Wednesday Words
To Go Where Your VisionPoints, a few inspiration points for you and your business.
Quality is more important than quantity. One home run
is much better than two doubles.
—Steve Jobs
Grow and be well,
Kelly Erickson
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4 June 2008, 9:04 am
Well, that would depend, wouldn’t it?
Say you were at the bottom of the 9th with two outs…
With empty bases, a home run scores one run. And there’s no guarantee the batter after that will make it to home plate.
But with the bases loaded, two doubles could mean two runs!
(Sorry, that’s the Engineer in me over-analyszing things!)
4 June 2008, 11:21 am
And here’s me, the editor, analyzing things: perfect! Quality is far better than quantity. This is everything I stand for!
4 June 2008, 1:10 pm
Hmm. What Am I doing on this fence? Stop looking at the exceptions and just go with you betcha. Consistency, successive approximation has it’s own merits too… as long as the target is an excellent one. but quality, oh yes, I’ll take a sip of the Veuve Cliquot Grande Dame instead of a magnum of ho hum.
4 June 2008, 2:33 pm
Friar,
When Steve calls, I’ll tell him he can’t play on your team.
Widget-factory thinking: Go for the doubles!
(Which is not to say that small wins are not still wins. But if given the choice, quality first, right?)
Steph,
Thanks for that. The voice of reason.
Janice,
Champagne, a metaphor after my own heart. I agree, successive approximation if the target is an excellent one. I doubt Steve meant to say there aren’t baby steps in between (batting practice?), only that the aim should be the home run.
Regards,
Kelly
4 June 2008, 4:22 pm
The Friar stubbornly stands by his comments.
In baseball, the “quality” of the runs you score is irrelevant.
The QUANTITY is all that matters. As long your number of runs are greater than your opponents’.
You don’t get extra points for neatness or trying really hard. Not like you do with ski jumping or figure skating.
Mabye baseball was a bad analogy.
…you can’t blame Steve. He was a computer geek…as a kid, he probably didn’t get picked to play on too many teams
4 June 2008, 4:51 pm
Friar,
The lady can top you on stubborn any day, but will try to be genteel about it. Doubles are only great if they go somewhere in baseball, and there’s no guarantee the next guy doesn’t strike out or hit into a triple play or…
oh, for crying out loud, man! He meant make better widgets!
Until later,
Kelly
4 June 2008, 5:42 pm
Do not question The Steve.
-Brett
4 June 2008, 5:44 pm
Or need I remind you that the Neutron Factory believes in *quantity* over *quality* (e.g. number of ImpActs)?
And how’s that working for us
Just pulling Friar’s leg.
-Brett
4 June 2008, 6:11 pm
Seriously bad visual of the neutron factory if quality is NOT the order of the day. Aughhh . Run everyone. Duck and cover.
I think Steve and team are so ahead of the curve. A slight finger swipe across a screen, a very slight motion and things whisk from side to side. A tap, they get larger or smaller. There’s some elegant thinking there. That same motion is now in his campaigns. It’s so zen and simple, but so perspective changing it is breath taking.
4 June 2008, 6:16 pm
In fairness to the Neutron Factory, the *workers* understand quality. But hands are tied by those in power…
Exactly. I keep discovering things that “just work” every day…
4 June 2008, 7:52 pm
I love that, ” just work”. Sublimely simple concept with exceptional execution.
4 June 2008, 8:38 pm
Oboy, everyone’s yanking my chain here.
Yes! Of course I know Steve Jobs was talking about making better widgets.
Yes, I agree he’s the best thing that’s happened to the planet since sliced bread.
But I STILL think his analogy to baseball was weak.
There. I’m a heretic.
I’ve dared question the Steve.
The only thing left I have to say in my defence is:
Awwww…Awww…Awww….Cou Donc!
4 June 2008, 8:39 pm
Brett, Janice,
I think if we worked on it we could get the Fanboys vs. the Contrarians baseball teams up and running. Friar can have the doubles. I’ll take the sublimely simple homeruns, please.
Duck and cover, wow. Clear, clear image of the basement of my grammar school when I hear the phrase. Silent under the lunch tables in the cafeteria after filing orderly down the stairs, hands over neck. It takes almost thirty years of distance for that to be LOL.
I try hard not to think neutrons when I talk to my two favorite neutronians.
Until later,
Kelly
4 June 2008, 8:46 pm
Friar,
Québécisms will get you nowhere.
Le Steve is not to be questioned!
No, really, I love the debate. It’s much better to question everything and be sure you know where you stand.
Funny things happen when I throw out these Wednesday Words, almost every week. It takes forever to choose, and then things are never as I imagine. I love it.
Later,
Kelly
5 June 2008, 2:49 pm
Heretic!
I hereby condemn you to a life of using Microsoft Windows.
(I use it too, don’t worry. Even on my Mac.)
-Brett
5 June 2008, 4:36 pm
LOL! This is hilarious! The quality of this very short quote (quantity) certainly spurred on a large reaction! Had it been a longer, perhaps less effective quote, there might not have been anything to say!
5 June 2008, 6:21 pm
Well, Brett, you actually DID condemn me to windows.
(You just sold me your old machine!)
Mabye you know something I don’t.
5 June 2008, 6:37 pm
Steph,
It is amazing, isn’t it. Today’s lightning rod, brought to you by Le Steve.
Friar,
Brett knows what you suspect: Macs are useful, beautiful, hassle-free and generally awesome. Try saying “hassle-free” and “PC” in the same sentence.
And thank goodness for contrarians, they keep the conversation flowing. My day has been filled with them today, and that’s what I kept saying to myself. Thank goodness for this, thank goodness for this. No really, this is so… helpful…
Brett,
As long as we’re not unquestioning fanboys (on a practical level, what’s up with the MacAir?), we can be fanboys. The fact that you still touch Windows at home proves you are a modern, thinking fanboy. Rock on.
Later,
Kelly
6 June 2008, 6:15 am
@Friar,
LOL don’t worry, that little machine will serve you well for a long time. And since you’re most familiar with Windows, it is probably a good thing for you to stick with it until you have a reason to switch…
@Kelly,
Agreed about the MBA (looks nice, but not for me), and there’s just some software that isn’t yet available on Mac which I still like.
Plus I’m cheap, and I can run Office 2007 on my Mac using Vmware!
(Though Office 2008 looks nice and isn’t too expensive…)
-Brett
6 June 2008, 10:45 pm
Brett,
No, no, you’re frugal. I can’t let you call yourself cheap.
My daughter and I joke that my 2nd-favorite word is “sale.” My favorite, of course, is “clearance.” Frugal!
Later,
Kelly