4 ms·

Solutions.

15 points by sahillavingia 15y ago

wccrawford 15y ago
"It’s a lot like an English essay. You start with a prompt, and then you talk about the prompt for a few pages and at the end of it all you write your conclusion and you realize that the entire essay has nothing to do with the prompt." I have never had this happen. I've also never written any software that didn't target a need or want. Apparently some people do get side-tracked and try to write something that's cool instead of something that's useful and wanted, but I really don't think that's the majority. I think the majority set out to solve a particular problem, do so, and then find out whether people are willing to pay for the solution.
- TeMPOraL 15y ago
  > "It’s a lot like an English essay. You start with a prompt, and then you talk about the prompt for a few pages and at the end of it all you wrqite your conclusion and you realize that the entire essay has nothing to do with the prompt." > I have never had this happen. Me neither, but it's because when I was writing school "essays" I had the conclusion in my head from the very beginning and I navigated it to a predetermined goal. It works for school tasks, but it's really missing the point of an essay (as pg nicely wrote about in http://paulgraham.com/essay.html http://paulgraham.com/essay.html).
  - wccrawford 15y ago
    Sounds like about 2/3 of the posts I write for the web. It's the 2/3 that I close the window instead of hitting 'submit' on. :) I end up feeling better about clearing my mind of something, but I don't inflict my rambling useless nonsense on anyone else. The other 1/3 actually have a point and I do hit 'submit' on those. Thanks for that link. It definitely clears up what he was talking about. PG is correct that they never taught that in my school. I think they should have.
TeMPOraL 15y ago
I agree wholeheartedly. I'm always happy when I see people who care about the value they provide, and not only about the money they get. For those people I'm happily overgenerous with my money and time.
phil 15y ago
You have to be careful with that word, though. I know it sets off my bullshit detector. When I see a Solutions section on a company's website I think, "oh no, they're not going to tell me what they're selling, instead they're going to hand wave and try to tell me about myself."

15 points by sahillavingia 15y ago

"It’s a lot like an English essay. You start with a prompt, and then you talk about the prompt for a few pages and at the end of it all you write your conclusion and you realize that the entire essay has nothing to do with the prompt." I have never had this happen. I've also never written any software that didn't target a need or want. Apparently some people do get side-tracked and try to write something that's cool instead of something that's useful and wanted, but I really don't think that's the majority. I think the majority set out to solve a particular problem, do so, and then find out whether people are willing to pay for the solution.

TeMPOraL 15y ago
> "It’s a lot like an English essay. You start with a prompt, and then you talk about the prompt for a few pages and at the end of it all you wrqite your conclusion and you realize that the entire essay has nothing to do with the prompt." > I have never had this happen. Me neither, but it's because when I was writing school "essays" I had the conclusion in my head from the very beginning and I navigated it to a predetermined goal. It works for school tasks, but it's really missing the point of an essay (as pg nicely wrote about in http://paulgraham.com/essay.html http://paulgraham.com/essay.html).
- wccrawford 15y ago
  Sounds like about 2/3 of the posts I write for the web. It's the 2/3 that I close the window instead of hitting 'submit' on. :) I end up feeling better about clearing my mind of something, but I don't inflict my rambling useless nonsense on anyone else. The other 1/3 actually have a point and I do hit 'submit' on those. Thanks for that link. It definitely clears up what he was talking about. PG is correct that they never taught that in my school. I think they should have.

TeMPOraL 15y ago

I agree wholeheartedly. I'm always happy when I see people who care about the value they provide, and not only about the money they get. For those people I'm happily overgenerous with my money and time.

phil 15y ago

You have to be careful with that word, though. I know it sets off my bullshit detector. When I see a Solutions section on a company's website I think, "oh no, they're not going to tell me what they're selling, instead they're going to hand wave and try to tell me about myself."