
Pruning: Making room for something new - ejpastorino
http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3318-pruning-making-room-for-something-new
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georgeorwell
I think tree pruning is actually a good metaphor for approaching life, not
just software. Winding down commitments, ending relationships, completing
projects, and getting rid of physical clutter are all examples of 'pruning'
that anyone can benefit from.

Imagine your life is a fruit tree, now pick any random article on pruning,
such as this one (I googled "pruning stimulates new growth"):

<http://www.garden.org/ediblelandscaping/?page=pruning-fruit>

and you'll get gems like this:

"Pruning stimulates new growth, controls the tree size, and improves the size
and quality of the fruit. The first goal of pruning is to remove dead or
diseased branches and to create a strong branch structure. Trees with strong
branch angles and few overlapping or competing limbs have a better chance of a
long, productive life."

and:

"The tendency of some fruit trees to bear in alternate years can be caused by
insufficient pruning."

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graeme
Spare capacity is important, but overlooked.

Opportunities come our way all the time. If you have some slack in your
system, you can take advantage of them.

The mental benefits of pruning identified in this blog post are real. It's
often hard to even see opportunities if things are too cluttered.

~~~
ChuckMcM
Spare mental capacity is hugely important. That is why off sites work well for
clearing ones thoughts, get out of the 'noise' of all the issues and what not
to see the new stuff you need to do.

Sometimes you can win by adding more people (mental capacity) and sometimes
you can win by trimming back (pruning projects). Balancing them is what makes
or breaks leaders.

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ams6110
Great, so now when I am contemplating using, and paying for, your web app or
service, I need to not only think about the possibility that you'll "pivot" or
just go out of business, but also that you'll decide to "prune" the product
that I'm using.

~~~
sukuriant
This is something you always need to consider, with any service. Google Labs
first taught us that.

~~~
jaredsohn
>Google Labs first taught us that

I think this concept predates Google Labs. Not sure if they were the first
significant cloud-based product to do that (likely they weren't). But even
before the cloud when one has all of the software on their own machine, there
was still a risk that the company that made it will pivot away from it/go out
of business and stop providing fixes, etc.

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jgnatch
Wonderful analogy.. you must remove old and mediocre stuff to leave space for
innovation

