Tools for customers vs tools for innovators

Last edited 8th September 2020

tools for creation

tech tools

Building Things

The customer only know what they want based on their experience with the current product. The innovator know what is possible and needs to go against what they know to be true. - The Hard Thing About Hard Things pg 49

It may seem counter intuitive to walk away from/de-prioritize requirements from current customers based on the current product, but in order to innovate in the space or allow others to innovate with your product, you need to step back from your initial attempts/first draft. Your MVP will suffice to get customers on board, but it will not keep them there and it will not allow you to grow. You foster creativity by creating a small set of composable actions that allow for emergent behavior to arise. It is through boundaries / constriction that creativity arises.

I went straight for the same goal you're outlining in 2009. You have to compromise WAY too much on goal if you have to restrict yourself to what users already expect. Not worth it in the end.

Have to offer them new powers first.@RoamResearch is the 🌉https://t.co/3gmkZzDIvF

— Conor White-Sullivan (@Conaw) May 29, 2020

"Frugality is not quite the same as austerity. What I mean is that austerity always includes the idea of resisting the temptation of excess:"

"Frugality, in contrast, is the discovery that simplicity is fulfilling,"

Tools vs Services