Fear Is A Good Thing
Remember back in the 90’s when it was somewhat tough being an Independent Software Vendor due to the simple fact that you were never sure if Microsoft was going to enter your niche and simply buy up your competition or create something of their own? They didn’t even have to create anything wonderful, just a product that was functional and they had already dominated that industry. The first release would get bashed by the public, but they would continuously pump out new releases that got better and better till there was no more competition. Those days weren’t very fun.
Now we have to worry about Google doing exactly what Microsoft did in the past. Last week Google launched Google Reader and it received many mixed reviews, however like Microsoft in the past, they didn’t have to release a product that was better, they just had to get one out and they have almost already won the online RSS reader wars (I know many of you geeks will never switch from your default reader, but I am looking at the millions and millions of people who don’t use your readers).
Not too long ago Bloglines dominated, but they grew complacent and new features or designs have been far and few between. Because of this new services such as Rojo have come and stolen much of the thunder and even worse Google is primed to now take all of the attention.
Same thing occurred with Google’s Blog Search. Google moves at the speed of a small company because its products are only worked on by a small team of people. Just because your product may be better it doesn’t give you the right to rest on your laurels because Om Malik or the guys at TechCrunch mentioned how wonderful it was. Everyday you have to wakeup and assume a big player is going to join the game. I know these are the happy money times, but you have to develop in fear. In fear that someone smaller and faster is going to launch today. In fear that Yahoo/Google/Microsoft will decided they want a piece of the pie. In fear that your customers will turn against you.
A couple of people question why we add so many sites so fast to the Network. It’s because I don’t want to look behind me one day and wonder our competition is catching up. I don’t want to have to wonder how we let it get like this or why we grew complacent. It’s not enough to be just one step ahead, you have to be 10 miles ahead. If that means doing things a bit unconventionally then so be it. I also understand that growing too fast can be detrimental to our image and so we are doing new things to take care of these issues. Developing in fear doesn’t mean just looking behind you because you have to know what’s ahead of you as well.
Same goes with this blog. I write often for fear that I will be forgotten one day. Maybe having the best blog doesn’t mean much to you, but it could mean the difference between getting a client or not. It could be the difference between being recognized by 10 other blogs or just one. They say every second a new blog is born. That means there is another second that your blog could be forgotten by your readers. Why give them that option?
If you are a follower of the eXtreme programming methodology you know that one of the mantras is “release fast, release often” (sorry, 37signals did not come up with this). Well I think you should apply this to your web app, your blog, or even your client work, but should add one more part to it.
Release fast, release often, release quality.
It’s tough for anybody to beat that.
I disagree — surprised?
I think when you work, design, develop out of fear, you are getting yourself into the whole “keepin up with the Jones’” kind attitude. Worrying about what everyone else is doing causes one to lose focus of what true uniqueness they’re bringing to the table.
And I know at 25, you probably don’t see this now, but yes, you will be forgotten about eventually. So will I and alot of people who post here. Just as alot of great people in history have been forgotten.
It happens. Time marches on.
By Mark on October 10, 2005 11:25 am
Ah see if you develop in “fear” (I think the whole definition of fear is going to have many iterations over the course of this discussion) then there is no keeping up with the Joneses. Instead you are looking to better them and offer the “true uniqueness” that you speak of. What you are describing sounds like you should ignore the competition completely.
And when I do become forgotten I would like to choose the terms on how it’s done, that’s just the way I am.
By Scrivs on October 10, 2005 11:31 am
There’s a healthy fear - being aware of what’s going on in the industry or niche you’re developing for, and further being aware of what other (financial) giants are capable of doing, and then there’s the possibility of being paralyzed by that same fear.
I’m seeing alot of posts endlessly worrying about “web 2.0″ and its future and / or proper definition, and seeing alot of posts on the recent acquistions, and worrying / wondering about the implications of what all that might or might not entail…
I say, who the f* cares? Keep on truckin’ on your own thing. If it’s good people come.
Healthy fear (awareness)is good. Paranoia (why’d they do that???, how’s that possibly good??) is a distraction.
By Mark on October 10, 2005 11:42 am
So once again we agree since I to speak of healthy fear and why the post says fear is a good thing. The fear I spoke of in Boom 2.01 was not a healthy fear, because that involved the economy as a whole and not just a specific industry.
The healthy fear we have at 9rules has allowed us to strive for bigger and better sites and to search out the quality lesser-knowns. It’s also the reason why we are not content with the current homepage and are actively trying to get the newest version out. It’s the reason why we are not content thinking that the English community is the only one that deserves to have its voice heard.
Tell Apple that. Tell Odeo that. Tell Linux developers that.
We both know that just being good isn’t enough. There are many great blogs that don’t have peopel coming to them. There are many great books not being read. Just being “good” will never be enough and just trying to stay ahead will never be enough (damn, I am taking this discussion in a different direction, thanks Tom Peters and Seth Godin).
By Scrivs on October 10, 2005 11:50 am
I guess we agree. The first couple of paragraphs in your post, however, came off to me as sounding like paralyzed fear - worried about Microsoft, Google, being forgotten one day…
In the 90’s, when I was still older than you are today (just a little jab - don’t worry about it), I knew a good number of people who spent time “worrying” about what Microsoft might or might not do with their strategy. Guess what happened? Microsoft continued being Microsoft, and my buddies got a bunch of grey hair for their needless worry and fear and have long been since forgotten, and left in the dust of time.
Just go with what you know. I stand by my term of “good.” Forgetting the Tom Peters’ hype, if it was a good experience for your core users, they will help spread the message.
