quotes Archives | Ian M Rountree

One of the intensely appealing things about the current app economy is the sense we get of kaizen from the aps we’re downloading – constant, consistent improvement in their features and value propositions.

If we opt in early, we get to see the growth, the longer we use an application. If we opt in late, we get to see a mature version of the thing we’ve heard so much about – often at the same price, as the early adopters finance the enjoyment of the majority.

Strong revisioning practice powers this in software; the idea of taking a feature set basic enough to get a job done, calling that 1.0, and working up toward your dream. Every process in between initial betas and 2.0, or even 3.0 and 10.0 is powered by a simple, 3-4 step iteration process:

Describe the function
Apply it to the existing features
Gather response from users
Describe new functions

In this way, application developers can call every choice they make the right choice. Even if a feature fails, or is unpopular, under this model, it counts as an experiment rather than an accomplishment; and experiments only fail if you learn nothing from the doing of them.

What I always wonder is why we haven’t applied this theorem to our lives yet in a conscious way?

I’ve spent the past month working toward getting back in shape. I’ve busted my knee twice, damaged my shoulders by pushing too hard on a workout, and been out of commission with delayed onset muscle pain for nearly a week. I’ve dug out my weights, started eating somewhat differently, and modified my sleep schedule to accommodate for the occasional first-thing-in-the-morning run. It’s been difficult, and injury is not my favorite thing in the world.

But I’m continuing to work at it – why? Because I believe in kaizen as a personal ideal as well as a working ideal.

It’s an iteration process. Every time I make a change, run a little faster, or work a little harder, I mark the results and adjust my course. I make optimization moves – not just to my own process, such as finding the highest-energy points in the day at which to work out, but also finding better routes walking to the office (and shaving 10 extraneous minutes off the trip in the process).

Why is this a big deal?

Because it’s an awareness trap. By not paying attention to when I hit the milestone – when Ian 2.0, or 3.0 appears – I’m making the work of getting each maintenance release out far more easy.

We consider so many things by their end results; weight loss goals, study for degrees, getting that black belt, learning Esperanto, and so on. These goals are ambitious for a reason – they make us want to exercise our need to accomplish, to build ambition toward a goal. However, I’d argue that as we divide our attention more, we’re losing the ability to maintain the salience of these large goals in the face of all the many small steps it takes to achieve them.

What would happen if, instead of broad goals, we began to make the work of improving – the process of kaizen – a central part of our personal planning?

Audience? What audience? I thought blogging was self-indulgent – or. Right. That was livejournal in the late nineties.

Now, blogging has almost risen simultaneously to both science and artform – and, of course, the question always comes up when you confront either of these methodologies: who are you serving, by doing this work? Yourself? Or someone else?

Tonight on #blogchat, we talked about how we can define our audiences, and what impact that has on our blogging skills, technique, and the reception our blogs have by our visitors. (Hello there, visitor!)

Some good leading sentiments:

@ahockley – everyone blogs for themselves first – smart bloggers write based on reader reaction second.

@MarkDykeman – use the word You more often

@MackCollier – reader interaction helps improve writing

@NotAProBlog asserted assuming a high intelligence level was a mistake. I agree, with a corollary: It’s always a mistake to assume any level of intelligence – high or low – in an audience.

So – do we write for ourselves first? Yes – a lot of people asserted that the writing comes before the audience. I’d have to agree.

But which comes first, the topic or the style? @SbuxMel says blogging for readers means more selected topics than selected style. What do you think?

Information without style is Wikipedia. Style without information is entertainment.

So, aside from who we’re blogging for, we also need to ask what we’re blogging for. Not all audience-focused blogs are business-focused as well.

Killer quote time:

@davidspinks Write for who you want to read your blog…not necessarily who’s reading now.

Brilliant, David. Absolutely brilliant. I can’t help but think focusing on the end-result will be better than focusing on the present. We can’t walk into the future looking backwards – or sideways. (Wow, sorry for the metaphorical bent tonight – apparently listening to classical music during #blogchat makes one a bit quixotic.)

Working toward an audience, or a specialty, is an onerous task. The general consensus seemed to be that no matter your aim, if you have a purpose behind your blog, you’re writing both for your audience and for yourself. However, as @davidspinks said later on – confidence trumps everything else, for writing style. Security in the knowledge of your knowledge is important.

Another awesome quote:

@antwizzel Blogging is about conversation. Your thoughts should trigger criticism, agreement, joy or any other emotion. #blogchat

It’s a good night, apparently.

8:32pm, Consensus confirmed – sincerity is a good idea. 🙂

@prosperitygal proposed we need more criticism – I agree. tell me my posts suck. We’re all sick of seeing all variety of “Great post!” comments. Sheesh.

And then @JustinKownacki jumped in with “Before you decide who you’re writing for, decide why you want to write in the first place. Your audience is a bonus, not a reason.” – too right, Justin.

Think about it. Your audience is a bonus – it’s earned, not deserved. No matter how good your content – the why is paramount. Breeds confidence that your work is worth doing.

Had a little back-and-forth with Nic Wirtz about changing audiences within a blog, versus beginning a new blog. What do you think? Where does the line get drawn – especially for ego-blogs, like ones run under your own name? (Mine, as an example? Or Chris Brogan‘s, or John Chow‘s?) When you are the blog, how do you approach changing the topic without alienating the audience? Worth further discussion.

Part of the question for the night was who should you write for – yourself or an audience.

I hate the word should in this kind of context. There aren’t any stringent requirements for blogging – even with a business-centric blog, perhaps it’s useful for some to blog only to develop their own thoughts about a topic, rather than expanding their own business. Growing your knowledge base – and firming it up as a record of trajectory – can be just as personally valuable as growing your business through communal interaction.

So what’s the result? You tell me – there was a lot of talk about why you should blog for yourself, and why you should be blogging for an audience. Still comes across as a personal choice. What do you think?

Participants’ List for #blogchat September 12, 2010

Transcript for #blogchat September 12, 2010

Image by CarbonNYC.

Kaizen and Application Level Lifestyle Design

Notes From #blogchat – Who Are You Writing For?