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Paul Graham on Doing Things Right by Accident

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Re: Paul Graham on Doing Things Right by Accident

#11

Post by bcook »

aresant wrote: post #9

"Plus, then, I had given this talk about the Harvard Computer Society, and I said, “If you want to raise money, raise money from people who made the money doing startups. And then, they can give you advice, too.” And I suddenly noticed, they were all looking at me. And I had this horrifying vision of them all e-mailing me their business plans. Which is funny, because that’s what YC turned into." That gave me chills.…

Please, for the ignorant (no offense intended, as I am an entrenched member), can you more precisely/consisely explain your critiques? The reasons behind your "chills" are foreign to me.

My intuition often betrays my experience.

Re: Paul Graham on Doing Things Right by Accident

#12

Post by ktRolster »

bcook wrote: post #11
aresant wrote: post #9

"Plus, then, I had given this talk about the Harvard Computer Society, and I said, “If you want to raise money, raise money from people who made the money doing startups. And then, they can give you advice, too.” And I suddenly noticed, they were all looking at me. And I had this horrifying vision of them all e-mailing me their business plans. Which is funny, because that’s what YC turned into." That gave me chills.…

Please, for the ignorant (no offense intended, as I am an entrenched member), can you more precisely/consisely explain your critiques? The reasons behind your "chills" are foreign to me. My intuition often betrays my experience.

"Gives me chills" in that context is not a criticism, it means (roughly) that he really liked and related to it.

Re: Paul Graham on Doing Things Right by Accident

#13

Post by chris11 »

visakanv wrote: post #3
pkrumins wrote: post #2

That reminds me of this amazing talk called Why Greatness Cannot be Planned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXQPL9GooyI TLDV: Innovation is not driven by narrowly focused heroic effort. We'd be wiser and the outcomes would be better if instead we whole-heartedly embraced serendipitous discovery and playful creativity. We can potentially achieve more by following a non-objective yet still principled path, after throw…

+1. As a writer, literally all of my best work is completely unplanned. On hindsight there was preparation, background, context, etc, but still.

So what is your writing process like? I'm personally really interested in how well designed things are created. It seems like there is a paradox, you can't force great things to happen with objectives and planning. But you can objectively tell that something is great. So are you personally concerned about whether a specific piece of writing is objectively great, or are you more interested in your ability to write well in general?

Re: Paul Graham on Doing Things Right by Accident

#14

Post by dang »

pkrumins wrote: post #2

That reminds me of this amazing talk called Why Greatness Cannot be Planned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXQPL9GooyI TLDV: Innovation is not driven by narrowly focused heroic effort. We'd be wiser and the outcomes would be better if instead we whole-heartedly embraced serendipitous discovery and playful creativity. We can potentially achieve more by following a non-objective yet still principled path, after throw…

Discussed a few days ago at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11078635.

Re: Paul Graham on Doing Things Right by Accident

#15

Post by kbenson »

ktRolster wrote: post #12
bcook wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please, for the ignorant (no offense intended, as I am an entrenched member), can you more precisely/consisely explain your critiques? The reasons behind your "chills" are foreign to me. My intuition often betrays my experience.

"Gives me chills" in that context is not a criticism, it means (roughly) that he really liked and related to it.

I believe "frisson" is the word you are looking for.

Re: Paul Graham on Doing Things Right by Accident

#16

Post by mentos »

pkrumins wrote: post #2

That reminds me of this amazing talk called Why Greatness Cannot be Planned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXQPL9GooyI TLDV: Innovation is not driven by narrowly focused heroic effort. We'd be wiser and the outcomes would be better if instead we whole-heartedly embraced serendipitous discovery and playful creativity. We can potentially achieve more by following a non-objective yet still principled path, after throw…

Great video! Everyone on HN should watch this.

Re: Paul Graham on Doing Things Right by Accident

#17

Post by derefr »

telesilla wrote: post #8
meowface wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard this sentiment expressed for the creation of music and art as well.

I'm a composer as well as a software developer. There is no way in hell I could plan an interesting piece of music. You really just have to wait for it to come, however importantly it does mean you have to be ready to listen: i.e. put yourself in environments and states of mind that are most receptive and be extremely well-honed on your craft on a technical level so you can execute well.

I think this is a sentiment most people share, because most creative people only output—at most—a few masterworks in their lifetimes.

I bet the people who are constantly pumping out works that, on their own, would be considered achievements—the Picassos and Frank Zappas and Stephen Kings of the world—have a pretty different view on how much of creating something good is inspiration vs. a schlepp.

Re: Paul Graham on Doing Things Right by Accident

#18

Post by bootload »

"Early-stage startups are just fast-moving chaos. That is a constant. That was true in Henry Ford's day, it was true when we started YC."

Interesting quote. There must be some organisation to early startups, otherwise they wouldn't work. Is the chaos just a description of what cannot be observed and described?

Fantastic read. Liked the bit about straw-drawing to talk to customers.

Re: Paul Graham on Doing Things Right by Accident

#19

Post by agumonkey »

pkrumins wrote: post #2

That reminds me of this amazing talk called Why Greatness Cannot be Planned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXQPL9GooyI TLDV: Innovation is not driven by narrowly focused heroic effort. We'd be wiser and the outcomes would be better if instead we whole-heartedly embraced serendipitous discovery and playful creativity. We can potentially achieve more by following a non-objective yet still principled path, after throw…

It's a profound talk, but incomplete in my view. It's mostly that we're culturally far too used to linear and predictable (culturally only because we know very well about randomness, laughter and surprise is wired in our brains). Also, we cannot predict the path, nor the number of possible paths that will approach a given structure.

Re: Paul Graham on Doing Things Right by Accident

#20

Post by Hermel »

bootload wrote: post #18

"Early-stage startups are just fast-moving chaos. That is a constant. That was true in Henry Ford's day, it was true when we started YC." Interesting quote. There must be some organisation to early startups, otherwise they wouldn't work. Is the chaos just a description of what cannot be observed and described? Fantastic read. Liked the bit about straw-drawing to talk to customers.

The "organization" at startups is to do whatever makes sense and to not waste energy on internal politics. Obviously, that requires the founders to be naturally well-aligned in what they do.
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