I love reading Seth Godin. From one of his blog posts

If you are unable to declare, then you're going to slog, and instead of starting new projects based on what you've learned, you'll merely end up trapped. I'm not suggesting that you flit. A project might last a decade or a generation, but if it is to be a project, it must have an end.

While you may be tempted to be situational about this, to know it when you see it, to decide as you go, it's far more powerful and effective to define victory or failure in advance.

Jim Carrey put a $10M check signed to himself in pocket even before he got his first big break. Though, it is an exterme example, a goal that marks victory or failure is a great way to keep us in check. Code, career moves, dreams, manuscripts,...all need a firm goal, which is tangible.

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The more weird you are, more interesting you can be. However, the more weird you try/force to be, the more annoying you will be. To be weird, one doesn't need to try anything special. It just means to be who we are and being happy that way. It means that we don't try to fit in. And, more importantly, we don't try to stand out. Whatever happens, happens as a side-effect of us not relenting to be anything except who we are.

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A great picture, a short video, a crisp article, an uncluttered web or mobile application conveys a point much better its long form. Long form is easier to create, but more tedious on our users. Short forms are easier on our users, but more tedious on us.

Who said anything about simplicity meaning simplicity in the process of creating?

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Few years ago, I wrote an article about collaborative advantage. I was with Qualcomm at that time and my article talked about why companies should also think about collaborating with each other in addition to securing that competetive advantage. It still happens today, but I am seeing that trend shifting more and more.

Today, companies build technologies using open source tools or make their tools open source. In turn, they give something back to the open source community and beyond. The lines have blurred between competetive advantage and collaborative advantage. Technology stackes developed by one company is used by several others. As a company or individual, if you are not part of this paradigm shift, you will be left behind.

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Showing up is not a problem. Showing up and being relevant is. That social media status update, email, or even physical presence does not mean anything. If you are showing up in any form, consider being relevant as well.

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is the first step to creating something. Without that, no research can be possible. But, some forget that it is not even close to reality. It is merely one person's opinion on how something should be working. In media, we see this - analysis, debates and shoutouts about what someone is doing wrong and what should be done to fix it. Unless you are in media, you might not gain a whole lot of success by mere hypothesis and opinions. Make it real.

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There is blank canvas, less blanker canvas, lesser blank canvas and not a blank canvas. First one leaves you clueless, second one leaves you optimistic, third one leaves you concerned and the last one leaves you satisfied.

Why do we always talk about the blank canvas problem and not the other kind? Once you put words on a paper or start a task, they still have a long way to go. They all stare at you in the face and ask questions about the next step. Until the canvas is no longer blank, it might as well be considered blank.

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Can unsubscribe buttons be as huge as subscribe or sign up buttons? This tells us that you care about what you are sending. This tells us that you stand behind your content and give us respect and choice.

Can unsubscribe really mean unsubscribe and not a dummy mockup? Can we not see mails from you anymore after we click unsubscribe?

After unsubcribing, can we not get emails anymore? Even, the ones that are confirmations to our unsubscription? They are moot.

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If money and recognition does not exist, would what we do for a living change? If it changes, should we be doing it in the first place now? Maybe it is an impractical question, but it will be awesome if money and recognition is treated merely as a by-product.

I read an HBR article about forgeting passion and following opportunities. The article emphasized that passion is overrated and rather it is fruitful and fulfilling to pick a problem that interests us and turn that into our passion. Only, if something can be turned into passion that easily, it would make everyone in the world much happier.

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When technology sneezes, two things generally happen. One, an existing problem is solved and two, another problem is created as a by product. It always happens. It is amazing. When internet happened, search became a problem. When search happened, relevance became a problem. With relevance starting to happen, personanlization is a problem. 

Technology never combusts without a by product or a side-effect. As entrepreneurs, we need to start looking at these side effects along with marveling how technology has changed our lives. 

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Who clicks anymore on the cleverly concealed google adsense links in a webpage?

