Insights & Thoughts on Product Development, Life Hacks and Team Dynamics — Clips of Logic — T.S. Lim

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insights

The thing that matters

Sometimes we get too carried away with our everyday life that we lost focus on our goals and passion. But no matter how busy or tired we are, we should always make time for things that really matter to us. I'm sure everyone have their own goals and achievements they would like to accomplish. You might want to earn a certain amount of money by a certain age, or complete a monumental task given to you or even just losing weight to look better. These are the things that matter to you.

Life is too short not to do something that matters - Hugh Macleod

If you have the time to chill out, eat and sleep, why isn't there time for you to do things that actually makes a difference. Stop messing around and focus on the thing that really matters to you. You'll probably be happier too.

Are you uncomfortable?

Being asked to do something in a different way? Found yourself in an unfamiliar place? Read a book and felt uneasy about the idea being presented to you? There are many situations that can make you feel uncomfortable but that's a good thing.

Getting out of our comfort zone can improve our concentration and focus. It might feel scary and risky but that's just your lizard brain.

If your life feels a little too comfortable, try spice it up by venturing into uncharted territories.

Being uncomfortable is a sign that you are experiencing something new.

Prepare for the worst

Some say you should bring an umbrella with you even on a sunny day. You'll never know when it's going to rain. Although I hate carrying one myself, I do understand the need to prepare for the unexpected. Life has it's ups and downs, so no matter how smooth things seem to be, there's a chance something might go wrong. And according to Murphy's Law, if can something can go wrong, it will.

I guess the best way to lead your life would be to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Lizard brain

All of us have this fear that prevent us from getting stuff done. We fear that others will laugh and make fun of our idea and we don't want to be embarrassed when we fail. Seth Godin refer to this fear as the lizard brain. The lizard brain is the reason we choose the safe side and stick with the status quo. If something bad happens, at least you have others joining you on the way down. It causes us to compromise on our solutions and sabotage our own progress to keep things from changing. Change isn't part of the lizard brain's vocabulary.

But if you want to do something different, something remarkable, you have to shut down the lizard brain. At least until you ship your work out to the world. You have to learn to ship and ship often. It's fine to have your idea being laughed at. After all, when Twitter came out, many people consider it a fad.

If you want to know more about the lizard brain, watch the video below and get Seth's latest book, Linchpin.

Seth Godin: Quieting the Lizard Brain from 99% on Vimeo.

Just want it to work

A few days ago, my desktop computer decided to go for a vacation and refused to boot up. Even though I'm a computer engineer, I rather let someone else fix it. All I want is that the computer to work as it should like an appliance.

I've noticed that I'm now more of a mainstream user than an advanced or early adopter for computers. I used to build my own system by buying the parts individually but now I prefer a complete solution like Macs.

Obviously, Apple products are far from being mainstream but the idea of making them to be more of an appliance is a good one. Setting up a computer should be like using a toaster for the first time.

It's nice when you have products that just works when you turn it on.

The Alternative

Have you ever gone to your favourite restaurant or bar to find out that it's full and decide to go for the one next door? There are many businesses that position themselves to be the alternative after the popular choice. In order to be the next best thing for your customer, you need to be easily accessible and ideally be at the same place as the best. This is why you see businesses of the same type tend to open next to each other. It makes the location the place to be and improves patronage for everyone in the area.

Obviously, it would be better to be the best in your trade if possible but sometimes being the alternative is a viable strategy as long as you are at the right place at the right time.

Dropbox: It actually works!

Drew Houston from Dropbox posted a slide about lessons they learned from building, launching and promoting their product. The first lesson was to learn early and learn often. You need to get something out to the users to get feedback. The catch is you need to build something that they want. They also found out that marketing using adwords didn't work out for them because users rarely search for a product like Dropbox. Instead, they rely on word of mouth from their fans to reach new users. The most important was to make the product work as it should.

There are many more insights about how to market a product like Dropbox. For example, it's also important to know the market type for your product and how it fits into your user's life. Check out the slides below.

Dropbox Startup Lessons Learned

Job Security or Satisfaction

When choosing a career, many people will often choose the job that is more secure. This job security is the reason why those who wish to start their own business are still working for people. It feels safer to rely on a regular paycheck. In this day and age, where recessions are more common and the economy more volatile than ever, the only factor you can control to keep your job is your own skill and ability. Job security is over-rated and the thing that matter most is job satisfaction.

You want a job that continuously challenge you and gives you the opportunity to grow and learn. You want a job that you will endure the commuting in order to do work that matters. You want not just a regular paycheck but the chance to constantly better your own ability.

This doesn't mean you have to quit your job and start your own business. There are plenty of jobs out there that are satisfying and pay well. The point is to stop thinking about job security but think about the satisfaction you get from it.

Enterprise from Tom Peters

Found this manifesto over at ChangeThis about the real meaning of enterprise and organization. Tom describes an enterprise as:

Enterprise* (*at its best): An emotional, vital, innovative, joyful, creative, entrepreneurial endeavor that maximizes individuals’ growth and elicits maximum concerted human potential in the wholehearted service of others.

Organization exist to serve people and the bottom line is that people serve people. He also encourages businesses to adopt the Professional Service Firm Idea where your company or department offer a complete turn-key solution to your customers. Your company or department need to do work that is worth paying for.

There's also a section where he teaches us to not let our life be dictated by our competitors. Instead of reacting to what your competitors are doing, you should focus on creating solutions for your customers. In fact, he wants you to love your competitors in order to grow the industry.

We ... are the problem. They are ... not ... the problem. We have one source only of Excellence: Us.

If you are running a team, department or company, this is a must read. Even if you're not, you should still check it out.