The Indie Experts List

A friend linked me to this: Does Content Length Predict Traffic Generated? The article is smart and probably correct and includes this provocative statement: “Opinions without data are irrelevant, so let’s look at the data to make this decision.” (source: https://www.christopherspenn.com/2021/03/does-content-length-predict-traffic-generated/) Opinions without data have: Gotten presidents elected Led to hugely significant decisions, both in our own lives and in the world Gotten people killed Saved lives Opinions without data are not, in fact, irrelevant. However, the article’s author is right within the context of their work. What’s interesting here is how he’s sending a signal about where he stands in his point of view.  …

Read moreOpinions without data

Earlier today, I watched Daft Punk’s breakup video. In a way, that video is all context; very little content. It has long scenes like this: No facial expressions (content), but you feel the emotion of a melancholy gaze and a human connection. Part of your point of view is defined by where you stand (context). The other part is defined by what you see from there and how you advise your clients as a result (content). Let’s talk content. You can certainly promote a point of view that is about something your market has figured out already. Nothing wrong with that, but there’s nothing right about it …

Read moreContent matters too

Points of view can be different in 4 basic ways. (I’m talking about consultants here.) 1: You can see the world from Data, Experience, or somewhere in between. 2: Your goal can be to create radical Transformation, incremental Optimization, or something in between. 3: Your style can be that of the forceful Disruptor, the more gentle Evolver, or something in between. 4: Your status can be that of the pedigreed Insider, the expert Outsider, or something in between. Painting the world in simple, artificially-binary polarities like this can help us reflect on and more deeply understand our place in the …

Read moreThe four directions

In our point of view, we can see things from a perspective that leans towards Experience, Data, or somewhere in between. Which is better? The culture we live in worships Data. It would seem that standing in Data would lead to a more powerful point of view. However… Data does not get alcoholics to quit drinking. (“Your drinking has ruined 79.3% of the relationships in your life, so now it’s time to do the hardest thing you’ve ever done in your life and quit!”) Data does not convince firms to specialize. (“Less than 30% of your market has specialized, so …

Read moreWhich is better?

I’d like some stories from y’all about investing in your business. Send ’em my way and I’ll share back with the list. Investing: expending time or money with the hope of payback/ROI, but without the guarantee of payback. Feel free to send 1 or multiple stories. I can attribute or keep your story anonymous, your choice. Please say which you prefer. Thanks! -P

Experience is one place we can stand in our point of view. It’s not the only place. Some of us want data instead. Others of us blend the two. All of us are standing somewhere on this spectrum: In reality, we don’t occupy one tiny fixed point on this spectrum. Our POV tends to come from a range: When I ask participants in the Point of View Workshop to place themselves somewhere on this spectrum, several striking things happen: Most participants have an easy time doing it. We have good self-knowledge about how experience and data define our point of …

Read moreWhat’s wrong with Experience?

Your point of view is where you stand, what you see from there, and how you advise your clients as a result. Where you stand determines what you’ll see. This toot illustrates that point nicely: (Source: https://twitter.com/visualizevalue/status/1363621040715419649?s=21) For reasons I don’t fully understand, I currently have zero interest in listening to audio that isn’t music. I used to listen to maybe 5 or so hours of podcast programming/week, now it’s 0. Where I (currently) stand is a world were podcasts have almost no value. What I see from there is other people mysteriously finding value in these things I can’t …

Read moreWhat is a point of view?

I sat in on a fascinating group discussion led by Simon Wardley earlier today. One of the topics was distributed/remote work. One of the usual concerns about distributed work is that it reduces innovation. It occurs to me, however, that when people discuss innovation, they are talking about a bundle of discrete things. In that conversation, at least 3 elements of innovation surfaced: Connection Knowing the terrain Serendipity As I’m fighting my way towards completing a book, one mistake I know very well: assuming the entirety of a bundled problem is as difficult to solve as the single hardest component …

Read moreInnovation bundle

I’m still excited about NASA getting another robot explorer to Mars. It’s possible this excitement will improve my delivery, later today at 9am Pacific/noon Eastern/5pm GMT, of a livestreamed talk on business research: https://indieexperts.io/event/tei-talks-what-is-business-research/ Here’s me looking sorta stoned while practicing the talk: A TEI participant is wanting to learn about developer experience from VPEng/Team Leads who have a front-end focus in their current or past management work. If you’re open to sharing your insight into DX with him via a 30m interview, please REPLY and I’ll forward your email along to him. This Twitter thread, from Louis Grenier, is …

Read moreWanted: Developer Experience Insight

Perseverance stuck her landing on Mars. Watching the livestream was the most fun and excitement I’ve had in a while. I need a cigarette now. 🙂 I’ve linked to it before, but I’ll link to it again as a part of a “double album” of two well-worth-reading writeups on member-supported work: And Matuschak’s writeup on his crowdfunded indie research program: https://andymatuschak.org/2020/ Craig Mod’s writeup on lessons learned from running his membership program: https://craigmod.com/essays/successful_memberships/ I’ve gone on record in the past as being down on consulting + patreon business model, but I should probably refine that to pure consulting + patreon …

Read moreI need a cigarette