Plugs or Cables

I Saw this post from the 37Signals blog and it got me thinking.

Showing the plug, not the cable

By Matt

Why do so many companies selling cables show you this bird’s eye view…

buy cables

usbfirewire

…when what you really want is this view of the ends:

nti

It’s not the cable that people care about. It’s the plug. The real question that needs to be answered: “Will this fit where I need it to fit?”

Makes you wonder how often web apps miss the point and show people the cable instead of the plug: Showing a list of features when people want benefits. Telling facts when people want stories. Showing screenshots when people want explanations.

Related: We were recently discussing Common Craft’s neat video tutorials that explain complicated concepts in “plain English.” Lots of sites try (and fail) to clearly explain social bookmarking or RSS. But Common Craft nails it.

The videos aren’t fancy. They’re not techy. They don’t show off interface widgets. But they succeed where it counts: They show how these tools fit into people’s lives. They show the plug, not the cable.

I thought this was a great point about keeping information practical.  I can’t tell you how many times I have gone to bestbuy.com or whatever and asked the question, is that the plug that I actually need?

In our churches and ministries, are we giving a birds eye-view of what we are about, or are we getting into the actual practicality of  the gospel.

Good Day To You!

Today is Monday, and I am tired.  Yesterday was a whirlwind day.  Creekside had our church picnic but since it rained (it is Seattle after all) we held the picnic in the Gym.  Which was cool.  It was fun hanging out and meeting some new folks.

Then I rocked the podcast out to the masses and watched the Seahawks Game.  Sorrow fell on my house as the Hawks lost due to a fumble in the last minute of the game.  the final score was 23-20 with arizona winning.  Grr.

Then >>beyond>> was at my house at 6 and that was good times, afterwards people played football, then some Wii, then a few of us played ligretto.  It was a long day, but lots of fun was had.

Time Saving Football Advice

Tim Sanders who wrote Love is the Killer App (check it out here).  Has written a timely and time saving post on a great way to watch football on Sundays.  Personally I don’t know how I would live a life outside of my house without TiVo.  It’s one of those inventions that you don’t really realize you love until you have one, much like an iPod.

Sundays are one of the busiest days ever for me, with church in the morning, youth group in the evening, lunch at the in-laws house in between.  It seems like a go-go-go day.  And now with TiVo I have the option of recording the game and working on something else, or recording the game and napping with the rest of my family.  TiVo truly is a great way to not be held by the networks demands for my attention.  If I want to watch Heroes, but I have a meeting on a monday night, no worries, TiVo’s got my back.

I think there should be some kind of financial pay-back from my friends at TiVo for talking up their product, but I doubt that will ever come and I don’t expect payment from my friends.  Well Except for John, but he’s got issues.  :o)

Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins – Review

I just finished whoever makes the most mistakes wins (You can get it here).  Wow, what a great read.  The simple and clear principles are great reminders that success isn’t what we think it is.

I have felt like the most important thing in life is succeeding and I have also felt the other end of the pendulum where the most important thing is not failing and thereby not looking like a fool.  But this book really tries to show that failure can bring out some of our best successes.  And in fact failure can push us forward, to keep trying newer and scarier ideas.

True innovators are not success driven, nor are they fear avoidant.  They have a healthy balance of success as a by product for great work, but failure as just one more thing that they had to learn the hard way.

this truly is a great book.  Read it.  Enjoy it.  Then take a risk and do something.

Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins – quotes

So I haven’t posted anything from this book in a bit. But I thought these were goodies.

“The world belongs to those who don’t let anxiety about screwing up keep them from moving forward.” -pg 34

“It’s not about achieving contentment that matters, but improving the quality of discontent.” – pg 39

“We’ve heard often that adversity tells you who your friends are. Success does, too. Failure and success both reveal who really cares about us. The ones who stick with us through thick and thin. If Anything success identifies genuine friendships more surely than failure does.” pg. 44

I’m almost done with this book and I have not been keeping a very good log of quotes but it’s a great book and you should buy it.