Worth a long read. A few picks:
I recently shared these thoughts with a friend who is also a startup founder. The conversation went something like this:
Friend: “Well the thing you have to realize is that the present is the past.”
Me: “I don’t do drugs, so you know …”
Friend: “No no no, listen to me, listen to me. Your product’s already obsolete.”
Me: “What do you mean by that? People like it.”
Friend: “Well, the thing is, people like what’s out there today, but what’s out there today is actually already history. It’s been documented, there are “changes” pages updated, but it’s live, it’s now a part of history. The thing you should be worrying about is that there’s probably going to be a newer, faster, quicker way for your customers to achieve what they want to do in this world, and that it doesn’t involve you.”
Me: “Ooh, that kind of stung.”
Needs don’t change, even when technology does
Does your product make it cheaper, faster or easier for our customers to make progress in their lives?
Mark Zuckerberg said recently that messaging is the only thing they’ve found people do more often than social networking.
Which reminds me of the slow uptake of text messaging. A good history of which us here. To think how long it’s taken everyone to get into the idea of short messages. So while ‘needs don’t change, even when technology does’ needs can take a while to emerge.
Documenteering 