3 ms·

It's a fun title and a fun story, but I'm not sure if any real lessons can be derived from it. They needed information on how to get the best audio quality and

It's a fun title and a fun story, but I'm not sure if any real lessons can be derived from it. They needed information on how to get the best audio quality and volume from a relatively small speaker and enclosure. And they found a cheap booklet about building speaker enclosures. If it wasn't for radio shack, they probably would have found it somewhere else. I'm not sure what to read into this.

nxzero 10y ago
Maybe, maybe not; sure it's possible that they might have found a book for free at the library, hired an audio engineer, etc. - but it would be foolish to believe that singular events are often not at the roots of many companies finding success. >> "Without RadioShack, there’s no Blue Box. And as Woz tells it, without the Blue Box there’s no Apple.”
latch 10y ago
The point is that "small things matter." (1) For them, that was getting the speaker right. As for the references to RadioShack, I think he makes a good point: RadioShack was important in helping people build those small things. (not necessarily indispensable, but certainly important). (1) That point is repeated many times, including the subtitle.
ghaff 10y ago
For many years, Radio Shack was one of the few convenient places for consumers to quickly pickup random small parts related to electronics, audio, ham radio, etc. On the other hand, there's a very rose-tinted nostalgic view of Radio Shack in many circles. The chain's main business as far back as I can remember was selling a lot of overpriced and low quality audio gear and other consumer electronics. It was far more a shopping mall location for unsophisticated consumers to buy their stereos than it was a makerspace of some sort.
- _asummers 10y ago
  I really enjoyed this recap of a manager's time at RadioShack. http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy-stories http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy...
ebbv 10y ago
I agree, this post really does not have any concrete lessons. It has a few nice cliches but nothing that is truly a lesson you can use on your own projects. But that's probably also because it doesn't really get into any details of how they truly made a compelling product. Those details are glossed over as "talents" and "trial and error." That's where the interesting details are.

nxzero 10y ago

Maybe, maybe not; sure it's possible that they might have found a book for free at the library, hired an audio engineer, etc. - but it would be foolish to believe that singular events are often not at the roots of many companies finding success. >> "Without RadioShack, there’s no Blue Box. And as Woz tells it, without the Blue Box there’s no Apple.”

latch 10y ago

The point is that "small things matter." (1) For them, that was getting the speaker right. As for the references to RadioShack, I think he makes a good point: RadioShack was important in helping people build those small things. (not necessarily indispensable, but certainly important). (1) That point is repeated many times, including the subtitle.

ghaff 10y ago

For many years, Radio Shack was one of the few convenient places for consumers to quickly pickup random small parts related to electronics, audio, ham radio, etc. On the other hand, there's a very rose-tinted nostalgic view of Radio Shack in many circles. The chain's main business as far back as I can remember was selling a lot of overpriced and low quality audio gear and other consumer electronics. It was far more a shopping mall location for unsophisticated consumers to buy their stereos than it was a makerspace of some sort.

_asummers 10y ago
I really enjoyed this recap of a manager's time at RadioShack. http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy-stories http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy...

ebbv 10y ago

I agree, this post really does not have any concrete lessons. It has a few nice cliches but nothing that is truly a lesson you can use on your own projects. But that's probably also because it doesn't really get into any details of how they truly made a compelling product. Those details are glossed over as "talents" and "trial and error." That's where the interesting details are.