Disqus - Latest Comments for jasoncrawford

Re: The curse of prevention

jasoncrawford — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:09:29 -0000

All good suggestions, except that from what I've heard #4 won't work--resubmitting when you have an app in the queue just moves you to the back of the line. #1 (moving logic to the server) makes a lot of sense, though, and we've tried to do that at Pelago. We also do some of #2.

Re: The curse of prevention

eries — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:01:19 -0000

Definitely. This is a big topic, and especially for iphone developers, it's frustrating. Lean techniques only work in dynamic systems - meaning systems where it's possible to change. So if you are working in a situation where the cycle time is absolutely, completely, and totally fixed - you can't really practice continuous improvement.

Yet we generally over-estimate the degree to which systems are fixed. For example, on the iPhone, I often council teams to try stuff like:

1. Move logic from the client to the server. Make the client ask the server what to do whenever possible, so you can iterate and change on the server side. This is a worse solution from a technical POV, but better overall.

2. Create an early-adopter community who takes more rapid updates via ad-hoc distribution (or unlocking)

3. Launch other products/prototypes under a completely different brand, just to see how customers react.

4. Send Apple a new update every day. I'm not sure what would happen if you built a rapid-iteration app update process, but you might get someone from Apple's approval department to call you - if only to get you to stop flooding their queue. That might be an opportunity to have a conversation?

Re: Man and superman

jasoncrawford — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:42:41 -0000

In *Built to Last*, Collins and Porras studied companies that had had sustained performance over multiple generations of leaders. So they can't have been the product of a single leader. In contrast, some of the companies in their control group did start off with a single charismatic leader, who had no succession plan. Those companies didn't do as well. See, e.g., their discussion of Motorola vs. Zenith.

The article you linked to, about Collins' "portfolio", is not talking about *Built to Last*, but actually about *Good to Great*. Those companies all did outperform the market for a sustained period, but I don't think Collins ever claimed that they had all put in place the "Built to Last" measures that would keep that performance going for generations.

Re: The curse of prevention

jasoncrawford — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:37:24 -0000

Love your approach here--finding a *principled* way to resolve a paradox. Most people either pick one side of a false dichotomy, or try to find a compromise in the middle.

By the way, I'd love to hear how to adapt the ideas in this post, and the rest of the lean startup approach, to platforms where the cycle is inherently longer than on the Web--especially, today, mobile apps. If you're writing for iPhone, you can't exactly do continuous deployment--there's at least a two-week latency while Apple approves your app.

I think all the same basic principles apply, but I wonder where the quantitative difference in cycle time might lead to a qualitative difference in tactics or even strategy.

Re: Startup Visas

jasoncrawford — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:58:00 -0000

I sympathize with Kirk's concerns, especially since government incentives often cause distortions in the market (as tax breaks have done in health care and housing). But I agree with Fred: fix what we can now. Personally, I support this not as an isolated policy, but as a small step on the way to broader reform and towards free and open immigration.

Re: Startup Visas

jasoncrawford — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:55:23 -0000

I support the Startup Visa (and I've shown my support through @2gov). I think our immigration restrictions are arbitrary, and anyone should be able to enter this country (assuming you're willing to pay your own way, and most immigrants are).

In that context, I don't think this is "elitist" at all. It's one small step towards more freedom for everyone. And giving that freedom to a few people doesn't hurt or take anything away from anyone else.

I just think it's sad that in today's political scene, you can't justify freedom of immigration based on individual rights. Programs like this are usually justified based on a notion of collective good. So the guy who can start a company might get a visa, but the guy who just wants to work a job and provide for himself and his family can't.

Re: Testing the new Disqus comment system

twitter-64135722 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:27:08 -0000

Logged in with my Twitter account and posting a reply here.

Is there supposed to be added functionality with using Twitter?

What I mean is, can I respond to these posts and/or comments from my Twitter console?

Re: Testing the new Disqus comment system

jasoncrawford — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:28:58 -0000

Testing comment replies; no one seems to have done that yet

Re: Start-ups are all Naked in the Mirror

jasoncrawford — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:13:44 -0000

Good post, thanks; a lot of good points here. I would like to hear more about the balance between being open with your team and candid about bad news, vs. not being *too* open and, as you say, taking them along for the roller-coaster ride.

Re: Getting Out From Behind Your Desk

jasoncrawford — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:53:05 -0000

Good post, Fred. The best managers and execs I've known are detail-oriented and spend time to immerse themselves in the details like this; they get a much clearer and more grounded understanding of what's actually going on that way.

How do you reconcile (a) being detail-oriented with (b) not micromanaging? How do you get hands-on while still making sure people feel ownership over their work? Sometimes people do a *better* job if they feel that no one is checking up on them and it's all on their shoulders.

Re: Mobile (App) Development: Android's Missed Opportunity?

jasoncrawford — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:23:42 -0000

I'm an iPhone app developer and I agree that the performance isn't there yet for mobile webapps. It's not just bandwidth, it's also *latency* and CPU/memory. The iPhone 3GS is the fastest mobile JavaScript engine out there, and it's still more than an order of magnitude slower than laptop/desktop: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/24/iphone-3gs...

That said, we're rapidly approaching the point where webapps will dominate again. A few more generations of devices and network and it will all go back to the web, except for games and maybe a few other types of apps. So I don't know why Google isn't pushing for HTML5/JavaScript extensions.

Re: Why you should make it easy for users to quit your product

David Locke — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:29:03 -0000

The OODA is always followed by an AAR. The AAR is QA'ed, then training programs that teach the skills that serve as the infrastructure for the OODA cycle are modified. In the sense of the spiral model, the OODA loop itself is a sensor in the decision support network. The AAR and QA processes are the fusion in the decision support network. The decision in this DSS is to commit the resources to revise the training, and to train the revision.

