The hammer has been around for a long time, and thanks to its intuitive design, a user can get 70% of the benefit after less than ten minutes of instruction. People who depend on hammers for their livelihood are probably at over 95% efficiency.
In the last decade, we’ve outfitted billions of people with tools that didn’t exist until recently. And because of market pressure, the design of these tools is very different.
They generally deliver a fraction of their potential productivity when used casually.
We’ve adopted the mindset of Too Busy To Learn. As a result, we prefer tools that give us quick results, not the ones that are worth learning. This ignores the truth of a great modern professional’s tool: it’s complicated for a reason.
Some tools, like Discord, are optimized for informal poking and casual use. As a result, more nuanced and sophisticated (and powerful) tools like Discourse are harder to sell to new users.
Surfing doesn’t have many participants, because it takes a long time to get good enough at surfing to have fun. Pickleball, on the other hand, rewards casual first-timers.
That’s fine for a hobby, but when we spend our days hassling with our tools, it’s a problem.
As a result of this cycle of Too Busy To Learn, we end up spending our days using software incorrectly and creating frustration. We blame the tools instead of learning to use them.
Don’t hold the hammer at the wrong end. And insist on software that’s worth the time it takes to learn.
Most important, once you find software that’s worth the time to learn, learn it.
Not everything is industrialized. A backyard garden, a freelance editor, even a chef with a hands-on restaurant. These folks are building a practice and producing value, but they haven’t embraced industrialization.
That happens when management steps in, productizes, routinizes and optimizes.
Industrialization produces huge gains in productivity, but it’s also a bit brittle and takes some of the humanity away from the work.
Efficiency first.
And then, convenience. Making it convenient to sub in new parts or new workers. Making it convenient to work with vendors and customers. Any color you want, as long as its black.
Industrialism produces its own rewards, but at the cost of flexibility and side effects.
That’s because toddlers don’t understand what an argument is and aren’t interesting in having one.
Toddlers (which includes defensive bureaucrats, bullies, flat earthers, folks committed to a specific agenda and radio talk show hosts) may indicate that they’d like to have an argument, but they’re actually engaging in connection, noise, play acting or a chance to earn status. It can be fun to be in opposition, to harangue or even to use power to change someone’s position.
An argument, though, is an exchange of ideas that ought to surface insight and lead to a conclusion.
If you’re regularly having arguments with well-informed people of goodwill, you will probably ‘lose’ half of them–changing your mind based on what you’ve learned. If you’re not changing your mind, it’s likely you’re not actually having an argument (or you’re hanging out with the wrong people.) While it can be fun to change someone else’s position, it’s also a gift to learn enough to change ours.
The toddler puts on a show of having an argument, but they are holding a tantrum in reserve. If they ‘win’ the argument, no tantrum is needed. If they lose, they can tell themselves that they tried but the other person deserved the tantrum because they didn’t listen.
“Tell me about other strongly-held positions you’ve changed as the result of a discussion like this one…” is a direct way to start a conversation about the argument you’re proposing to have. “What sort of information would make it likely you could see this in a different way?”
It probably doesn’t pay to argue over things we have chosen to believe as part of our identity.
In a hurried world with infinite content, it’s worth considering that you’re no longer paid by the word when you write, in fact, you should pay for every extra word you use.
And a month to write a useful business plan or a year to write a book.
And yet, when AI shows up, our mistake is thinking that if we can’t find useful brilliance in one simple prompt, it’s broken.
Imagine what you could discover and create if you spent an hour focusing on just one piece of output. I’m seeing illustrations, narratives and research that celebrate the hundreds of hours that went into each of them–it feels like years of focused work.
If all that’s needed is the push of a button, we can find someone cheaper than you to push it.
If we create something with purpose, we’ve designed it. It’s not an accident. An axe handle is designed, and so is a symphony.
Some things, though are designy. The designer’s fingerprints are all over it. The typefaces, knurled edges, needless heat sinks and homage to Dieter Rams are there for anyone who cares to look. Why use a word when a vague picture or two is available?
Occasionally (but not always), items are well-designed. Ironically, this happens when we stop noticing the design and simply use it. Software or cookware, menus or conferences–they are well designed when they accomplish their purpose and create the outcomes we were hoping for.
The best way a client can tell if a design is coherent is for the designer to announce who it’s for, what it’s for and what the constraints are.
The question is: How will we know if it is a successful design? An honest answer to all three questions will almost aways fix the design long before it ships.
“I created this to win an award,” or “I did it this way to get buzz online which will spread the word,” are both honest answers, though they might not be why we hired you.
Once we know who and what it’s for, we can give you useful feedback and work together on our shared goals.
Just because it’s useful, needed or worthwhile doesn’t mean it’s a good business.
E-bikes are transforming cities and offering mobility to those who previously couldn’t afford it.
But they’re a commodity, and it’s difficult to make a significant profit producing them.
A good business meets a demand, but it also has scarcity, network effects and market insulation.
[Unrelated from yesterday… a lovely post from my publisher, along with a simple online raffle and, coincidentally, This is Strategy on the Kindle for four bucks for the next day or two.]
Give or take. It’s hard to get the exact count through the sands of time. But it’s at least 10,000 blog posts as of today.
That’s 25 years, once or twice a day.
Back of the envelope, that’s about 2 billion blog post views.
I’ve written and edited every post myself, hence the typos. 3,000,000 words so far.
I’m certain I couldn’t have done it all at once, and that I probably would have hesitated to sign up for a streak like this.
The thing is, most of all, I’m grateful.
I’d write this blog even if no one read it, but the fact that you do, that you subscribe to it and share it, that’s my fuel.
When someone uses my work to teach others or to make something better, the work has achieved its purpose. If you didn’t do your work, there’d be no point to mine.
Thank you.
(The 5,000th post was more than ten years ago. Lots of links and history there if you’re interested.)
April 8, 2025
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