
Best Practices For Making Things Happen - jasonshen
http://www.jasonshen.com/2013/17-essential-best-practices-for-making-things-happen/
======
nnoitra
No substance. Just like any other blog that teaches you how to make incredible
things happen, offering way too general advice. Just because you can start a
blog and write doesn't mean you should.

~~~
jasonshen
OP here. Thanks for reading my post and providing feedback.

This post wasn't meant to be a deep dive but more a list of activities ("ship
before you feel totally done") and ways of thinking ("the best ideas are
usually not universally embraced") that have served me. I have other posts
that get very specific - like this one about making email introductions -
[http://www.jasonshen.com/2011/the-anatomy-of-a-great-
email-i...](http://www.jasonshen.com/2011/the-anatomy-of-a-great-email-
introduction/)

You are entitled to your opinion about the value of my blog but as I mention
in BP #5, people struggle to put themselves in the minds of others. Your logic
appears to be "I don't find this valuable, therefore this person and _everyone
like him_ should not blog." Based on the number of tweets, upvotes, and
personal messages I've received about this post, it has provided tremendous
value to lots of people who happen to be different from you.

~~~
wslh
I think the main issue with your post is offering the perspective from an
employee/freelancer viewpoint only. If you are the owner of your own company
the issues with making things happen are totally different.

------
visakanv
I've always been amused/bothered/interested/concerned by how these things
always look and feel so intuitive, and it's always "easy" to talk about them,
to make a list- the following through is always the hard bit.

I think rather than focusing on these principles (which are valid, and true),
maybe we ought to get meta and focus on what helps us focus on these
principles- modifying our environment, surrounding ourselves with peers and
influences that reinforce such reflection, etc.

~~~
qznc
I like Scott Adams "Systems, not Goals" theory. What he calls "systems" is
probably similar to your "principles" and I would rather call it "process". :)

[http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/goals_vs_systems/](http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/goals_vs_systems/)

~~~
visakanv
yep, thinking the same thing with different names!

------
the_cat_kittles
another one i have been really getting mileage out of: "do it (whatever you
are trying to get done / get better at) every day", aka the "seinfeld method"

~~~
source99
This one is so much deeper.

Everyone thinks Seinfeld was just a funny guy, but he worked harder than any
other human alive at being funny.

Worked out pretty well for him.

~~~
coldtea
> _Everyone thinks Seinfeld was just a funny guy_

No, I merely think of him as an untalented unfunny hack.

~~~
source99
If income is used as a measuring stick then Seinfeld is VERY funny.

~~~
coldtea
So clearly it's a bad measuring stick. For Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are
even funnier then.

And Lenny Bruce died quite poor.

------
drakaal
I only care about the best practices for making the RIGHT things happen. The
cat can push the vase on the floor and make things happen, that doesn't mean
it was the right thing.

~~~
coldtea
Yes, but besides the title, that just says "things happen", the whole post
talks focuses on making the right things happen.

Were you just ranting about the title? Seriously?

~~~
drakaal
Seriously? You didn't pick up that NO, this is a worthless post. The cat
understands action reaction. That is making a thing happen. The right things
are about knowing when to stop and do nothing to let things work out. It is
about not just having a list of "if then" statements to run your life.

This is a bunch of half-thought through "pearls of wisdom" in the form of "if
then" statements none of which will make the right things happen. I might as
well pick up a Self Help book written by the founder of an MLM.

~~~
coldtea
> _Seriously? You didn 't pick up that NO, this is a worthless post._

It might be a "worthless post" but for totally different reason than not
telling you what the "right things" are and how to "make them happen".

It (rightly) assumes you can figure something such encompassing as your
targets by yourself -- and only concerns itself with some of the technical
details.

Heck, it even gets down to making some "right things happen", like when
advising: "Tell people when their behavior is undermining the success of a
shared outcome".

You'd be surprised how many people DON'T do that. Or this:

"If it is 80% done, and getting it to perfect is going to take a lot more
effort, ship it, and fix it later."

------
kostyk
Very good, agree with most of it, especially by leading by example ("modelling
others behavior ") and all others.

