Wednesday Words
To Go Where Your VisionPoints, a few inspiration points for you and your business.
We are always saying to ourselves… we have to innovate. We’ve got to come up with that breakthrough. In fact, the way software works… so long as you are using your existing software… you don’t pay us anything at all. So we’re only paid for breakthroughs.
—Bill Gates
Have I been looking at this all wrong? It’s been sitting in my treasure trove of favorite quotations for a long time, and I’ve always thought of it as an example of dogged determination, innovators pushing uphill against a rock that’s continually getting heavier, with progress trying to roll over even the mighty Microsoft.
A couple of days ago I was helping my father to put up shelving at the motel my parents own and operate. I got out the tools we’d need, and we went to work installing the shelving in all the rooms. When the job was finally finished I sat down (slumped, really—somewhere after a dozen it gets pretty tiring!) with the measuring tape in my hand. A tape he’s owned since I was a kid. Works like the day he bought it, though it’s been used and abused plenty over the years. Barely even shows wear.
All around this place there are items like that—no breakthroughs, no planned obsolescence, just great stuff that always has been great and without major trauma, always will be.
As long as you’re happy with what you’ve got, says Gates, you won’t buy more. They have to plan your discontent into the product. They can’t give you too much. They have to leave you wondering, what if this isn’t everything I’d hoped for?
So even with diminished expectations from all the other disappointments you’ve had, you’ll keep hoping for more. Maybe the rock is lowered standards, and some businesses have already let it roll over them. Doesn’t seem like a recipe for Maximum Customer Experience.
Thank goodness so many small businesses refuse to operate like this—yours included.
Maybe breakthroughs aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. What do you think?
Grow and be well,
Kelly Erickson
If you enjoyed this post, please Subscribe (it's free!) 
Comment 
Share
Trackback 
26 August 2009, 6:48 am
OUCH!
As long as you’re happy with what you’ve got, says Gates, you won’t buy more. They have to plan your discontent into the product. They can’t give you too much. They have to leave you wondering, what if this isn’t everything I’d hoped for
Very true, however. But wow….OUCH!
Great post, shared with my network. Thanks!
26 August 2009, 8:04 am
Barbara,
Well, I know he’s an easy target (and I’m not one to pile on—I think he’s brilliant), but when I turned the thought around in my head, I realized he’s not the only one. Lowered standards of innovation and production are all around us, in the form of “we only get paid for breakthroughs.”
Glad to give you a bit of food for thought!
Regards,
Kelly
26 August 2009, 9:00 am
“Maybe breakthroughs aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. What do you think?”
LOL – when I was about six or seven, my father told me that the best way to buy a stereo was one component at a time. When I was nine, we were the first on the block to get an Atari (not incidentally, it was something my grandfather had no interest in, even though he had been an engineer of sorts).
By the time I was about 16 though, my father bought a one-unit stereo with turntable, radio, and cassette all built in — it’s still the one he uses today. My parents never owned a microwave, and on the “home computer” they finally bought, my father has a sign that says “This too shall pass”.
I try to fight the same trend, but I find I have no time for cell phones and other “fun” gadgets. So for me, the latest, greatest thing is starting to get old right about now. For my father, it happened somewhere in the early 80s. For my grandfather… sometime before the 70s.
There seems to be an inverse relation to caring about what’s new and hot, and the number of breakthroughs you’ve already seen.
As for Microsoft — they are (or at least have been) in a unique position where they’ve had no serious competition, so they can afford to do the carrot-and-the-stick trick (or be sloppy, depending on your level of cynicism). Windows was amazing when it first came out, trying to win over the market and eventually seamlessly integrating it with DOS in 1995. Since then, we’ve been waiting for them to perfect it, a waiting game that seems endless.
Now we know why…
~Graham
26 August 2009, 9:48 am
This is why I have a perculating, simmering anger at technology always just below the surface. No matter what you have, there they are quietly whispering that it isn’t enough, that you can’t possibly survive without this ONE MORE thing that you were just fine without only moments ago.
And it isn’t just technology either…
Ah conspiracy theories…
Aren’t we all just a little convinced that somewhere in all of our purchases, they have placed a little time bomb that causes the darn thing to malfunction only days after the warrenty expires?
jerks…
YES, it’s a good thing small businesses don’t operate like this…or at least the good ones don’t.
26 August 2009, 10:05 am
Kelly, Great post. I wondered where you were going with this when I first started reading. There certainly is a place for constant creativity in business and life in general, but I love how you came around to the idea that if you do something well the first time, it won’t need constant upgrades in the future. Definitely a MCE attitude.
Think of the houses they used to build 100 or 200 years ago. Those solid structures are going to be around for centuries, while some of the pre-fab stuff we put up today will be gone in a few decades.
The nice thing about other businesses using planned obsolescence is that true value stands out over time. Eventually the consumer gets wise. But it can be hard to see the difference in the short term to the uneducated consumer.
As a small company, it may be hard to compete with the huge marketing, advertising and graphic design budgets of the big corporations (not to mention their low prices): when sitting side by side on a shelf, their products may indeed look nicer.
But true value is remembered over time, and gets recommended to friends. When promoting truly great products it can be challenging to make them look better than the competition. Big company advertising is already cranked to the max to make you think they are the very best. It takes some thinking to figure out how to show the real difference between a truly solid tape measure and one that will fall apart in a year (or will break the first time you drop it). Otherwise they both look pretty similar, and the plastic one is cheaper. That’s what you’re up against.
