2024-12-26 18:16:00
When the truck makes a delivery at the nearby True Value hardware store, Danny needs to figure out which shelf to put it on.
Should the extension cords go next to the hoses? After all, they both do the same thing, one with electricity and one with water…
The purpose of putting things in order is so that others can find them.
If you’ve been frustrated with a price list, a menu, a user interface or a bookshelf, it’s because someone didn’t spend the time to understand the expected taxonomy.
When we sort our stuff, we’re telling people a story. A story about our stuff and a story about how we see the world.
We don’t have to like the fact that the world demands a taxonomy, but we can accept that it does. Strangers want to know what shelf to put us on.
2024-12-25 18:03:00
When I include links to various books and items on this blog, your purchases generate a small royalty that I earmark for worthy causes. This year, we were able to help BuildOn and the community in Khakh build a new school. It’s the first real school building the village has ever had, and it’s likely that members of the community, inspired by this first school, will be organizing to build a second one soon.
A building is more than shelter. It’s a flag, a placeholder, a symbol of commitment. A school like this transforms the culture, and will make a lifelong difference for thousands of people.
If you want to change the world, change the systems. And buildings are a fine place to start.
Tens of thousands of miles away, we’re also able to help rebuild housing with the Fuller Center.
The ocean is made of drops.
2024-12-24 18:49:00
Marketing as we know it happened because of machines. Machines made factories dramatically more efficient, which meant that producers could no longer easily sell everything they made. When you go from making four ceramic plates a day to 4,000, your capacity starts to look like a problem.
That’s a new challenge. A farmer could figure out how to use every bit of fertile soil available.
CBS TV didn’t have excess capacity. There are only 24 hours in a day, and they could only broadcast one at a time. YouTube, on the other hand, makes almost all of its decisions based on their unlimited capacity to host video.
The challenge of infinity is contagious. While some freelancers are fully booked, most have hours each day unspoken for. An unspoken hour of capacity can feel like a burden.
The quest for more is seductive.
But what happens when we accept that capacity might not be excess? It might simply be capacity.
How do we start to see our way toward better, not simply more?
2024-12-23 17:36:00
Orchestras are difficult.
One reason is that we’re really good at noticing when they’re out of tune. Just a tiny bit off changes our perception of the sound.
The other reason is that if the performers wait for a leader in their section to go first, every entrance and every attack will be muddled. You need to go when it’s time to go, not wait to follow closely behind.
Coordinating our tone and our tempo creates magic, and yet we often fail to lead, preferring to follow instead.
2024-12-22 18:03:00
Well, maybe not.
In 2024, worldwide gift card sales will pass a trillion dollars for the first time.
It’s a good grift.
Surveys show that the buyer spends about 21% less per gift than they do when they actually buy something, while the recipients of the gift find themselves spending 61% more than the value of the card when they actually redeem it for money. Most of all, the retailer comes out ahead–far fewer returns, lots of never redeemed cards, better cash flow and new customer accounts when people do show up to eventually buy.
In the current system, the recipient loses. They get a smaller gift, they often spend more money than the gift was for, they’re stuck with the store the giver chose (which is the only thing they actually chose) and there’s very little in the way of thoughtfulness or connection involved.
In essence, holidays become a circle of people, handing the same wad of cash around, except instead of ending up with the cash, they then spend even more money when they go shopping tomorrow.
Every cultural occasion and holiday has been commercialized by retailers in search of more. And the insatiable desire to consume is contagious, and gift giving is inherently viral, since you need to have someone to give the gift to. As a result, we’ve built a system that’s expensive and not particularly good at what it sets out to do.
Given the size and profitability of the cards, I’m surprised that they’re not a much better experience.
What might a better process look like?
Now the thought really does count. This is a low hassle, high delight way to show someone you were thinking of them. If stores used their persuasive powers, it could also raise billions for worthy causes along the way.
Either that, or you could give cash and save everyone a lot of trouble.
2024-12-21 17:19:00
Lousy tools are dangerous. They endanger our safety (physical or emotional) and undermine our work. Lousy tools are pretty easy to avoid, because they reveal themselves whenever we use them.
Great tools are magical. They multiply our effort, amplify the quality of our work and delight us, all at once.
It’s mediocre tools that we have to watch out for. They quietly and persistently corrupt our intent and force us to work harder on the parts that don’t matter as much.
