Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pivoting

cdixon.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–18 of 18 posts

Re: Pivoting

#11

Post by hooande »

staunch wrote: post #4

He's referring to Loopt (and others I suppose) when he says "The other companies built elaborate infrastructures: e.g they partnered with wireless carriers so that users’ locations could be tracked in the background without having to “check-in”." This is the kind of mistake that burns so badly. You find yourself saying something like "You mean you just ask them to update their location manually and that works?" It re…

To be fair to loopt, the market changed between 2005 when they launched and 2009 (ish) when foursquare launched. 5 years ago people weren't nearly as comfortable with the idea of location based social networks. Loopt and the deals that they signed probably had a big hand in making the concept more familiar and paved the way for many of it's competitors. The popularity of twitter might have also had something to do with it.

This probably holds true for a lot of examples of companies that solved the wrong problem. When your competitors can evaluate your progress, it's much easier for them to position themselves according.

Re: Pivoting

#12

Post by csytan »

jack7890 wrote: post #2

#2 is a big one. If there's one HN ethos that I disagree with, it's the idea that a better engineered solution is always a better solution (full stop). Unless you have infinite time and developers, that's not true.

I've also heard the opposite on HN many times:

The best solution is the simplest one which solves 80% of the problem. Very important when creating a minimum viable product.

Re: Pivoting

#13

Post by jonny_noog »

staunch wrote: post #4

He's referring to Loopt (and others I suppose) when he says "The other companies built elaborate infrastructures: e.g they partnered with wireless carriers so that users’ locations could be tracked in the background without having to “check-in”." This is the kind of mistake that burns so badly. You find yourself saying something like "You mean you just ask them to update their location manually and that works?" It re…

... Then Steve Jobs recommended simply giving one earbud to the girl.

Not to disregard or in any way invalidate your point, which has been taken, but did Steve have a solution for the possible ear wax issue, or does his famed reality distortion field extend to ear wax as well? I'm generally not keen to use anyone else's earbuds, nor am I keen to lend mine to anyone else (and they're not even the kind that you need to wedge into your ear).

Re: Pivoting

#14

Post by frossie »

jack7890 wrote: post #2

#2 is a big one. If there's one HN ethos that I disagree with, it's the idea that a better engineered solution is always a better solution (full stop). Unless you have infinite time and developers, that's not true.

A better engineered solution is always a better solution. What he is describing is over-engineering.

I am failing to remember who said: the perfect racing car falls apart the moment it crosses the finishing line - all others else are over-engineered. The point is that good engineering is appropriate engineering. All the things that PHBs sometimes think off as the geeks going off on their own obsessions - maintainability, clarity of design, low fault tolerance, high scaling ability - these are either good engineering or over-engineering depending on the stage of the lifecycle, the purpose of the project (air traffic control systems anyone?), the future staffing estimates and so on.

For example in my own area of acedemic-(ish) software engineering, maintainability absolutely trumps delivery dates. Clearly, if you are chasing ramen profitability, it may not.

Context matters.

Re: Pivoting

#15

Post by davidmathers »

jonny_noog wrote: post #13
staunch wrote: post #4

He's referring to Loopt (and others I suppose) when he says "The other companies built elaborate infrastructures: e.g they partnered with wireless carriers so that users’ locations could be tracked in the background without having to “check-in”." This is the kind of mistake that burns so badly. You find yourself saying something like "You mean you just ask them to update their location manually and that works?" It re…

... Then Steve Jobs recommended simply giving one earbud to the girl. Not to disregard or in any way invalidate your point, which has been taken, but did Steve have a solution for the possible ear wax issue, or does his famed reality distortion field extend to ear wax as well? I'm generally not keen to use anyone else's earbuds, nor am I keen to lend mine to anyone else (and they're not even the kind that you need to…

I want this girl to stick her tongue in my mouth but I'm horrified by the thought of her earwax touching my ear.

Um, what?

Re: Pivoting

#16

Post by roachsocal »

There's also the danger of pivoting too fast. Don't continually half-ass things without letting them bake and mature. Something's to be said about following through and executing your vision, right?

Re: Pivoting

#17

Post by jonny_noog »

davidmathers wrote: post #15
jonny_noog wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... Then Steve Jobs recommended simply giving one earbud to the girl. Not to disregard or in any way invalidate your point, which has been taken, but did Steve have a solution for the possible ear wax issue, or does his famed reality distortion field extend to ear wax as well? I'm generally not keen to use anyone else's earbuds, nor am I keen to lend mine to anyone else (and they're not even the kind that you need to…

I want this girl to stick her tongue in my mouth but I'm horrified by the thought of her earwax touching my ear. Um, what?

I was actually thinking of it the other way around, the comfort factor of a girl that I assumedly don't know very well being offered my ear buds and the potential awkwardness that this may engender, regardless of the actual condition of my hypothetical ear buds (which would be very clean) or my general rule about no one using my own ear buds (to which there are admittedly some rare exceptions, with people whom I know well enough). But I guess judging by the downvote, not Steve or anyone else must think this way. Message received.

Re: Pivoting

#18

Post by samlittlewood »

frossie wrote: post #14
jack7890 wrote: post #2

#2 is a big one. If there's one HN ethos that I disagree with, it's the idea that a better engineered solution is always a better solution (full stop). Unless you have infinite time and developers, that's not true.

A better engineered solution is always a better solution. What he is describing is over -engineering. I am failing to remember who said: the perfect racing car falls apart the moment it crosses the finishing line - all others else are over-engineered. The point is that good engineering is appropriate engineering. All the things that PHBs sometimes think off as the geeks going off on their own obsessions - maintainabi…

Has been said of Colin Chapman, and also attributed to Ferdinand Porsche:

http://forums.autosport.com/lofiversion/index.php/t63818.htm...

Post reply on HN