
Products Are Functions - tobr
http://www.feltpresence.com/functions.html
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eiu234ggv21
The mathematical analogy is fragile, but the takeaway is obvious:

Customer has problem X and they suggest Y as the solution. Good product people
will solve for Z, what the customer _needs_, while bad product people will
provide Y, which is harmful to both the people using the product and the
people building the product.

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benatkin
At first glance, this reminds me of the quote "comparisons are odious". It
works though, because it uses situations as input and output. Pretty much
anything can be modeled as a function if you crystalize the input and the
output.

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paulddraper
> Pretty much anything can be modeled as a function if you crystalize the
> input and the output.

Or stated differently, anything can be modeled as a function if you model it
as a function.

Or still differently, any action is an action.

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benatkin
Yes, I think "action" is a compelling universal term, used by Redux.

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blt
The problem with mathematical analogies is that they tempt you to apply real
mathematical definitions and theorems to the analogy and draw a conclusion.
This is invalid because the analogy is not actually a statement within the
original axiomatic system.

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rajadigopula
This thought format is a great way for developers to find good business
solutions. Nice share.

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misterbowfinger
I've seen this idea go around a bunch, and I think it makes sense for how a
company thinks about product internally.

But it basically makes 0 sense for customers. "Brand" is the exact opposite of
a pure function - there's side effects all over the place. Any bad thing that
Facebook or Twitter do greatly overshadows the good. Same goes for any other
company or flagship product.

This is challenging, because product branding is often championed internally
at any company. So thinking about product as "functions" will likely fall
apart quickly outside of any engineering org.

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deltron3030
You can differentiate between symbolic and real value, ideally your brand has
both.

Real value is delivering on the progress or outcome the brand is positioned
towards, symbolic value is more cultural (aesthetics, familiarity etc.),
reinforcing desired identities.

Products can be functions because they can be aligned with that real and/or
symbolic value, enabling it.

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zemo
everything is a function if you contrive hard enough.

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tuespetre
Am... am I a function? Oh my god

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cestith
Humans rarely produce identical output from identical input. You're probably
more of a nondeterministic heuristic.

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dragonwriter
> Humans rarely produce identical output from identical input.

Sure they do, the problem is that humans take the state of the universe as
input.

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davidivadavid
I think that's a solid concept, even though it's a more nerdy restatement of a
marketing truth that's ages old. Products are functions because people buy
what things _do_ for them, not what things _are_.

In other words, people buy benefits, not features.

That's marketing in one lesson for you.

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lliamander
Of course, the next step is to realize that (at least sometimes) it is not
about what the product objectively does for them that drives the purchasing
decision, but rather how the product influences their own self-perception.

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Legogris
Took until middle of second paragraph until I realized it's not some variety
of CS or mathematical products but the products supplied by a business. Such
confuse.

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agumonkey
Similarly someone described linear algebra as composition of vector space
functions. It was a shocking revelation.

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weddpros
Then OSes/DBs/Platforms/Frameworks feel like second order functions

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robocat
TLDR: Business problems are function inputs, a function is a metaphor for
software, resulting changes to the business are function outputs.

I think it is a very poor metaphor (a) it doesn't map well, (b) the metaphor
isn't obvious (reading title I a didn't guess what what parameters or results
were), (c) we understand what software is so the metaphor doesn't help us
understand software.

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s1mon
This would be a more compelling article if it was talking about a product
which doesn't feel like it's stuck in 2010. Basecamp?!?

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whitepoplar
What makes you think it's stuck in 2010?

