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“Just remove the duck” (2013)

rachelbythebay.com

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Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#41

Post by icebraining »

chestervonwinch wrote: post #32
wambotron wrote: post #20

I worked at a deli during college, and people did this same type of thing on slices. By default, I'd always pick a pretty thin slice. Most people really like thinly sliced meats. The first thing you do is slice once and show them the slice, making sure it fits what they wanted. 99% of the time, people would say "thinner," I would pretend to fiddle with the knob, slice the same thickness, and they'd say "perfect!" I t…

or maybe they don't want to appear rude or finnicky by pointing out that it looks the same?

Maybe for some, but even rude and abusive people do it.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#42

Post by TallGuyShort »

mvdwoord wrote: post #8

A story from the time recounts that Piero Soderino, the head of the powerful Florentine Republic, even told the famously irascible Michelangelo that David's nose was much too large. Michelangelo then hid some marble dust in his hand, climbed back up his ladder and pretended to do some more "chiseling" on the offending proboscis. While he did so, he let some marble dust fall from his hand. The pompous Soderino was foo…

Not a huge Steve Jobs fan, but I had a professor who had worked as a designer under Steve Jobs and tried something similar. Steve insisted that a new mouse needed to be just a fraction of a millimetre slimmer so a person's palm was lower and closer to the work surface. They figured he was being an unreasonable "delicate genius" and returned a few days later with the identical mouse and claimed they had reworked it to be a little slimmer. He held it and immediately said they had done nothing and the size was identical to before. They took it and reworked it to actually be about half a millimetre slimmer, showed it to him, and he said it was perfect.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#43

Post by masklinn »

iand wrote: post #25
agumonkey wrote: post #3

Similarly, always give options, subtly worse than the one you want to see picked. See Dan Ariely's books.

Be careful, this is how the Archbishop of Canterbury got picked in 1990. http://liberalengland.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/how-george-care... On that occasion the Appointments Committee put forward the names of the Archbishop of York, the favorite of the church leaders but one who had ruffled Mrs. Thatcher's feathers on other issues. To try to encourage his selection, the second candidate was generally regarded as unquali…

That's usually a slightly risky move, but it upgrades to very risky indeed when the choices are presented to an antagonist who may well decide to be wilfully malicious and call you on your bluff.

If you click through to the original source, the Church had deeply angered Thatcher by criticising her policies extensively and finally praying for the argentinian dead during the ceremony celebrating the end of the Falklands war. After the ceremony,

> Prime Minister Thatcher was livid and quite vocal at the door of the Cathedral that day and vowed that she would never let a representative of the church embarrass her again.

I'm not surprised she decided to fuck with them and pick the crazy guy, she wasn't call the Iron Lady because she liked building steel plants (quite the opposite really).

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#44

Post by masklinn »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #42
mvdwoord wrote: post #8

A story from the time recounts that Piero Soderino, the head of the powerful Florentine Republic, even told the famously irascible Michelangelo that David's nose was much too large. Michelangelo then hid some marble dust in his hand, climbed back up his ladder and pretended to do some more "chiseling" on the offending proboscis. While he did so, he let some marble dust fall from his hand. The pompous Soderino was foo…

Not a huge Steve Jobs fan, but I had a professor who had worked as a designer under Steve Jobs and tried something similar. Steve insisted that a new mouse needed to be just a fraction of a millimetre slimmer so a person's palm was lower and closer to the work surface. They figured he was being an unreasonable "delicate genius" and returned a few days later with the identical mouse and claimed they had reworked it to…

Yes it's a move which works when people demand changes in order to leave their mark or to be seen as "doing something"[0], it doesn't work in the case of people demanding changes because they actually want these changes.

[0] an attitude I find myself unthinkingly adopting when doing reviews.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#45

Post by Disruptive_Dave »

LanceH wrote: post #9

This is classic military when presenting anything to an officer for review. I've definitely read references of it going back to WWII (intentional, obvious oil smudge on otherwise pristine rifle). It was frequently stated that no officer could leave a document unedited after review, so an obvious misspelling or two would be added. It's a way of life on the military, really.

