Isn't most of what most of Gladwell writes a genralised case of "Alien's cause global warming." http://www.michaelcrichton.net/speech-alienscauseglobalwarmi...
Great article, thanks for the link.
Joel on Software: Anecdotes
31–40 of 65 posts
Re: Joel on Software: Anecdotes
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
Um, lemme see if I understand here, what you're saying... Are you claiming that (a) I'm successful, and (b) I think that I'm successful because I'm smarter and worked harder and (c) Malcolm Gladwell thinks I'm successful because of good luck and timing and that (d) therefore I'm mad at Gladwell's new book and that (e) therefore I decided to slam it? Is that your theory?
1. I'm saying your timing is suspicious. 2. My own anecdotal experience tells me successful people want to believe they earned their success through brains and hard work 3. Gladwell states that a good portion of success is due to hard work but that you have to be lucky enough to be able to put in the 10,000 hours at the right time and of course, have the luxury of putting in that kind of dedication So bottom line, he…
I'm not "successful" (beyond having a wonderful wife and daughter), but I find Gladwell sort of light in the same way Joel does. It's entertaining reading, but like most business books, the meat of it, sans anecdotes, could fit in a few pages. And sometimes the 'meat' is sort of dubious in any case.
... and thus... Squeezed Books :-)
Re: Joel on Software: Anecdotes
#33A lot of the advances we have in science came not because people rigorously studied data and then came to conclusions, but because people had flashes of insight, and then looked for data to validate or invalidate their opinions.
We need this variety of uninformed opinion because it is from one of those nuggets that new things will be invented.
Science is just philosophy combined with statistical data.
Re: Joel on Software: Anecdotes
#34This hit the nail on the head as to why I don't care for Gladwell's writings. I'm tired of telling smart friends that I think his books are largely useless (and incredibly boring) and getting the same look I would if I said that Jesus and L Ron Hubbard came to me in a dream and gave me a great recipe for chicken chili. Though unlike Chris Anderson, at least the anecdotes Gladwell bases his stories on are true, rather…
What writing then would you say was similar enough to Gladwells to be in the same genre, but better in your opinion?
Re: Joel on Software: Anecdotes
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
Um, lemme see if I understand here, what you're saying... Are you claiming that (a) I'm successful, and (b) I think that I'm successful because I'm smarter and worked harder and (c) Malcolm Gladwell thinks I'm successful because of good luck and timing and that (d) therefore I'm mad at Gladwell's new book and that (e) therefore I decided to slam it? Is that your theory?
1. I'm saying your timing is suspicious. 2. My own anecdotal experience tells me successful people want to believe they earned their success through brains and hard work 3. Gladwell states that a good portion of success is due to hard work but that you have to be lucky enough to be able to put in the 10,000 hours at the right time and of course, have the luxury of putting in that kind of dedication So bottom line, he…
Joel did get ahead by being smarter and working harder. He was doing the blogging/article thing back before everyone was doing it, and it takes some smarts to be the first. He also kept it up on a regular schedule, and that needs some discipline.
So people like 37signals had a good pinch of luck thrown in their pot, but Joel, I believe, actually got to the top rung of the internet food chain by persistence and hard work.
Re: Joel on Software: Anecdotes
#36A lot of essays are extrapolated anecdotes. It's not an intrinsically evil form. You just have to do it right.
But it seems that to "do it right," the writer must be able to pick the right anecdotes and draw the right conclusions from them. This is probably close to impossible if he's not an expert in the area. And if the writer's an expert, then he should be able to provide other (non-anecdotal) evidence to support his claims as well. I think that's why many of these books are so frustrating to read -- they seem to rely almo…
A lot of expertise is not based on scientific statistics, but rather on the sample of problems the expert encounters and his intuition.
Re: Joel on Software: Anecdotes
#37An Anecdote can have a place and a purpose - heck, that's most of my blog. But the plural of 'Anecdote' is not 'Data'.
What is data more than a plurality of anecdotes?
Re: Joel on Software: Anecdotes
#38Holy fucking crap, are you kidding me? Joel, you really want me to choose between your writing and Gladwell's?
Re: Joel on Software: Anecdotes
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Um, lemme see if I understand here, what you're saying... Are you claiming that (a) I'm successful, and (b) I think that I'm successful because I'm smarter and worked harder and (c) Malcolm Gladwell thinks I'm successful because of good luck and timing and that (d) therefore I'm mad at Gladwell's new book and that (e) therefore I decided to slam it? Is that your theory?
1. I'm saying your timing is suspicious. 2. My own anecdotal experience tells me successful people want to believe they earned their success through brains and hard work 3. Gladwell states that a good portion of success is due to hard work but that you have to be lucky enough to be able to put in the 10,000 hours at the right time and of course, have the luxury of putting in that kind of dedication So bottom line, he…
Consider the following two propositions.
1. When someone "successful" criticizes Gladwell's thesis, it's suspicious because maybe they just don't want to hear that they weren't really smarter than everyone else.
2. When someone "unsuccessful" criticizes Gladwell's thesis, it's suspicious because maybe they just don't want to hear that their lack of success simply shows that they didn't work hard enough.
#1 is your argument; presumably you find it plausible. It seems to me that #2 is about equal in plausibility to #1; and #1+#2 would say that anyone should be viewed with suspicion, as probably motivated by something other than honest intellectual inquiry, if they criticize Gladwell's book. Which seems ... unhelpful.
It also seems curious that you describe someone as (a) "the number one anecdotal blowhard" and (b) "one of my heroes". Why should the rest of us take any notice of someone who knowingly takes an anecdotal blowhard as a hero?
Re: Joel on Software: Anecdotes
#40It kills me how the Gladwell book brought this out of Joel. Nobody wants to be told their success is a good part luck and timing. They all want to believe it is because they are smarter and worked harder. So suddenly the software world's number one anecdotal blowhard decides to slam another blowhard. Okay. Whatever.
Um, lemme see if I understand here, what you're saying... Are you claiming that (a) I'm successful, and (b) I think that I'm successful because I'm smarter and worked harder and (c) Malcolm Gladwell thinks I'm successful because of good luck and timing and that (d) therefore I'm mad at Gladwell's new book and that (e) therefore I decided to slam it? Is that your theory?
You've worked harder than most people I know, but didn't you a) get the first PC in Israel, b) go to Yale, c) get early '90s Microsoft stock, d) have a house you could use as an office when you started your business, e) define the category of software blogging by getting there first, and f) start a profitable company during a tech slump, giving you an advantage in hiring?
Joel Spolsky: Hard work + good luck = success! You could be Gladwell's next anecdote.