Slowpreneur
Jim Simons: "I’m not an extremely fast thinker myself; I just work hard."
That was all I needed to do—work hard, not fast. A paper I published in '68 took me five years. But it has had 1,850 citations. For a math paper, that’s an awful lot.
There’s too much emphasis on a person’s being able to answer questions quickly."
By contrast, consumer software tools that enhance human agency, that serve us when we are most creative and intentional, are often built by hobbyists and used by a handful of nerds. If such a tool ever gets too successful one of the Marl-serving companies, flush with cash from advertising or growth-hungry venture capital, will acquire it and kill... See more
Ivan Vendrov • The Tyranny of the Marginal User
There will always be too much to do – and this realisation is liberating. Today more than ever, there’s just no reason to assume any fit between the demands on your time – all the things you would like to do, or feel you ought to do – and the amount of time available. Thanks to capitalism, technology and human ambition, these demands keep
... See moreoliverburkeman.com • Oliver Burkeman's Last Column: The Eight Secrets to a (Fairly) Fulfilled Life
To me, the ideal life is to take the 20 percent of my time that make me feel most alive and see if I can cut everything else out until that fills everything. Then do that again, cutting the “worst” 80 percent of the best. This is the inverse of how many companies operate. There the ideal is often “growth,” which they take to mean “say yes to all
... See moreAd legend Bill Bernbach letter on creativity, written in 1947:
Dear ________:
Our agency is getting big. That’s something to be happy about. But it’s something to worry about, too, and I don’t mind telling you I’m damned worried. I’m worried that we’re going to fall into the trap of bigness, that we’re going to worship techniques instead of
... See more
Work matters if we do fewer things and stick to what’s needed, wanted, or useful. It’s also more likely to be exceptional. The mere act of creating something valuable can create joint satisfaction and meaning – for everyone. In this environment, work can both matter and be profitable.
Slow productivity is good business.
Working in technology means one thing above all else: chasing scale. There is a reason why much of the tech world is obsessed with growth. Free from physical constraints, digital systems can scale to an incomprehensible size. The appeal of conquering the engineering, design and business challenges of mega-scale is strong, the rewards immense. But
... See moreAnti-network effects sometimes incorporate network effects of their own, but are generally more deliberate, intelligent, and actively governed. They are designed with scarcity in mind and are not so easy to starve out. They have long horizons and think many steps ahead in time, and can be spatially intelligent across entire topologies.
27/ They need... See more
27/ They need... See more
Anti-Network Effects
As a marketing executive, I view business as one of the greatest adventures of the human enterprise—if not the greatest. But I am not just a businessman: I am also an unapologetic romantic.