by Asim Jalis
Here are some thoughts on the dilemma about whether to focus the
blog or not.
I think I should focus it. The reason I fear focusing is because
I worry that I will focus on the wrong thing, on the thing that
no one is interested in.
But nevertheless I think it will be useful to focus. Because only
by focusing on the wrong thing can I figure out what the right
thing is.
This principle needs a name. I also noticed this in my
fund-raising. To make a proposal one must fix things. If I
approach a potential client and tell them I will do anything for
them, they don't know what to ask. I have essentially delegated
my work to them. It's my job to define some broad parameters
within which they can choose.
If a business offers to do whatever you want it to do then it is
like it does nothing. I want to hire a business that defines
itself in some way, that pins itself down, that stakes a claim.
Suppose someone wants a job and they tell you they can do
anything. While this might even be true, this person will not be
as attractive as a candidate who pins down what kind of a job he
is looking for.
This is sometimes a problem on XP teams. The XP customer is not
just a person who uses the software. It's the person who defines
the product. It's a much harder job than it looks at the
beginning. Someone has to narrow the search space of
possibilities.
For any proposal to be taken seriously it must offer a narrow
well-defined range of services that are coherent together.