Graham – I agree. I’m not a cell phone guy and I’m only 39! I’ve never texted in my life (boy am I old). I love that you and your family feels free to pick and choose the technology you want to adopt.
26 August 2009, 10:33 am
Graham,
“As for Microsoft — they are (or at least have been) in a unique position where they’ve had no serious competition, so they can afford to do the carrot-and-the-stick trick.”
Good point. Maybe it is a competition thing—just like the little guys, Gates knows MS’s biggest competition is doing nothing, and they’re trying to compete against it. I’d sure rather be so great you’ve got to hire me, rather than being so lukewarm you’ve got to hire me twice, though!
Wendi,
Oh, I hear you. I have a time bomb in my car, my refrigerator, my microwave, my camera… but you’re absolutely right, it’s not just technology. Staring at that measuring tape I thought about how many I’ve bought over the years. Mine have warped, bent, refused to retract, refused to pull out, and sheared off at times. All because they aren’t built like the one I used with no problems the other day—all because they want me to get annoyed or be stuck without this simple tool and have to go give them more of my money, rather than wanting to delight me so much I become a lifetime customer of their company, as my father is with this company.
It isn’t “either get them to buy the same thing again or lose money.” What happened to “get them to buy other offerings from us”?
Todd,
I do like to lead you in gently sometimes. Hopefully folks stick with me to see where I’m going.
“… gets recommended to friends.” Exactly, another way to avoid the trap of innovation for innovation’s sake—by widening your customer base through delightful Experience.
(I admit I couldn’t do without my cell phone, but I just got my first new one in over six years. I went in and said, “What do you have that’s completely featureless? I won’t use my phone—believe it or not—as anything but a phone.”)
As I wonder if this makes me sound like my own Grandma—Is it an age thing, folks?
Is planned obsolescence acceptable to, say, people under 25? Or is it simply unavoidable, disappointing but not often deal-killing, as it is to me here at youthful 40?
Stretching the thought a bit…
Until later,
Kelly
26 August 2009, 12:18 pm
Lots of good thoughts here.
Why is MS having trouble, hmm… well, once something is “good enough” for the masses, then what?
Service, customer experience, and so on would be the next logical way to differentiate, to get people to buy your “new” stuff.
(Really to the average person Windows 7 is just a fancy looking Windows XP. Windows XP was ‘good enough’ for most people.)
So what are MS doing now? Opening Microsoft Stores, kind of like the Apple Stores.
And obviously, it isn’t just about software. Real, physical things are just like this too.
The automotive industry is very guilty of this. They will develop a new platform and then via clever restyling sell the same car over and over again for 10 or more years in a row as “new models”. They’re kind of paying the price for this now, aren’t they…
Part of the “awakening” I see people experiencing may be due to age/maturity, and part of it to what has gone on in the world market over the last year or so.
We see how the very rich folks have been manipulating the rest of us, trying to get us to buy crap we don’t need, and I think we’re getting fed up.
I sat down one night not long ago, and realized that I could fit everything that actually meant something to me into ONE BACKPACK.
The list did not include my laptop either, which might be a surprise to those who know me well as a computer junkie.
Tells you something, eh?
26 August 2009, 1:28 pm
sometimes I like tight financial times to make me weed out what’s really important.
I love that idea, Graham – everything in a knapsack. I’d be happy to get it down to nothing. it’s funny, when you take ownership of stuff, then all of a sudden you see all kinds of stuff you don’t own. if you discard that concept, you own it all. There is always a way to feed yourself somehow and find a spot to sleep if you’re really open. But then I was a monk for years.
Kelly – just for the record, I’ve got a cell phone but I use it only when I’m traveling or trying to meet someone in a strange place.
6 September 2009, 4:01 am
This reminds me of what a lot of people think about any type of therapy or coaching service – that the therapist (mental, emotional or physical) never actually wants to offer advice that will make you better because then you’ll stop coming.
And it’s why my coaching programs have a beginning and an end – to give people that sense of customer satisfaction that will bring them back for other services because I solved their other problem so well they are eager to look for other problems for me to solve.
6 September 2009, 10:48 am
That’s awesome, Alex. I love that attitude. You are so right… many programs are open ended and actually encourage your co-dependence. Thanks for this fresh way of doing things. MCE for sure!
8 September 2009, 3:39 pm
Brett,
My backpack would probably have to fit this MacBook, but other than that, I hear you. I do think “innovation” had become something for (some) larger companies to pay lip service to, and whatever the reason for the awakening, yes, the customer has had it with faux innovations and real differentiation is going to be the wave of the next few years or those big companies are going to continue to struggle.
We’ve raised our expectations as we’ve lowered our spending. They’ll need to raise their standards, and find some real breakthroughs to crow about.
Todd,
LOL. Delaware’s a strange place. Always need a cell here!
Alex,
That’s really interesting. Whenever I go into any kind of personal service provider I do always ask what kind of time frame we’re looking at. I never thought about it that way, but you’re absolutely right.
Sort of like some service providers are only paid not to have breakthroughs, eh? Which can make clients nervous or even make them wait longer to get help they need. That’s why packaged services like your are just what so many folks can really use.
Later,
Kelly
8 September 2009, 8:13 pm
Kelly,
Well, I do like my computer. But I could get another one, if I needed one – the bits are the important parts.
Everything important to me is backed up online, securely. So if the house burns, if Freddy Kruger comes looking for me, or whatever, I can still get my data. The password is in my head.
(There is a convenient slot in my backpack for the laptop, though!)