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To create a new category, name a new game

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Re: To create a new category, name a new game

#11

Post by _bxg1 »

I'm sorry, but I find this post insufferable. It just reeks of corporate buzzwording with a dash of disingenuous manipulation.

Also, unrelated: I hate those "conversational" customer service bubbles. I don't know what I expect to happen when I click them, but I know that "Jennifer H", whose picture is shown next to it, is not sitting at a keyboard eagerly awaiting my questions. Maybe I expect a chatbot, maybe I expect outsourced customer-service-farms, but I don't click buttons when I don't know what they really do, especially when I know they're avoiding being up-front about it.

Re: To create a new category, name a new game

#12

Post by wyattpeak »

sushisource wrote: post #5

It makes for a good setup for the piece, but the whole "do or don't carboload before endurance racing" is still very much a subject of debate.

He does acknowledge that later in the piece, although I don't know it matters one way or the other. The article is about pitching, not the truth of any particular claim.

Re: To create a new category, name a new game

#13

Post by [deleted] »

mysterydip wrote: post #3

I wish this was easier to do as an employee: you see the writing on the wall, they pay you to be an expert in a field, but no one listens to your "we should be moving in this direction". You're met with one of my most annoying phrases: "this is how we've always done it." The opportunity passes by, now your company is playing catch-up and managers above you are asking how they missed it. If you say "I told you so," yo…

[deleted]

Re: To create a new category, name a new game

#14

Post by dang »

_bxg1 wrote: post #11

I'm sorry, but I find this post insufferable. It just reeks of corporate buzzwording with a dash of disingenuous manipulation. Also, unrelated: I hate those "conversational" customer service bubbles. I don't know what I expect to happen when I click them, but I know that "Jennifer H", whose picture is shown next to it, is not sitting at a keyboard eagerly awaiting my questions. Maybe I expect a chatbot, maybe I expec…

I hate buzzwordy articles (and chatbox popups) too, but this article is better than usual and I think the point is a good one. There are situations in which you can't win at the old game, but if you reframe what you're doing as a new game, you can turn yourself into an early defining player instead of a hapless latecomer.

We see this in technical domains too. For example, I think Clojure succeeded this way. (We can argue about how much Clojure has succeeded, but it's a Lisp—we have to grade on a curve.) I don't think any attempt at improving on Common Lisp, no matter how technically solid, could have achieved that without "naming a new game", to use the article's vocabulary. Hot newness dominates improved oldness: every element of the set of hot newness beats every element of the set of improved oldness. Elixir/Erlang is another example. I say this article is one of the rarest things, a piece of marketing literature (like Crossing the Chasm and maybe the Innovator's Dilemma) that is useful to engineers.

Re: To create a new category, name a new game

#15

Post by _bxg1 »

dang wrote: post #14
_bxg1 wrote: post #11

I'm sorry, but I find this post insufferable. It just reeks of corporate buzzwording with a dash of disingenuous manipulation. Also, unrelated: I hate those "conversational" customer service bubbles. I don't know what I expect to happen when I click them, but I know that "Jennifer H", whose picture is shown next to it, is not sitting at a keyboard eagerly awaiting my questions. Maybe I expect a chatbot, maybe I expec…

I hate buzzwordy articles (and chatbox popups) too, but this article is better than usual and I think the point is a good one. There are situations in which you can't win at the old game, but if you reframe what you're doing as a new game, you can turn yourself into an early defining player instead of a hapless latecomer. We see this in technical domains too. For example, I think Clojure succeeded this way. (We can a…

It came across to me as "Just use this one weird trick and you can convince people of anything!" The runner example in particular seemed to emphasize the convincing over the content. I suppose it's possible to use the same technique benevolently, but the article didn't seem concerned with that question.

Re: To create a new category, name a new game

#16

Post by proc0 »

_bxg1 wrote: post #11

I'm sorry, but I find this post insufferable. It just reeks of corporate buzzwording with a dash of disingenuous manipulation. Also, unrelated: I hate those "conversational" customer service bubbles. I don't know what I expect to happen when I click them, but I know that "Jennifer H", whose picture is shown next to it, is not sitting at a keyboard eagerly awaiting my questions. Maybe I expect a chatbot, maybe I expec…

Yeah it gives too much credit to those cringy ads that are full of cliches.

Re: To create a new category, name a new game

#17

Post by huntermeyer »

sushisource wrote: post #5

It makes for a good setup for the piece, but the whole "do or don't carboload before endurance racing" is still very much a subject of debate.

He mentions that in the last paragraphs. It's part of his point about orthodoxy and loyalty. People hold strong opinions on either side of that debate.

Re: To create a new category, name a new game

#18

Post by Animats »

He writes "goodbye, ownership, hello usership" like that's a good thing. That's the business experience of outsourcing a service. You don't own that part of the business any more. You're just a user of some service that doesn't want to be bothered with your problems.

Re: To create a new category, name a new game

#20

Post by [deleted] »

_bxg1 wrote: post #11

I'm sorry, but I find this post insufferable. It just reeks of corporate buzzwording with a dash of disingenuous manipulation. Also, unrelated: I hate those "conversational" customer service bubbles. I don't know what I expect to happen when I click them, but I know that "Jennifer H", whose picture is shown next to it, is not sitting at a keyboard eagerly awaiting my questions. Maybe I expect a chatbot, maybe I expec…

[deleted]
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