On 7/5/07, Craig Latta craig@netjam.org wrote:
Having a short-term-gain mindset at all times will cause the total effort to be much harder and take much longer. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh (it sounds harsh to me, you don't need to convince me of that :). Despite that, I think it's still best to speak plainly here.
I'll speak plainly back, then. You asked in a recent message how to get someone else to use Spoon. The only true answer I can give is, offer them a short term gain. Yes, short term incremental improvement causes the total effort to be greater, but it also mitigates adoption risk: at each incremental stage you can assess whether or not people are actually going to use the work you're doing or not, and modify what you're doing accordingly. It's great to go off on a long-term research project and come back with something beautiful, but there is a significant risk that it will turn out not to be what people actually want, and get no adoption. Having an incremental process in the meantime is valuable, both as a backup in case the long-term project fails, but also to inform the long term project about what the community finds useful and what falls flat.
In Vancouver, where I live, there is currently a massive multi-year project going on to extend a subway line from downtown out to the airport. In 2010, when it's complete, it'll be great. For now, it's a massive disruption.
I can live with the disruption. Here's what I wouldn't be able to live with: when I'm standing on the street corner hailing a cab to take me to the airport, one of the subway engineers comes over and tells me off. "All you have to do is grab a shovel and help out and we'll get you to the airport in style - *so* much better than a taxi, and less total effort in the long run." That's nice, buddy, but I've got a plane to catch.
Avi