Who clicks anymore on the advertisements that popup when you are watching streaming content?

Who clicks anymore those banners that glare at you from all corners of a website?

Why are we still trading experience for a few extra dollars? Haven't the customers told us already that they have more options if we continue to disrespect them? Haven't we been listening?

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Not only that, they will be analyzed to the core. Funnily, people ride on your mistakes to take out their general frustrations. Your product decisions might spur discussions that are not even related to your product or process in the first place.

But, does that have to affect our vision? No. Does that mean that we did something wrong? Yes. Does that mean that we cannot move on? No. Creating great products is hard. Mistakes happen along the way and unfortunately stick out like a sore thumb. This is a side effect we have to deal with.

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Hustling is attempting to push forward. It is trying to get our products fast to the market. It is us building something to show the world, inspire and get feedback. To hustle, you need to hack at some level.

Hacking without the intention to hustle is being lazy. It is to create a product that is half baked, patched up and lacks quality. It is not understanding what breaks. It lacks respect to your customer.

Sadly, this difference is seldom understood. Both by people who are building products, and by others who are self-proclaimed critics of these products.

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In a world where mediocre accomplishments are glorified and virtual personalities are embraced, an artist's struggle has increased by leaps and bounds to stand out from people who are not in her league, yet share the same platform. I have seen, albeit sadly a lot of good artists bow their heads to this mediocrity to be accepted. However, there are still numerous great artists, who don't bow their heads but quietly shape their masterpieces. They continue silently inspiring the world, though, hardly speak about it. 

When you meet an individual in a coffeeshop or somewhere else, who is a better listener than a speaker, listen to what they say. Because, that very person you are talking to might be an artist who is changing the world in some big way.

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In the age of slowly dying emails, we still get tons of brochures, flyers, pre-approvals and other junk in the mail. Most of those go directly in the shred or recycle bin. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent by the marketing teams who still don't understand that they are wasting both their money and time. When I see these in my mailbox, all I remember is how much time I need to take off from the other important thing to shred these mails. And, it is insanely hard to find out how you take your address away from these lists.

It is surprising how these companies never care to respect what their target customers are saying about them. They could save thousands of marketing dollars and in the process, gain more respect. It is a win-win for them. But, still they never win.

Think before you make a product or marketing decision - "What does my customer think about my product after this happens?"

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In this world where a thing on social media spreads faster than anything we have known before, being the first is not easy. Being first means associating yourself with something, and being the source. It takes more courage because you are adding something to the carefully constructed meta personality you have built for ages. That blog post you do, that tweet, that facebook recommendation, that tumblr reblog, everything has a cost - it leaves a digital footprint that is cached somewhere for life. This digital footprint defines our meta personality. Hence you see trends catching up, topics heating up, buzz words becoming part of culture. What we see, hear and write are more and more dictated by these trends. Sadly, what we represent as our views has also become interlinked with these trends. 

Can we not talk about Football because it is Super Bowl, but because we are passionate about the game? Can we still embrace that author or speaker whose views no one seems to embrace but we do? Can we not support gay marriage because it is a trending issue but rather because we care about it deeply from our hearts? Can we not take sides in a political campaign because everybody else seems to be doing so?

It takes courage to be break away from the herd mentality, with the knowledge that a herd might not form behind us. That is what we require today from every one of us.

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Internet started as a great leveler making artists out of common people. Many realized they can write, photograph, record videos, paint, sing, dance...and that people loved what they had to offer. These people were found out of corners and pockets of the world and where they came from had no barrier on what they had to offer.

It was the medium that took giant strides towards removing the status quo. Bloggers became the new writers. Flickr and StockPhotos emerged and took the world over. YouTube became the new mode of expression. Twitter and Facebook allowed themselves to be the unexpected mediums of peace and struggle. They say that with power, one needs responsibility. Now, everyone knows they can utilize the internet to do both mundane and great things. That knowledge coupled with the never ending human desire for self-expression has led the internet into chaos. There is still that brilliant inspiration lying deep down in the middle of mediocre stuff. The photo, video or a thought still exists. We don't know how to find it. In the search of the blog post or a photo that would make our day, we have navigate through a minefield of noise.

