Video games are a great example of an industry that is always serving multiple audiences at the same time and needs both to survive. The existing users supported the game the first time and helped get it off the ground with early adoption and support. The new audience, who has never seen the game, but is interested in it and is wondering if they should invest their time in it. Both markets matter for the…
What do people love about the work you do? Have you ever asked them or are you coming up with that list on your own? Ask them. What do you like about what I do? This isn’t about you getting validation for what you do or feeling “awesome” about yourself (although it is an awesome side effect). It is about you hearing what people like (maybe asking what they don’t like) and realizing where your…
Over the summer I had an office flood followed by construction going on outside my window. The home office was no better with roadwork being done. I couldn’t stop the flood. I wasn’t about to tell me not to do work on their house or on a building I don’t own. But I did go buy some amazing noise-canceling headphones that blocked out the bulk of the noise and let me work. You can’t control…
I want to start my day with a tea each day. That one is easy to accomplish. I also want to go for a run or bike, these are harder to accomplish. Each week I try to do a bit more. To accomplish this, I’ve made sure that the routes don’t change, the paths get worn down, and the same equipment is worn. They aren’t there yet, but the patterns are forming, falling into their…
You purchase a product. You customize it. You customize it some more. You keep tinkering and tweaking until there is nothing left of the original save for your customizations. You now have a mess of an upgrade on your hands. You now have time spent figuring out why you had to customize it to the nth degree. If you’re having to customize something you bought that much, it might be a sign, you need to…