[This letter was inspired by words from Steve Jobs]
You can only please some of the people, some of the time.
One of the hardest things, when you’re trying to affect change, is that, some of your biggest critics are right, in some areas. The hardest thing is, how do you fit those things in to a cohesive larger vision that’s going to allow you to help the community?
And one of the things I’ve always found is that you have to start with the goal in mind, and work backwards. You can’t just start with an idea and try to figure out how you’re going to use it.
As we have tried to come up with a strategy and a vision for TinkerDifferent, it started with “what incredible benefits can we give to the community, where can we take the community?” Not starting with "let’s sit down with a web designer and figure out what awesome technology we have, and then how are we going to use that, and what kind of revenue can we make?"
And I think that’s the right path to take.
I remember using my first Mac. And the Mac had some really awesome technology in that beige box. Apple had great software in there, built in networking, WYSIWYG printing, HyperCard. I remember seeing my first HyperCard stack in action, and looking at it and thinking “this is amazing”. Because you didn’t have to know anything about programming to get it to do that.
And that’s where TinkerDifferent is trying to get to. And I’m sorry that some of us will be a casualty along the way, and I readily admit that there are many things in life that I haven’t the faintest idea what I’m talking about, so I apologize for that too.
There are a whole lot of people on the team working super hard at TinkerDifferent, trying to execute on some of these things. And we’re doing our best. And now that we have assembled our board, all we can do is support them, as we move forward. And some mistakes will be made along the way. And that’s good. Because it means that at least some decisions will be made along the way, as well.
And we’ll find the mistakes, and we’ll fix them. And I think what we need to do is support that team, going through this very important stage as we start this journey together. I think we need to support them, and let them grow as they settle into their roles here, and we need to come up with some damn good projects to post on TinkerDifferent. That’s my own point of view. Mistakes will be made. Some people will be pissed off. Some people will not know what they are talking about.
I think this is so much better than where things have been for a long time, not very long ago. And I think we’re going to get there.
TL;dr I am glad this project has proceeded to launch. I support the board 100%, even if they make mistakes. Mistakes can be fixed. You can't please everyone. Let's make TD great!
You can only please some of the people, some of the time.
One of the hardest things, when you’re trying to affect change, is that, some of your biggest critics are right, in some areas. The hardest thing is, how do you fit those things in to a cohesive larger vision that’s going to allow you to help the community?
And one of the things I’ve always found is that you have to start with the goal in mind, and work backwards. You can’t just start with an idea and try to figure out how you’re going to use it.
As we have tried to come up with a strategy and a vision for TinkerDifferent, it started with “what incredible benefits can we give to the community, where can we take the community?” Not starting with "let’s sit down with a web designer and figure out what awesome technology we have, and then how are we going to use that, and what kind of revenue can we make?"
And I think that’s the right path to take.
I remember using my first Mac. And the Mac had some really awesome technology in that beige box. Apple had great software in there, built in networking, WYSIWYG printing, HyperCard. I remember seeing my first HyperCard stack in action, and looking at it and thinking “this is amazing”. Because you didn’t have to know anything about programming to get it to do that.
And that’s where TinkerDifferent is trying to get to. And I’m sorry that some of us will be a casualty along the way, and I readily admit that there are many things in life that I haven’t the faintest idea what I’m talking about, so I apologize for that too.
There are a whole lot of people on the team working super hard at TinkerDifferent, trying to execute on some of these things. And we’re doing our best. And now that we have assembled our board, all we can do is support them, as we move forward. And some mistakes will be made along the way. And that’s good. Because it means that at least some decisions will be made along the way, as well.
And we’ll find the mistakes, and we’ll fix them. And I think what we need to do is support that team, going through this very important stage as we start this journey together. I think we need to support them, and let them grow as they settle into their roles here, and we need to come up with some damn good projects to post on TinkerDifferent. That’s my own point of view. Mistakes will be made. Some people will be pissed off. Some people will not know what they are talking about.
I think this is so much better than where things have been for a long time, not very long ago. And I think we’re going to get there.
TL;dr I am glad this project has proceeded to launch. I support the board 100%, even if they make mistakes. Mistakes can be fixed. You can't please everyone. Let's make TD great!
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