By Mark on October 10, 2005 12:03 pm
There is the issue of how one best stays ahead. I haven’t fully absorbed what the network is meant to represent. But is adding a lot of blogs to the network really what is going to keep you ahead? Or is it being selective about what is in the network?
For example, some personal blogs, which I have long since stopped reading, by the way, have the “blog rolls” (is that the right term?) listing the other blogs the author likes. If there are a few listed, then it’s (or for me, used to be) tempting to check them out. But when the list gets big, then it’s obvious the author is not being selective, so why should I bother.
Maybe you are being selective, but it looks to me like there are about 50 blogs listed on the 9rules.com front page. Am I going to check them out? Nope.
By Eric on October 10, 2005 12:11 pm
Of course just adding sites to add them will do us no good. We must be selective on who we add, but we also must now be selective on how we present those sites and this is the issue that 9r 2.0 presents. A laundry list of sites does no one any good. It doesn’t help us, it doesn’t help our members and it doesn’t help the readers.
Staying ahead means offering quality both in terms of presentation and content. Once we fail to start offering that, we deserve to get beat.
By Scrivs on October 10, 2005 12:17 pm
Staring sound like “Chris” from the comments on one company’s you cannot avoid to mention blog.
If this is fear that is dragging you downhill, then
it is not that good thing :(
By Rimantas on October 10, 2005 12:21 pm
I guess the other side of the argument here is to try and tell that to Microsoft, who have made quite a happy existence for themselves being “just good enough” or adequate.
By Mark on October 10, 2005 12:29 pm
Well of course I wasn’t applying that to the giants, just us little guys. Sorry.
By Scrivs on October 10, 2005 12:35 pm
Honestly, why make that differentiation?
By Mark on October 10, 2005 12:42 pm
Because they play on two different courts. Google can release a reader that isn’t quite as good, but will get a lot of buzz and users, but what if the two-man company working the parent’s basement did the same? They would receive no attention.
Big guys have the opportunity to release mediocrity intially with the chance to improve upon it later. Little guys are not afforded that opportunity.
Sure it would be great to think that everyone who does something good or great gets noticed, but that isn’t how it always works. Maybe in a vacuum or perfect environment, but we are far from living in that.
By Scrivs on October 10, 2005 12:46 pm
Paul -
Being “great” is subjective. The key is not fearing what everyone is doing or not doing, the key is to do it “good enough” to catch the attention of the people who will promote it and make it “great” for you.
The problem is not that the big boys (and girls) release mediocrity, it’s that the little boys (and girls) spend their lives and fortunes trying to chase the great unknown otherwise referred to as “great”.
By Mark on October 10, 2005 1:00 pm
How do you capture “good enough” if you don’t set a standard of “great” for yourself? This is getting a bit philosophical.
By Scrivs on October 10, 2005 2:31 pm
In a nutshell, Paul —
Don’t fear, but respect. don’t get caught up in worries of greatness, just do it. Don’t sweat the details of everything else.
Google will always be Google. Microsoft will always be Microsoft. Capitalists will always spend their money in ways non-sensical to the rest of us.
Bottom line —
Who the f* cares?
By Mark on October 10, 2005 3:08 pm
Let’s see if I can clarify my last comment a bit, now that I don’t have actual work mucking up my thoughts at the moment.
You mention in this post the importance of being “10 miles ahead” in strategic planning. Jason, in a recent post at 37svn, discussed the idea of essentially “one downing” the competition.
My thought is, why not take the REM approach to strategy and just “stand in the place where you are?”
Why not just produce the best product you can put out there, without any worry as to what the big players that are way out of your league (NOTE: I’m using “your” in a general sense here) are doing?
I mean in the globgal market for your software / network / blog / web development and design isn’t there arguablly enough room for Google, Microsoft, 37Signals, Basecamp, SAP, sales.com, Walmart, Target, DisneyWorld, Six Flags and you?
If I were to fear anything, it wouldn’t really be if my competition were catching up, it would be what my core user base really thought about my efforts, and if they thought I truly met their needs.
If my product is meeting my users needs, then why in the world would I fear or be worried about what everyone else is doing, or who’s getting acquired, or funded, or that another bubble might burst? The web didn’t go away with the first bubble, it won’t go away with this one either.
Hence, my meaning with who the f* cares? Do what you do best, and it’s pretty much guaranteed that at the very least, your users won’t.
By Mark on October 10, 2005 6:42 pm
I will also agree that eventually, everyone will be forgotten. This is the age of temporary information. None of this will last for long and it will be built over and changed and forgotten as quickly as we can post our thoughts and ideas. If you don’t believe me, does anyone here remember theremediproject.com?
Scrivs is right, fear is a good measuring stick. A healthy amount, in any arena, is good- just as long as you do not let it be the only reason you do whatever you are doing. Cryptic isn’t it?
By frederickpolk on October 11, 2005 12:20 pm
Even with an established user base you would worry about everyone else because you can’t assume that you’ve satisfied all of your user’s needs or that those base users are even capable of articulating all of their needs.
It only takes is one or two features for someone to jump ship and in the case of a Google or a Microsoft, where there are most likely already pre-existing hooks into the user’s daily routine, it might not even take that.
The point is that if you want to be successful you can never grow complacent or become satisfied with your product or service and even a seemingly negative motivator — fear, pride, whatever — can be redirected (reinforced?) in such a way that it will produce something positive. Scrivs isn’t saying “don’t forget to shit your pants” he’s saying, “use the fears you have to your advantage, to propel you to take action now, to take risks”; and that’s actually good advice.
(Also, in the case of 37s, it’s not just having fewer features that makes them so successful, it’s taking the time to create a culture around and communicate effectively about the uses/features their products do have; they too are investing heavily in quality and avoiding complacency, whatever the motivator.)
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