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Aaron Swartz: Perfectionism (and his new startup, Jottit)

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Re: Aaron Swartz: Perfectionism (and his new startup, Jottit)

#41

Post by gscott »

palish wrote: post #2

Like Artix, Chain would have failed in its current form no matter how smooth it was polished. It was very important that we failed fast so that we could focus on morphing it into something that works. You lose that with perfectionism. So you'd better be a Steve Jobs.

> So you'd better be a Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs is a huge perfectionist. However he will make you work 70+ hours a week to achieve his perfection and he will ride you every step of the way to get the best out of you. http://www.folklore.org

Re: Aaron Swartz: Perfectionism (and his new startup, Jottit)

#42

Post by gscott »

dottertrotter wrote: post #10

Personally I used to be like this. I would never launch anything, because nothing I did was ever good enough for me. However, recently I learned my lesson. I launched hackrtrackr with only one feature, and without and going back and rethinking what I had done. The result an insanely simple website that has taken off very well. Also by launching with only one feature and minimal code it allowed me to quickly add the f…

> Personally I used to be like this. I would never launch anything, because nothing I did was ever good enough for me.

Sounds like practice coding to me, I am sure the experience you gained helped you write what you decided was worthy of releasing.

Re: Aaron Swartz: Perfectionism (and his new startup, Jottit)

#44

Post by joe »

oditogre wrote: post #31
rms wrote: post #28

http://beta.jottit.com/

http://beta.jottit.com/8dw3p/ http://HowDoesJottitFormattingWork.jottit.com (same site in theory...doesn't seem to be working, though.) Anybody know of where you can get more instructions on how to use it? Handy for throwing together a random anonymous blog, I guess. Ad-supported, I assume?

So, basically, a pastebin without syntax highlighting?

Re: Aaron Swartz: Perfectionism (and his new startup, Jottit)

#46

Post by [deleted] »

gscott wrote: post #41
palish wrote: post #2

Like Artix, Chain would have failed in its current form no matter how smooth it was polished. It was very important that we failed fast so that we could focus on morphing it into something that works. You lose that with perfectionism. So you'd better be a Steve Jobs.

> So you'd better be a Steve Jobs Steve Jobs is a huge perfectionist. However he will make you work 70+ hours a week to achieve his perfection and he will ride you every step of the way to get the best out of you. http://www.folklore.org

[deleted]

Re: Aaron Swartz: Perfectionism (and his new startup, Jottit)

#48

Post by benhoyt »

philh wrote: post #39

What's the difference between "adding a feature" and "improving the site"? I always took them to be the same thing. In that sense, you're either adding a feature or you're stagnating. (Or, I suppose, going backwards.)

"Getting Real" has the answer to that: https://gettingreal.37signals.com/

In short, having fewer features is often the best feature.

Re: Aaron Swartz: Perfectionism (and his new startup, Jottit)

#49

Post by axod »

I disagree... users love seeing new features. If they don't work so well, they don't care. Most likely they'll enjoy them and feel privileged they are getting to use them before they are really ready. They'll see the potential. They'll start imagining what it'll be like once it's finished. If it's a cool, innovative feature they haven't seen before, they'll see it as proof you're a cool place to be. Even if half of it doesn't work.

Get features out often. Of course make sure they don't break anything else, or reduce the users experience, but users love to see a site evolving and changing with them on board.

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