Comments on: Evan Williams: “Think Less” http://blog.andrewparker.net/2007/10/17/evan-williams-think-less/ Tech, Entrepreneurship, and Venture Capital in New York City Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:44:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Weissman http://blog.andrewparker.net/2007/10/17/evan-williams-think-less/#comment-92850 Weissman Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:15:26 +0000 http://blog.andrewparker.net/2007/10/17/evan-williams-think-less/#comment-92850 Tumblr too (though I am biased). Tumblr too (though I am biased).

]]> By: Eric Olson http://blog.andrewparker.net/2007/10/17/evan-williams-think-less/#comment-92846 Eric Olson Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:54:41 +0000 http://blog.andrewparker.net/2007/10/17/evan-williams-think-less/#comment-92846 Of course one of the prime examples of this way of thinking is 37signals. Hey, I spent a lot of time in Chicago so I have to stand up for a great Chicago company. :-) Of course one of the prime examples of this way of thinking is 37signals. Hey, I spent a lot of time in Chicago so I have to stand up for a great Chicago company. :-)

]]> By: Tony Stubblebine http://blog.andrewparker.net/2007/10/17/evan-williams-think-less/#comment-92757 Tony Stubblebine Thu, 18 Oct 2007 07:11:49 +0000 http://blog.andrewparker.net/2007/10/17/evan-williams-think-less/#comment-92757 Five years ago, if you were to say "easier to use means better adoption rates," the only winner would be the site owner because they would be getting more traffic. Now, if you're building social software all of the users win because better adoption rates feed back into the value of the site. That's why twitter was better than Upoc -- less features led to better adoption which led to a situation where your friends were actually using it. Twitter has no value if you don't have any friends on it. I think a lot of reviewers struggle with that concept. Earlier this year TechCrunch did a head-to-head comparison with Twitter and Dodgeball and declared Dodgeball the winner based on strength of features. This despite the fact that you were vastly more likely to find someone you knew who was using Twitter and then go on to have a meaningful interaction through one of the "limited" number of features. Two weeks later the Dodgeball founders quit Google. This less is more approach seems to be taking hold fine in the consumer space. I wonder what's going to happen with enterprise software. Is the sales and purchasing dynamic such that feature lists will always be prioritized over usefulness? Five years ago, if you were to say “easier to use means better adoption rates,” the only winner would be the site owner because they would be getting more traffic. Now, if you’re building social software all of the users win because better adoption rates feed back into the value of the site. That’s why twitter was better than Upoc — less features led to better adoption which led to a situation where your friends were actually using it. Twitter has no value if you don’t have any friends on it.

I think a lot of reviewers struggle with that concept. Earlier this year TechCrunch did a head-to-head comparison with Twitter and Dodgeball and declared Dodgeball the winner based on strength of features. This despite the fact that you were vastly more likely to find someone you knew who was using Twitter and then go on to have a meaningful interaction through one of the “limited” number of features. Two weeks later the Dodgeball founders quit Google.

This less is more approach seems to be taking hold fine in the consumer space. I wonder what’s going to happen with enterprise software. Is the sales and purchasing dynamic such that feature lists will always be prioritized over usefulness?

]]> By: Yaron Galai http://blog.andrewparker.net/2007/10/17/evan-williams-think-less/#comment-92740 Yaron Galai Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:21:55 +0000 http://blog.andrewparker.net/2007/10/17/evan-williams-think-less/#comment-92740 Great post - couldn't agree more. Now you really should install the outbrain widget on your blog... - <a href="http://www.outbrain.com/get/" rel="nofollow">www.outbrain.com/get/</a> We peeled and peeled and peeled until we get to the absolute core functionality - 5 stars that work extremely well. We're thrilled with every opportunity we find to under-do our competition on features. Great post - couldn’t agree more. Now you really should install the outbrain widget on your blog… - http://www.outbrain.com/get/

We peeled and peeled and peeled until we get to the absolute core functionality - 5 stars that work extremely well. We’re thrilled with every opportunity we find to under-do our competition on features.

]]> By: phil http://blog.andrewparker.net/2007/10/17/evan-williams-think-less/#comment-92712 phil Thu, 18 Oct 2007 02:55:50 +0000 http://blog.andrewparker.net/2007/10/17/evan-williams-think-less/#comment-92712 yes good point have thght a thousnd times about the concept of cognitive misers while staring at the genius of goog homepage... http://www.scottsdalecc.edu/ricker/psy101/readings/definitions/cognitive_miser.html yes good point have thght a thousnd times about the concept of cognitive misers while
staring at the genius of goog homepage…

http://www.scottsdalecc.edu/ricker/psy101/readings/definitions/cognitive_miser.html

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