Not only that we are not normal as a consumers, but we are also not normal, for most part as developers, there are huge number of people who just are not up to speed with latest technology and simply don't use it. It helps to remind yourself often about that.
We are not normal people
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Re: We are not normal people
#82I'm one of those developers who thinks that marketing in general is 'scummy' and this article has done nothing to change that perception. I'm willing to acknowledge that there can exist marketing that is not scummy but it's hard for me to think of real world examples. Can someone describe for me the difference between scummy marketing and, I guess I'll call it 'ethical' marketing? I love building things that people e…
My take: ethical marketing is where you are trying to serve the customer. Unethical marketing is where you serve yourself at the expense of your customer.
One problem, of course, is that advertising and marketing people, being what they are, will almost always tell you they are trying to serve the customer. (And they generally believe it.) To tell the good from the bad, you will have to use your own moral compass.
The bigger one, though, is that it's an arms race. In a perfect world, nobody would push anything. You could just release your new product; those hungry for a solution would find it and become your customers. Sadly, those people right now are being aggressively manipulated by your competitors. They will never hear about your product. If you want to succeed, you will have to get your hands dirty with actual marketing.
Personally, I bridge the gap by asking myself three things:
1. Are we legitimately creating value for our customers? Would they be better off using our product?
2. Is our approach to marketing reasonably ethical, and at least no worse than the competition?
3. In the long term, are we acting in ways that will reduce the arms race, or at least make it no worse?
Re: We are not normal people
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Does the barber need arbitrary shapes in this case? But why is the default assumption that the barber needs software, and we must prove out that he doesn't? The barber just wants to note some info and get on with things.
Because we are software writers and we are looking for problems to which our skills are a solution. The barber might just need another paper calendar, but then where does that leave me, the software developer? It leaves me still in need of a job.
Then find one, but don't waste everyone's time selling things to people who won't realize value from them. You'll either fail or hurt people in doing so.
Re: We are not normal people
#84My future recruiter and employer are my customers. I can assure you that they are most certainly interested in technologies I am going to use. Welcome to CV-driven development!
Re: We are not normal people
#85I don't know who "we" is, but there's nothing abnormal about programmers as programmers. Currently the profession is dominated by a few narrow demographics which have a limited understanding of people outside of those demographics, but that's a social issue, not one that comes along with technical competence.
My major problem with dealing with clients/customers that I'm doing custom work for is that instead of telling me what they do, or what they want to be able to do, in language that they understand, they convert it into their own private techspeak. They incorrectly drop in technical words that they've heard somewhere, and they ask for specific brands of software that they've never seen and often don't understand.
I am a normal person. Tell me your goals and your problems in plain English, and I'll figure out how to get it done. I'm pretty good at it, and if I can't help you I can probably find you someone who can.
Re: We are not normal people
#86This is definitely not a rule of thumb, but this point of view does fit in most of (small) cases.
Want an example? One of the most beloved practices by the software industry is kanban boards. It's at least curious how people writing systems prefer to have a physical board rather than, well, a system.
Re: We are not normal people
#87Insightful post. I wish I'd read something like that years ago, instead of finding out the hard way. Thank you.
Re: We are not normal people
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does the barber need arbitrary shapes in this case? It looks like his pain point was that he was walking to a computer. Perhaps having a tablet by his phone could fix this problem? It could be as easy as the paper calendar solution, but since it's all being done electronically, you could allow people to schedule appointments online and such.
> Does the barber need arbitrary shapes in this case? But why is the default assumption that the barber needs software, and we must prove out that he doesn't? The barber just wants to note some info and get on with things.
The barber may not need software, but the barber's customers do. Who wants to waste time on the phone or sending text messages back and forth trying to find a mutually agreed upon time for an appointment?
With that said, given that the barber in question has tried 10 different scheduling packages, it would seem that he is looking for something better than paper. That says to me that something is needed in his business, and that may very well be software, though the platform on which to run that software is probably not a PC with standard peripherals.
Re: We are not normal people
#89I'm one of those developers who thinks that marketing in general is 'scummy' and this article has done nothing to change that perception. I'm willing to acknowledge that there can exist marketing that is not scummy but it's hard for me to think of real world examples. Can someone describe for me the difference between scummy marketing and, I guess I'll call it 'ethical' marketing? I love building things that people e…
In my Technical Blogging book I wrote the following on marketing: -- Correct a Self-Sabotaging Mindset -- Marketing is bullshit. Marketing is evil. Marketing is everything that’s wrong with this world. Marketing is the root of all evil. Marketers should be shot. I have heard all these statements—and plenty more like them. If you agree with any of them, you are not alone in your dislike of marketing. I’ve found that t…
no offense...but you couldn't even reply to him without marketing your book? this also occurred in the OP, where you get to the bottom of his post and it's revealed that the whole thing was supposed to get you interested in his book. this is why i fucking hate marketing. nothing is genuine, everything has an ulterior motive. it destroys peoples' authenticity and trustworthiness.
Re: We are not normal people
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
> building things that people enjoy Knowing what people will enjoy is part of marketing. "Marketing" is commonly thought of as "advertising", but the full meaning includes choosing what to build - what do people need? What will help them? Now, a favoured open source technique for doing this is to scratch your own itch... the thinking is that if it annoys you, it probably annoys lots of other people. A kind of marketi…
Maybe the biggest problem in forming my perception of marketing is that the good, quality marketing is the marketing least likely to get noticed consciously. The scummy marketing might not be more prevalent but it's more obvious so that's what I've been using to form my opinion. The marketing that I commonly notice is the kind born out of much research on manipulating the thoughts, desires and behaviors of people. It…
I'd agree about Parse, but I'm surprised you would respect Airbnb's marketing tactics. It's well known (http://davegooden.com/2011/05/how-airbnb-became-a-billion-do...) that they did some pretty shady Craigslist spamming.