is perfect
but every successful product
has a money shot.
Find out what your’s is
and market your product with it.

When I was younger,
I didn’t talk about my failures often.
I didn’t like the “poor you” comments
I received
when I talked about failure.
It made me feel like I did something wrong.

A few years ago,
a loved one failed
and I told him
“Try again. You can do it.”

His response?
“Fine for you to talk.
You always succeed.”

THAT was when
I realized
I wasn’t doing anyone any favors
by hiding my failures.

As Siimon Reynolds
in Why People Fail says
failure is a “forbidden subject.
We’re not supposed to fail
and if we do,
we’re supposed to hide it from everybody.
It gives people the wrong impression
about what it takes to be successful.”

Talk about your failures,
especially to the people you’re mentoring.
Take the shame out of this vital part
of being successful.

Few of us
get a new skill perfect
the first time
we try it.
We KNOW that.
We expect it.
We don’t need others
to point out
how imperfect our first try was.

What we need is encouragement
to try again.

Steve Roesler shares

“Transitions and change imply,
by definition,
that people are trying something
for the first time.
When your little child
tried out her first steps
and fell after the third one,
you didn’t offer a performance appraisal.
You hugged her, made a big fuss,
took a video,
and called the grandparents.

Offer the same to adults
who are trying something
for the first time.
Truth be told,
they are feeling like kids at that moment.”

Don’t critique that first try.