15 Ideas (the summary)
Griffin does a nice job of summarizing some of the big ideas in the Big Moo:
- Real security comes from growth ( Page xiv ) To me this is the best statement in the book and it’s right there in the preface.
- Wanting growth and attaining growth are two different things ( Preface xv ) – Companies usually end up paralyzed by trying to focus on how they’ll grow instead of actually growing.
- Those who fit in now won’t stand out later ( Page 5 ) – It’s difficult to change once you get into a rhythm of mediocrity.
- If you name something, you get power over it ( Page 18 ) – Ever try to change a bad nickname ? When a name catches on, it becomes very powerful.
- Don’t concentrate on making a standard. Once you create
the standard, you’ve created a commodity and your customers will seek
something like it, but cheaper ( Page 23 ) – *cough* Netscape *cough* - Being efficient is not as good as being robust
( Page 52 ) – There’s such a thing as "good enough". Being flexible is
better than trying to squeeze out a few extra performance cycles. - You can’t predict the future ( Page 55 ) – …
- Everything is version .9, waiting for just one more upgrade before it’s done ( Page 86 ) – Releasing something stable, but not complete is better than waiting it’s "perfect". It will never be perfect.
- Betting on change is always the safest bet ( Page 91 ) – You can’t constrain change. People have scars from trying to.
- Creativity is made up of iteration and juxtaposition ( Page 95 ) – Mash things together enough times, and something interesting will happen.
- Compromise kills. Doing something half-ass is worse than doing nothing
( Page 97 ) – If you don’t have enough information to implement
something, ignore it and move on. It’s better than trying to guess.
Remember #7. - Novelty for the sake of novelty is risky and a recipe for irrelevance ( Page 100 ) – Solve a problem. I’ve written about this …
- The energy isn’t in the idea, it’s in the execution
( Page 101 ) – Everyone wants to sit around and think up cool stuff.
Sooner or later, you’re going to have to actually build something. - A product is what the customer thinks it is ( Page 131 ) – How many times have you gotten pissed at a user of your software for "using it wrong" ?
- Don’t let the seeds stop you from enjoying the watermelon ( Page 134 ) – The world is grey. Every solution, product, feature is the result of several trade-offs.
Read his original post to find the crosslinks.