Comments on: Great Ideas are Valuable, But Extremely Hard to Recognize http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2008/05/14/great-ideas-are-valuable-but-extremely-hard-to-recognize/ Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:53:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Scott Young http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2008/05/14/great-ideas-are-valuable-but-extremely-hard-to-recognize/comment-page-1/#comment-191881 Scott Young Fri, 16 May 2008 15:04:01 +0000 http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2008/05/14/great-ideas-are-valuable-but-extremely-hard-to-recognize/#comment-191881 Francisco, By "exposing" your ideas, I don't necessarily mean trying to reach a public failure. My point is that without feedback, projects can stray away from reality and flaws can go unchecked for a long time. If you keep your ideas in constant "beta", you can make sure any fixable errors are found early and any unfixable problems are brought to the surface. -Scott Francisco,

By “exposing” your ideas, I don’t necessarily mean trying to reach a public failure. My point is that without feedback, projects can stray away from reality and flaws can go unchecked for a long time. If you keep your ideas in constant “beta”, you can make sure any fixable errors are found early and any unfixable problems are brought to the surface.

-Scott

]]> By: Francisco http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2008/05/14/great-ideas-are-valuable-but-extremely-hard-to-recognize/comment-page-1/#comment-191436 Francisco Thu, 15 May 2008 15:53:17 +0000 http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2008/05/14/great-ideas-are-valuable-but-extremely-hard-to-recognize/#comment-191436 Scott, my first time commenting here and I have to say this was a great post. The only thing that concerns me a little bit is when you suggest trying to expose weaknesses as soon as possible. I do get your point, but it sounds kind of hard being both a sponsor and the Devil's advocate for every single idea you decide to put effort into. I would say that being/becoming aware of the idea's weaknesses is more important *and* rewarding than exposing the ideas. I don't see why you should kill a beta project by exposing it's flaws to the world if it's something no one noticed and you can fix it without making noise. Anyway, keep up the great work :) Francisco Scott,
my first time commenting here and I have to say this was a great post.
The only thing that concerns me a little bit is when you suggest trying to expose weaknesses as soon as possible. I do get your point, but it sounds kind of hard being both a sponsor and the Devil’s advocate for every single idea you decide to put effort into. I would say that being/becoming aware of the idea’s weaknesses is more important *and* rewarding than exposing the ideas. I don’t see why you should kill a beta project by exposing it’s flaws to the world if it’s something no one noticed and you can fix it without making noise.
Anyway, keep up the great work :)
Francisco

]]> By: Scott Young http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2008/05/14/great-ideas-are-valuable-but-extremely-hard-to-recognize/comment-page-1/#comment-191376 Scott Young Thu, 15 May 2008 11:21:24 +0000 http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2008/05/14/great-ideas-are-valuable-but-extremely-hard-to-recognize/#comment-191376 Mark, Segway was a good example because, since it failed, it is easy to attach reasons why it should. It wasn't a great idea, but it was difficult to separate it from truly great ones. -Scott Mark,

Segway was a good example because, since it failed, it is easy to attach reasons why it should. It wasn’t a great idea, but it was difficult to separate it from truly great ones.

-Scott

]]> By: Mark Whiting http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2008/05/14/great-ideas-are-valuable-but-extremely-hard-to-recognize/comment-page-1/#comment-191088 Mark Whiting Wed, 14 May 2008 19:53:26 +0000 http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2008/05/14/great-ideas-are-valuable-but-extremely-hard-to-recognize/#comment-191088 Nice article. Recently I was thinking about the issues with generating good questions or problems to be solved. That is to say, when trying to find ideas by asking probing questions or looking at problems, I think it is rather hard to establish whether or not a given one is able to have a good solution. I think a lot of companies pursue problems that are just not good ones to try to deal with, because they are too hard to solve or because they rely on social expectations that are shifting too quickly. I think the Segway is an example of this. I think this point of view is partially biased on separating the problem to be solved and the idea to solve it. I think often the qualities of the idea are not bad but the problems being attempted are just not good candidates. Perhaps the Segway is like this. Bikes and walking just already work so well for most people. Nice article. Recently I was thinking about the issues with generating good questions or problems to be solved. That is to say, when trying to find ideas by asking probing questions or looking at problems, I think it is rather hard to establish whether or not a given one is able to have a good solution. I think a lot of companies pursue problems that are just not good ones to try to deal with, because they are too hard to solve or because they rely on social expectations that are shifting too quickly. I think the Segway is an example of this.

I think this point of view is partially biased on separating the problem to be solved and the idea to solve it. I think often the qualities of the idea are not bad but the problems being attempted are just not good candidates. Perhaps the Segway is like this. Bikes and walking just already work so well for most people.

]]> By: Taylor http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2008/05/14/great-ideas-are-valuable-but-extremely-hard-to-recognize/comment-page-1/#comment-191062 Taylor Wed, 14 May 2008 18:28:08 +0000 http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2008/05/14/great-ideas-are-valuable-but-extremely-hard-to-recognize/#comment-191062 Hey, I love the blog. Great posts. Keep them coming. Hey, I love the blog. Great posts. Keep them coming.

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