

How to Develop a Product that Nobody Wants: The Story of ChubbyBrain - asanwal
http://www.chubbybrain.com/blog/2010/09/how-to-develop-a-product-that-nobody-wants-the-story-of-chubbybrain/

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betaPass
First and foremost,I admire the frankness with which you have written this
article.

But I certainly did feel you were criticizing yourself a tad too much, and
perhaps over-simplifying some of your real issues.

Here's a blog article of Evan Williams written in 2005, which rings very true,
even today.

<http://evhead.com/2005/11/ten-rules-for-web-startups.asp>

I sincerely wish you the very best going forward.

Rise from the ashes,go for the riches! :-)

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asanwal
Thanks for the comment and the link to that article. Think we unfortunately
violated many of those principles in v1 which we hope to remedy this go
around.

Would be curious about your thoughts on "over-simplifying some of your real
issues." If you don't mind sharing, would love your perspective/thoughts.

Thanks again.

~~~
betaPass
I might be wrong, but I just got that impression when I saw phrases like
"branded like a mullet", "you blew it" in your article.

However wrong you might have been,however big the mistake might be, I think
the best way is to have as little emotional baggage attached to it,in thought
or word,for it might cloud your analysis.

For instance, at some point later in time, when you think about your branding,
the fact that you hadnt projected yourself correctly, and the phrase "branded
like a mullet" would come to your mind first. So, you MIGHT be stopping
yourself from deeper analysis prematurely, by broad blanket criticism.

~~~
asanwal
Completely agree with you on not wanting emotional baggage going forward.

Part of the rationale for this post was that it was cathartic for our team,
i.e., understand/admit our mistakes, laugh at them and move on. A clean break
of sorts and a reminder of things not to do in this incarnation of the
product.

