Comments on: Why We Bend Lines http://www.bendtheline.com/2009/02/09/why-we-bend-lines/ Just another WordPress weblog Sat, 31 Jul 2010 14:37:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Lauren Scime http://www.bendtheline.com/2009/02/09/why-we-bend-lines/comment-page-1/#comment-17 Lauren Scime Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:30:50 +0000 http://www.bendtheline.com/2009/02/09/why-we-bend-lines/#comment-17 I agree - it's too easy to keep making small incremental improvements on prior applications rather than truly being innovative and taking a risk. Ironically, I think the biggest biggest leaps of faith - the greatest innovations - come when the chips are down economically. When things are going really well, people look too much to investors to fund their projects (which is great on the one hand, but often investors tend to be more conservative with their money and fund projects that are spin offs of the things that have already been done and have created revenue. The best apps tend to come from a couple of people banding together and doing something that they believe in, often out of necessity on their own dime, and not listening to what the investors think is "safe." Furthermore, it's having the foresight to go against what people <strong>think</strong> they want and creating what you know they will want if they just have the opportunity to see it working. Henry Ford is famous for saying: <blockquote>If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse</blockquote> It's a good thing he didn't. We as application developers need to have the courage to go with our gut and create strong innovative applications that people might not realize they need now, but later on can't have imagine living without. Can't wait to see what examples you draw on in your next post! I agree - it’s too easy to keep making small incremental improvements on prior applications rather than truly being innovative and taking a risk. Ironically, I think the biggest biggest leaps of faith - the greatest innovations - come when the chips are down economically. When things are going really well, people look too much to investors to fund their projects (which is great on the one hand, but often investors tend to be more conservative with their money and fund projects that are spin offs of the things that have already been done and have created revenue. The best apps tend to come from a couple of people banding together and doing something that they believe in, often out of necessity on their own dime, and not listening to what the investors think is “safe.”

Furthermore, it’s having the foresight to go against what people think they want and creating what you know they will want if they just have the opportunity to see it working. Henry Ford is famous for saying:

If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse

It’s a good thing he didn’t. We as application developers need to have the courage to go with our gut and create strong innovative applications that people might not realize they need now, but later on can’t have imagine living without.

Can’t wait to see what examples you draw on in your next post!

]]> By: Jeremy Anderson http://www.bendtheline.com/2009/02/09/why-we-bend-lines/comment-page-1/#comment-16 Jeremy Anderson Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:04:01 +0000 http://www.bendtheline.com/2009/02/09/why-we-bend-lines/#comment-16 You hit the nail on the head Sam. It's making that leap and believing that you <em>actually</em> have something truly innovative, that can easily become the barrier to seeing it through. Honestly though, if this is what you are struggling with, you're probably in a much better position than all the developers knowingly making insignificant and incremental improvements to existing ideas. I relate to your professor story. I think we've all had that professor at some point. You hit the nail on the head Sam. It’s making that leap and believing that you actually have something truly innovative, that can easily become the barrier to seeing it through.

Honestly though, if this is what you are struggling with, you’re probably in a much better position than all the developers knowingly making insignificant and incremental improvements to existing ideas.

I relate to your professor story. I think we’ve all had that professor at some point.

]]> By: Sam Applebaum http://www.bendtheline.com/2009/02/09/why-we-bend-lines/comment-page-1/#comment-15 Sam Applebaum Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:14:36 +0000 http://www.bendtheline.com/2009/02/09/why-we-bend-lines/#comment-15 Another great post. I particularly like your point about the difficulty of having the audacity to believe that you came up with something know one else has. I think that we would have a lot more innovation if people were encouraged to be presumptuous rather than timid. I myself have come across this problem a number of times. I actually had a professor (one I liked!) tell me that the solution to a film theory problem I was proposing couldn't be accurate because "with all the great minds that have tackled this problem, it simply isn't possible that you came along and solved it." He was so sure of this that he clearly did not give much thought to my idea, which was (believe it or not) an actual solution to the problem. I think the most appalling aspect of this event was not what he said to me, but the tone in which he said it. His attitude was not simply to dismiss my idea but to attempt to make me feel ashamed of the fact that I actually thought I could make a difference. He was in many ways a good teacher, but I actually kind of think he should have been put in jail for this. Trying to convince a developing mind to give up trying to innovate should seriously be a war crime. The worst things is that the biggest obstacle to innovation often becomes my own resistance to believing that I have a good idea, which usually takes the form of hearing this professor's (and everyone else who has taken this attitude towards me) voice in my head telling me "who do you think you are? I can't even even fathom the increased innovation we would see if students were, as a rule, encouraged to think that they are all potentially capable of seeing things that no one else has seen. Another great post. I particularly like your point about the difficulty of having the audacity to believe that you came up with something know one else has. I think that we would have a lot more innovation if people were encouraged to be presumptuous rather than timid. I myself have come across this problem a number of times. I actually had a professor (one I liked!) tell me that the solution to a film theory problem I was proposing couldn’t be accurate because “with all the great minds that have tackled this problem, it simply isn’t possible that you came along and solved it.” He was so sure of this that he clearly did not give much thought to my idea, which was (believe it or not) an actual solution to the problem. I think the most appalling aspect of this event was not what he said to me, but the tone in which he said it. His attitude was not simply to dismiss my idea but to attempt to make me feel ashamed of the fact that I actually thought I could make a difference. He was in many ways a good teacher, but I actually kind of think he should have been put in jail for this. Trying to convince a developing mind to give up trying to innovate should seriously be a war crime. The worst things is that the biggest obstacle to innovation often becomes my own resistance to believing that I have a good idea, which usually takes the form of hearing this professor’s (and everyone else who has taken this attitude towards me) voice in my head telling me “who do you think you are? I can’t even even fathom the increased innovation we would see if students were, as a rule, encouraged to think that they are all potentially capable of seeing things that no one else has seen.

]]>