
We Don’t Sell Saddles Here (2014) - helloworld
https://medium.com/@stewart/we-dont-sell-saddles-here-4c59524d650d
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pnathan
Selling results, not tools - that reminds me a lot of what patio11 has said
over the years. And, clearly, it's been effective. Slack is an extremely
popular and common tool today. :)

But, it's been hard for me as a nerd to care about results - my specialty and
personality is to _deeply care_ about the tools and how they are excellent;
results are largely less interesting. I've adapted and learned to care, but it
was not _natural_. I think that's a critical distinction between effective
sales and ineffective sales.

~~~
confiscate
that's an interesting perspective.

As a fellow programmer myself, I care more about the results than the tools,
but I have worked with many programmers who, like you, care more about tools
than the results.

As humans, aren't we all conditioned to care more about the result? E.g. I eat
pasta, without spending time tinkering with pasta-making tools.

Can you help me understand what past experiences made you deeply care about
the tools, while finding the results largely less interesting?

Because I want to understand this perspective more, so I can practice better
empathy with my co-workers and better put myself in their shoes. Thanks!

~~~
pnathan
Results are contingent on tools. Further, results are so profoundly contingent
on tools and the process of the tools, that without deeply understanding
tools, often the result is simply misunderstood or mishandled.

This is particularly striking when commenting about business metrics and how
they are generated. Not understanding the query and what it doesn't say often
leads to misunderstanding.

In a certain sense, while you may be conditioned to care more about the
result, I care more about the art and craft, because that defines the result
and the backpropagation of information into the tools.

Let me explain more: Slack defines an experience. That is the tool. The result
is consequential of the tool. Change the tool, change the result. One compiler
produces _one_ output, another produces a _different_ output, more readable.
Change the tool, change the result. The locus of interest and control is the
tool - although the zoomed out reality is the result is the relevant bit to
the user, mostly.

Joel talks about leaky abstractions: tools are abstractions; understanding the
tool takes the cover off and lets you create new abstractions and understand
without leaks. Understanding tools gives you the ability to recombine and
build the new tools - one begins to realize the independent variable is the
tool.

And again - lack of understanding produces embarrassment and inability to
properly use the tool - understanding gives lucid and clear capability.

With respect to your remark about pasta: I would, frankly, be happier to make
my own pasta if I had the time. Same goes for the other food I eat.

I paint for a hobby; I have paintmaking supplies and will, in time, as I use
up my tubes, transition over to making the paint that I paint with. I am
learning how to make brushes. I often prepare the wood for painting upon. In
time I will prepare canvases and likely I will learn the process of pressing
and refining flaxseed into linseed oil.

Time and experience have persuaded me not to talk about the tools and so forth
to the non-nerd crowd such as, e.g., The Business, because it's not considered
useful to them.

Hope that helps.

~~~
cam_l
Great comment. What you are talking about though is useful levels of
abstraction.

When you are talking to 'the business' I find it helpful to remember you are
their 'tool'. How you do what you do, or what you use to do it may be an
unhelpful abstraction.

To use your painting analogy, it is like talking to the painter about the soil
in which trees grow, which produce the wood used for the brushes. While the
binding of the brushes, the making of the substrate or the production of paint
may be useful, correct mulching may well be a step too far.

~~~
pnathan
> When you are talking to 'the business' I find it helpful to remember you are
> their 'tool'. How you do what you do, or what you use to do it may be an
> unhelpful abstraction.

Oh, I am aware. I don't resent it - I've grown past that (I was, once - I was
more dogmatic nerd then). It's rather that there's often a mismatch between
the technical ground reality and the business reality - focusing on bridging
that gap would be helpful for all involved. Part of that is my role, part of
that is the role of the business. :)

------
SadWebDeveloper
IMHO typical startup-culture memo trying to pump morale before major release.

I always translated this type of memos as "please do more spending less money"

~~~
slededit
On the contrary it gives insight into something I'd always wondered about. How
did a chat app get such big mind share - its clear the strategy was
deliberate, and that it worked.

