Last update: 6/3/01; 11:58:57.
Thoughts and ideas as they occur to me.
Friday, January 19, 2001
Big Macs vs. The Naked Chef. (01/19/2001 11:02 EST) I just read a great article written by Joel Spolsky who owns Fog Creek Software.
If you're not a programmer or consultant, don't run away. This basically boils down to creativity versus plodding-rule-following.
I've often asked myself why someone would buy something of lesser quality when something is available that is much better, although it costs more. If money is tight, perhaps that's a good enough reason to buy "good enough."
However, if money is not the consideration, why would we settle for less?
I've been to arts and crafts shows where someone will ooh and aah over something, let's say a hand-made birdhouse, and then they see the price tag. Suddenly, they've completely changed about and blurt out that they can get a bird house at Wal*Mart for a fraction of what the hand-made birdhouse will cost.
They totally miss the fact that there is a difference between the two items and compare only the costs. I don't understand this.
I've run into it when programming, consulting, and now, when selling my hand-made metal items. There is a disconnect, and most people can't seem to jump this divide.
I think Joel's observations are applicable to any field where you have creative people providing outstanding work (or solutions, software, art, or what have you) versus mass-produced items (solutions, etc.) of "good-enough" quality at (perhaps) lower cost.
I think this issue has to be on our minds when we're marketing our products and we have to be aware that our skills, knowledge, talent, hard work, and inspiration are definite assets when defining the Unique Selling Proposition that makes us (and, by extension, our products) different from the run-of-the-mill. It's our differences that make our products more valuable.
Joel starts with the questions:
"Mystery: why is it that some of the biggest IT consulting companies in the world do the worst work?
Why is it that the cool upstart consulting companies start out with a string of spectacular successes, meteoric growth, and rapidly degenerate into mediocrity?"
He surmises: "The secret of Big Macs is that they're not very good, but every one is not very good in exactly the same way. If you're willing to live with not-very-goodness, you can have a Big Mac with absolutely no chance of being surprised in the slightest."
He addresses the issue of scalability, among others. I have encountered this in many endeavors. Threre's only a finite amount of work one person can do, even if he goes without sleep for months. Creativity and inspiration do not scale, and they can't be taught.
My conclusion? I want to think about this topic for awhile. Even though Joel was writing on consulting and software-development, it applies to a wider market of creative individuals who must market their talents and accomplishments to a world that too-readily accepts the soul-less good-enough.
** JD ** 11:39:21 AM
© Copyright 2001 John L. Dilbeck, jd@johndilbeck.com.