The faster battlefield OODA is backed up with a slower training OODA. Layers and layers. The spiral is only visible when you step back and see the whole thing.

Re: Why you should make it easy for users to quit your product

jasoncrawford — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:11:51 -0000

Great article, Andrew. Before reading this, I would have said that you should make it easy to quit for the same reason that business offer money-back guarantees: by eliminating all risk of trying your product, you make it more likely that people will try it (and hopefully love it). But the learning argument is even stronger, especially for startups.

Regarding startup-as-learning-machine, has anyone looked at the process as essentially *risk*-based? The core idea seems essentially the same as in Barry Boehm's spiral model of software development. (The Wikipedia page for OODA doesn't mention the spiral model, though, or vice versa.)

Re: She dreams in digital: Dating on and off the grid

jasoncrawford — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:57:56 -0000

All so true! Never understood why meeting people online was supposed to be creepier than meeting them in bars.

Re: Financial McCarthyism

justinsail — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:28:30 -0000

this question of making good or bad bets is mostly moot for the financial instruments departments of these companies. They were making bets for and against their own holdings! They'd do a Credit Default Swap for some assets and then turn around and do a sweeter deal with a different hedge fund so that they got their gold whether those assets did well or badly... THAT'S what pisses me off so much!
They were simply gambling! ... and the taxpayer has to cover both sides! (just like we did in Iraq)

Re: Financial McCarthyism

rickg — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:56:29 -0000

It's not animus to people making money... it's that they want their money if they succeed OR fail. Most people who fail at their jobs are fired, not rewarded with hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Again, you take a company on the brink and remake it as a profitable entity? Great, you get money. You drive your company to the brink and lose billions? No money for you.

It's called reality - some of you need to try it out rather than lamenting about a few million not being enough to motivate someone.

Re: Financial McCarthyism

jasoncrawford — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:24:05 -0000

Some good points, Fred, thanks. With all the talk of "going John Galt" recently, some bankers who get their bonuses taken away might just decide to "shrug."

Why do you think the folks on Wall Street *are* vilified so much? Not *everyone* made bad bets (although many did). Of those who did make bad bets, was everyone really negligent or incompetent? I'm sure some people made honest mistakes. And then I'm sure there are some who should have known better--I'd like to think they have lost their jobs for good, although I'm afraid some of them got saved by the bailout.

Come to think of it, there are a lot of people who made *good* bets who are still being vilified, such as the hedge funds who bet on the housing market going down (and may get some of the AIG bailout money), or the East Bridgewater Savings Bank in Massachusetts, which is now being criticized for not lending enough. (!)

Some people seem to be driven more by animus towards anyone who is making money than by a fair, objective look at the situation. You are right, the voice of reason should rule.

Re: Conventional Wisdom Will Be Wrong

jasoncrawford — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:47:11 -0000

Well said, Fred. The best entrepreneurs and CEOs I know do just that: listen to everyone, and then come to their own conclusions. Often, everyone else is right. Sometimes everyone else is wrong. You'd be foolish not to get others thoughts and opinions, but the only way to proceed is on your own best judgment.

Re: A Quote For Today

jasoncrawford — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:07:49 -0000

Thank you. I was living in NYC on Sept. 11. I printed that exact quote and hung it on the wall next to my desk, and it was there for a couple of years. It helped me get through that time.

I'm in Seattle now, but I still remember.

Re: Barriers to the social mobile web

jasoncrawford — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:24:09 -0000

Good point. On Whrrl, you can send invitations to new friends by
either SMS or email. If you won't want to bother your friends with
SMSes, just use their email addresses instead of their phone numbers.
This is especially easy on the web, since whrrl.com lets you import
your email address book.

Re: Barriers to the social mobile web

kadesoto — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:22:03 -0000

Hi Jason, thanks for your comment! Good to hear that about Whrrl, I'll definitely need to play around with it some more-- as soon as I get out of this steel bunker and get my GPS functioning again, that is!

Your comment reminds me of an important point, and that's that sending an SMS/etc. to a friend enticing them to join a network seems so much more personal than shooting them a short e-mail. A phone is such a private thing. And since I don't know which of my friends tote mobile-ready devices, how do I know which ones to invite?

Re: Barriers to the social mobile web

jasoncrawford — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:47:33 -0000

Good points; you're right that mobile social networks need to include more than iPhone users to be successful right now. Whrrl actually does this--it's available on the Web (www.whrrl.com), via SMS, on BlackBerries, and on several other non-iPhone phones. It's also pretty useful even without friends, just to see interesting places around you, although it gets much better as you grow your network.

Re: AB Meta

jasoncrawford — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:15:06 -0000

Interesting... I read AVC in Google Reader, and the smartlinks don't show up, so I never noticed them. And when I went directly to avc.blogs.com, it took a long time for the smartlink icon next to "April" to show up (I'm using FF2 on a MacBook).

Anyway, the smartlinks have clear value, but I still don't see where the immediate payoff from AB Meta is.

Re: AB Meta

fredwilson — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:58:09 -0000

The smartlinks add something useful to the link. That's the 'immediate benefit' that I get

Fred

Re: AB Meta

jasoncrawford — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:19:23 -0000

The semantic web is an exciting idea. However, I'm not yet convinced that it will ever come about, primarily because I don't yet see what will motivate people to start structuring their content by marking it up with metadata.

The AB Meta FAQ you linked to answer a lot of "what" and "how", but doesn't address the "why". Why would anyone spend the time and effort required to do this markup? Or rather, what will motivate enough people to do it that the semantic web has a chance of coming about?

I think if the semantic web is going to happen, it's going to require some immediate payoff from doing the markup.

Why do you do it, Fred? (Other than interest in a portfolio company and the desire to play with a new technology.)