Form or Function

Form or Function. i have come to the conclusion that it is very difficult to have it both ways. When developing anything you have to concentrate on one or the other. You see one follows the other, they will never be equals. The best that you can hope for is siblings, and even then they are typically more interested in power than in each other. If you over-invest in your model, then your feature set will suffer. Over power your functionality then the model loses integrity. Users, consumers, customers, whatever they are to your particular business, they will gravitate to one or the other. This is where you must be careful. The weight of the user can tip the scales as you have designed them, and throw checks and balances out of the window. The problem is that their allegiance to your Form can destroy your ability to execute, and the opposite can render your vehicle unstable. Sometimes this is a mere aggravation, other times it is disastrous. I am not going to name names but the last 24 hours has revealed much about our model’s viability and the accompanying services we intend to offer through it. All of this has been viewed through the prizm of a bevy of better funded and better staffed startups who were crushed by ignoring this precept. And it is a precept. As in pre-, before, not after. To implement a shift between the two in mid stream is almost outsides the realm of possibility. Trust me. Address it now.

This is how: Gauge the direction of interest in your concept via feedback. If the overwhelming majority of your contacts are unnaturally excited about the innovation and efficacy of your model, then invest in features until they stop. If they won’t leave you alone about this service or that feature, then quickly move to structure until the excitement dies down. It would seem like it makes no sense to deflate enthusiasm, or to switch gears at a high point, but form must follow function, or vice versa. When one gets out of the other’s sight it is curtains and quick, Of course all bets are off at launch, so don’t expect to see any hand holding, but if there is a natural progression of one then the other and you can see both at once, then you are in a unique position for success.

Things are different now.

You never really know whether or not something has legs. I find that sometimes, projects that I have the least regard for, end up generating the greatest stir. Yesterday, I was combing statistics in preparation for a meeting on Tuesday, when I came across something staggering: In 1958 almost 80% of patents were filed by individuals. Individuals. I subsequently found that the figure today is more like 13%. For you arithmetician’s out there thats a 67% drop in 50 years. I wrote it down, and asked myself why? Then I wrote down the answer. The funny thing is that I had powerpoint open at the time so i scribbled it onto slides. I then spent about an hour fiddling with it. I showed the .ppt to David at a meeting yesterday and he seems to think that it quite good, so I am going to share it with you now. We are converting it into a flash movie, and who knows after that. The Bible says never to despise the day of small beginnings. At ideabreaker, embracing those small beginnings is what we do.

innoexecution

It’s been quite a while, but without going into too much detail we have been in and out of town, crazy busy and much has been accomplished. There will be plenty more forthcoming, but for now I can leave you with two concepts: evolution, and progress.

It is impossible to fall backward while running forward. Of this you can be sure. If you can move forward but one percent in a day’s time, then you are still only 99 days from your goal. Remember that. When developing any product, or concept, or model, you will find that the only thing that does not change is that everything can change. This is the unsettling nature of creativity.

In any event our chief technical; David, shot this over to me this afternoon. Innoexecution. Something’s are just right on the mark.