Content discovery engines are sprouting by the day, some better over others, but all fighting the same challenge - to unearth the gems that will inspire us. They are plagued by the same challenges, because at the end of the day, they are limited by our own knowledge of how to solve the problem. And, this a problem that will stay. We are looking at the problem in a wrong way. Content discovery works beautifully when there is a fixed goal. When I am looking for a news article, I am telling you (the engines) what I want. But, the power of internet that captivated a lot of us was a power to discover for ourselves, and be surprised at what we find. In many ways, the journey mattered, and where it led us did not, to a great extent. That is what we are missing in the discovery engines.

When Google decides to make search less noisy, they are showing their view of the internet to me. They are using their interpretation of my actions to present a world that I should be eager to discover and explore. Sadly, this falls flat. The fundamental mistake in every search engine signal that is recorded under the hood that they are mere datapoints that have no knowledge of the things that actually will help them search better. And, this mistake is costly in terms of user experience. Let us try an experiment -

Let us search on behalf of somebody we know and understand well.

We take ownership of their search. They are not in control of the search queries. And we are allowed to ask them any number of questions we want. Sure, the experience will be terrible but the insight we gain is more valuable than any data that a search engine can gather. The information we gather will significantly change the way we search on behalf of somebody. For instance, when I tried this experiment to search on behalf of my wife, I took her mood into account. I took our her expectations into account. I took her intention into account. For instance, when she wanted to make Tiramasu, my search solution included knowing her health preferences, the chefs she admires and the medium of her choice. On the surface, these might seem to be signals and data points, but they are deeper than that. These truly define this person. And, we cannot provide a good content discovery experience unless we understand what this person truly is, stands for or is wanting.

Another interesting experiment I have tried is "Pair Search". Like Pair Programming, this involves sitting on the same table with someone and having a common goal of discovering some content on the internet. You both search for the same thing, using the same browser session, together. This leads to interesting conversations on what we are really looking for. Funnily, this puts a lot of us in a mode of introspection, but also brings a lot of value in understanding what we like and what we don't. My biggest insight from Pair Searching is that queries don't always capture what somebody is looking for. 

The queries are mere indications of the general direction of a search, nothing more.

Only, if search engines can listen to what we are saying. Literally, would that happen? Would users be open to giving additional inputs by voice? Woudn't that provide more information about atleast their mood and make the sessions more interactive? It might, or it might not. But, we need to try. When we are bettering experiences for someone, we need to get as close to them as possible. Even something like a search engine has to talk, and more importantly listen.

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Several content sites and blogs die faster than they come up. The biggest factor for success is its least sexy part - continuity.  Fred Wilson has been writing from 2003. Seth Godin has been writing from 2002. These blogs have millions of readers. I have read/heard in their interviews that every morning they forced themselves to write. 

Same with code, ideas and building companies. I have thought several times - "What is next?"

Sometimes, it is hard to answer this question. But, it is important to answer it. Things happen and doors open for us to do the next thing. But, sometimes doors don't open soon. Then, the logical choice would be to continue what we are doing if we have conviction. But, do we have enough juice to do it? When we hit road blocks, do we have something that keeps us going?

Starting something is easy. Continuing it is damn hard. So, plan for continuity. Unless you have that figured out, don't jump the gun.

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How many times this happens?

When we are on a call, or skyping with someone and the other person cannot hear our voice, we tend to talk louder and louder in the hope that they can hear us. Talking loud does not fix the line.

This happens numerous times in meetings and discussions, where we think raising our voices is going to get the other person hear what we are saying. The other person does the same. It is chaos afterwards.

Remember, raising your voice does not fix the line. 

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So, the past few weeks, I have thought about the content of this blog. I rarely post anything to do with code on this blog. I have a dev blog for that where I will share that goodness dev.saranyan.com. 

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