Andrew McAfee's Blog - Latest Comments in Keep It Simple, Smartly

Re: Keep It Simple, Smartly

titanium jewellery — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 03:39:44 -0000

the hard part is remembering whether someone was a god or related to a god or now. I'm pretty confident about: arachnid, odyssey, nacissism, tantalize

Re: Keep It Simple, Smartly

titanium jewellery — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 03:29:23 -0000

Sounds like just hide your changes and made things smooth^^

Re: Keep It Simple, Smartly

Jon — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:52:21 -0000

It is really important to make sure new technological devices are not too difficult to understand. I think that is why gmail is the best of both worlds, it has a lot of techy features but like you said, you can turn them off.

Re: Keep It Simple, Smartly

TheKitesurfCentre — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:08:03 -0000

nice idea, we have similar approach with our designs, keep its as simple as you can, less chance of user error

Re: Keep It Simple, Smartly

Ivan — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:36:22 -0000

Sounds like just hide your changes and made things smooth^^

Re: Keep It Simple, Smartly

Jason Cole — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:27:11 -0000

Great principles, and they make sense in what is quickly becoming a standard process of continuous innovation in the Web/Mobile 2.0 environment. They even make sense in the analog world, as long as you aren't trying to introduce a paradigm-shifting product like, say, squeezable mayonnaise. I'm not sure I completely agree with your third point, though: "Don't Even Talk About It."

Maybe it's just me, but I like to know about improvements in the tools I use. I agree that you don't want to force users through a mandatory/self-congratulatory "What's New!" process, but some subtle highlights of the shiniest new tricks can actually enhance a user's experience. I don't want to discover new functionality by accident, especially if it fixes an annoying gap in the system (iPhone cut-n-paste is a great example of this). So yes, be subtle and allow me to opt in to the new features, but let me know that they exist!

Re: Keep It Simple, Smartly

SamW — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:20:23 -0000

the hard part is remembering whether someone was a god or related to a god or now. I'm pretty confident about: arachnid, odyssey, nacissism, tantalize

less so about: echo

Re: Keep It Simple, Smartly

Carl Frappaolo — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:51:05 -0000

narcissistic, herculean, echo, homeric

Re: Keep It Simple, Smartly

Andrew McAfee — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:36:20 -0000

Digiphile is exactly right.
'Odyssey' works, though, and is a fine response.

Re: Keep It Simple, Smartly

Andrew McAfee — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:34:48 -0000

I've amended the text of challenge to say "How many other English words can you come up with that are derived from the names of people in myths and legends who are neither gods nor the children of gods?," which was what I originally meant. So 'siren' doesn't work, 'cause it's not from a person's name.
Other answers?

Re: Keep It Simple, Smartly

Mike Mitchell — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:07:14 -0000

Andy, you're right on target here. As a purveyor of browser-based software products, I fully subscribe (pun advised) to this paradigm as a way to build loyalty--which is almost but not quite the same as avoiding alienation. People will continue using products that are inferior--sometimes even FAR inferior--to avoid taking the time to learn something new, unless you make a change so radical that they're essentially forced to learn something new anyway.

The problem with not alienating your customer base with "upgrades", however, is that the market passes you by. New players can come on the scene with something much better, using the newest technology, right out of the gate, and unless you revolutionize your product, you'll be left in the dust. So, you're stuck with a conundrum--keep your customers dumb and happy, or give them something vastly better but risk losing them due to their realization that better things are possible.

Re: Keep It Simple, Smartly

jmcaddell — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:34:28 -0000

Sorry, didn't read the directions carefully enough. Siren also comes to mind...

Re: Keep It Simple, Smartly

digiphile — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:24:04 -0000

John, you've got a fine command of language ...but nearly all of those are derived from gods or their children. Titan was an old school god, jovial refers to Jove or Zeus, martial is from Mars, Hercules was the son of Jove and the Muses were minor deities.

Re: Keep It Simple, Smartly

digiphile — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:20:37 -0000

Great post. Useful first principles for tech product design, whether software or hardware.

On your last count, no children of the gods or Googling? There's an Achilles heel... thinking back to Bullfinch & D'aulaires book of Greek myths.

5 for Friday: Narcissism. Sisyphean task. Chimera. Delphic. Labyrinth.

Re: Keep It Simple, Smartly

jmcaddell — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:01:40 -0000

Titan, odyssey, jovial, atlas, bacchanalian, martial, herculean, nymph, music, lyric ... to start