Client services, as well. I was Director of a partnership marketing agency that had blue chip clients (IBM, FedEx, etc.). Any time we presented concepts/ideas to our clients we ALWAYS 1) included a few "easy no's" and 2) held back one or two good ones (most times). I have a quote hanging on my wall that reads: "Ideas are 1%, execution is 49%, getting people to own the idea is 25%, making those people heroes is 25%" (Chris Brogan). I think that's a positive way to spin this situation.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#46

Post by TeMPOraL »

mvdwoord wrote: post #8

A story from the time recounts that Piero Soderino, the head of the powerful Florentine Republic, even told the famously irascible Michelangelo that David's nose was much too large. Michelangelo then hid some marble dust in his hand, climbed back up his ladder and pretended to do some more "chiseling" on the offending proboscis. While he did so, he let some marble dust fall from his hand. The pompous Soderino was foo…

This is something my friends did on a software engineering class. They were tasked to draw a set of complicated diagrams modeling a software project. When they gave the assignment, the PhD that was grading them said it's wrong and needs a lot of corrections and told them to come back next week with a fixed version. They didn't change anything and just gave the same version again for grading. Instant A.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#47

Post by agumonkey »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #39

>> The sacrificial duck kept the meddling manager away from the stuff that was important. The territorial dog analogy is perfect. I've seen parks where they put fake fire hydrants and other features in the dog area so they can feel satisfied without leaving their designated area.

I'd love a exhaustive course on this kind of fakery.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#48

Post by electroly »

wambotron wrote: post #20

I worked at a deli during college, and people did this same type of thing on slices. By default, I'd always pick a pretty thin slice. Most people really like thinly sliced meats. The first thing you do is slice once and show them the slice, making sure it fits what they wanted. 99% of the time, people would say "thinner," I would pretend to fiddle with the knob, slice the same thickness, and they'd say "perfect!" I t…

They know. They just think you're bad at working the slicer and don't want to make that interaction an ordeal. That's what I've thought every single time I say "thinner" and they come back and it isn't thinner.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#49

Post by Eric_WVGG »

fizgig wrote: post #30
mvdwoord wrote: post #8

A story from the time recounts that Piero Soderino, the head of the powerful Florentine Republic, even told the famously irascible Michelangelo that David's nose was much too large. Michelangelo then hid some marble dust in his hand, climbed back up his ladder and pretended to do some more "chiseling" on the offending proboscis. While he did so, he let some marble dust fall from his hand. The pompous Soderino was foo…

Or how Hitchcock had the ratings board watch his famous Psycho shower death scene a second time unchanged and get the thumbs-up when it didn't pass the first viewing. I'm sure history is sprinkled with many such interesting stories.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone did the opposite with the South Park movie. Each time the MPAA objected to specific instances of curse words, they returned another version with those specifics removed but more added elsewhere. The final product was much filthier than even they intended.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#50

Post by JonnieCache »

mvdwoord wrote: post #8

A story from the time recounts that Piero Soderino, the head of the powerful Florentine Republic, even told the famously irascible Michelangelo that David's nose was much too large. Michelangelo then hid some marble dust in his hand, climbed back up his ladder and pretended to do some more "chiseling" on the offending proboscis. While he did so, he let some marble dust fall from his hand. The pompous Soderino was foo…

There are countless fables about record company executives dropping by the mastering studio to hear the new hit in its finished form. They'd inevitably make some ill-posed request, of the familiar "it needs to pop more!" variety.

The wily engineer directs them towards a large and important looking knob, telling them that they are free to dial in as much "pop" as they think the track needs.

Of course, they screw up their faces and make minute adjustments, and eventually announce that the sound is now perfect. You all know the punchline.

The twist is that every sound engineer also has stories of doing the same thing to themselves by accident.

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