why try harder

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Why Try Harder

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Why Try Harder

AND

WHO AM I?ZBIGNIEW SOBIECKI

PRESSING “COMPILE” SINCE 1997

CO-FOUNDER & CEO

award-winning designsoftware development

code reviews design audits

iOS

OS X

clients all over the world

startups

Fortune 500

Android

watchOS

tvOSproject rescue

SINCE 2008

7 YEARS OF TRYING

cashflow hiring

designculture

finance

app sales

other stuff

office

sales

people

development

business development

marketing

HIGH FIVES ALL AROUND

LESS FAILURES

FAILURES

TRYING LIKE IT’S 1999

TAKE IT PERSONALLYwhatever we do, we actually just TRY to do it

quit smoking

started running

raced 10k, 21k pretty sure will fail to run marathon next month

father of a 10-year-old

lost a lot of weight

WHO CARES?

Successes and non-stupid failures to idiotic onesSu

cces

ses

Time

WHERE DOES THE SUCCESS COME FROM?

HTTP/1.1 200 OK

SUCCESS COMES FROM TRYING

HARDER

TRYING A LITTLE HARDER

EVERY DAY

SUCCESS COMES FROM TRYING

HARDER

CAPTAIN OBVIOUS SAYS

IS IT REALLY OBVIOUS?

WE DON’T TALK ABOUT TRYING ENOUGH

IT’S NOT SEXY

NOT EVEN GEEKY-SEXY

THIS

IS

JUST

PR

A STORY

BUT

IT’S ALL THE SAME, REALLY

TRYING HARDER IS AN ATTITUDE

LET’S NOT GET TOOmelodramatic

NEXT UP

• What does it mean to try?

• What does it mean to try harder?

• Does it make sense to try harder?

• Why don’t we try hard enough?

• How to try harder?

WHAT IS TRYING?

“To make an effort to do or accomplish (something)”

TO TRY

TRYING IN PHYSICS

Applying force to an object to change its motion

TRYING IN REAL LIFE

Object Effort Time

WHAT IS EFFORT?

WHAT IS EFFORT?

WHAT IS EFFORT?

WHAT IS EFFORT?

THE PROBLEM WITH EFFORT

EFFORT

Might not be big enough

NOT ENOUGH EFFORT

TRIED TO CLEAN

BUT THEN SUDDENLY

ALWAYS WANTED TO BLOG

WAIT, LET’S CODE FIRST

OH WAIT

THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH

EFFORT

ENOUGH EFFORT

BUT IT MIGHT WORK TOO

FOR SOME TIME AT LEAST

UNTIL SOMEONE ELSE TRIES

THEY TRIED HARDER

TRIES REALLY HARD

EVEN GIVES IT ALL

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

ESTIMATING EFFORT IS HARD

ESTIMATING EFFORT IS HARD

FAILURETRYING

SO WHAT HAPPENS IS

SUCCESSTRYING

OR (RARELY) THIS!

FIRST TIME

WITH NEW STUFF

IT USUALLY IS THIS

FAILURETRYING

HOW TO MAKE IT ALWAYS WORK?

PREPARE?

IT’S NOT THAT EASY

XP

CHARISMA

EFFORT

KARMA

80

120

75

42

42WELL

IT’S NOT

THERE’S NO WAY TO MEASURE IT

ONLY RELATIVE MEASURE WORKS

FIRST TIME

SECOND TIME IS BETTER

FAILURETRYING

SO WHAT HAPPENS IS

LEARNING

REFLECTINGTRYING HARDER

TRYING HARDERMEANS

GOING A BIT FARTHER

THAN THE LAST TIMEEVERY TIME

YOU CAN FEEL IT

WHEN IN DOUBT

THE HARDER WAYCHOOSE

IF IT DOESN’T HURT

YOU’RE NOT TRYING

THEN

HARD ENOUGH

YOU WILL FEELDIFFERENT

YOU MIGHT GETFRUSTRATED

WITH PEOPLE

PEOPLE WILL GET

FRUSTRATED WITHYOU

“Perfect is the enemy of good”

PEOPLE WILL SAY

“Premature optimization is the root of all evil”

PEOPLE WILL SAY

PERFECTION IS RELATIVE

FAILURETRYING

LEARNING

REFLECTINGTRYING HARDER

BE MINDFUL

DOES IT MAKE SENSETO TRY HARDER?

WHY TRY HARDER?

WHY TRY HARDER?

WHY TRY HARDER?

WHY TRY HARDER?

WHY TRY HARDER?

WHY TRY HARDER?

FOR CONSUMERS• We have better products (duh!)

• We have less crap (less obvious)

• Things are simpler

• We are more efficient

• We have more time because of the above

• We are calmer and happier

FOR MAKERS• We are getting better at what we do

• We reflect and improve things around us

• We grow as human beings

• We show the way for others to follow

• We invest in the future (this is long-term strategy)

• We keep the human race alive

SHORT- VS LONG-TERM• “Good enough” is a short-term approach

• It’s easy

• Result is predictable

• Everyone does that

• Cheap wins, risk small

• Quality? What?

SHORT- VS LONG-TERM• “Trying harder” is long-term

• Result is not obvious

• More time is required

• Isn’t pretty

• You are only incrementally getting better

• Quality is the only way forward

SAVING HUMAN RACE

BY TRYING HARDER?ARE YOU KIDDING?

NO.

I’M NOT.

MAMMOTHS WERE NOT TRYING HARD ENOUGH

DO YOU REMEMBER THESE?

NO?

OR THESE DUDES?

SNAKE GAME AND SUCH

PRETTY IMPORTANT STUFF

ELON MUSK

ROCKETS ARE AWESOME

SENDING PEOPLE TO MARS

WHY MARS IS IMPORTANT?

STUFF HAPPENED IN THE PAST

STUFF CAN HAPPEN

HOW ABOUT NOT DO STUFF?

LOTS OF BRIGHT PEOPLE

SHOW THE WAY

FOR OTHERS TOTRY HARDER

WHY DON’T WE

TRY HARDERBY DEFAULT?

WHY DON’T WE TRY HARDER?• We are lazy

• It’s out of our comfort zone

• We’re focused on short-term, instant gratification

• This is how our culture works

• Trying harder isn’t sexy

• Herd mentality

• We pursue the wrong kind of perfection

HAVE NO FEAR OF PERFECTION.

YOU WILL NEVER REACH IT.

Salvador Dalí

USE PERFECTION WISELY• Motivation

• Strive for it

• Don’t compare against it

• Direction

• Not a goal

• Check the progress by looking back

RIGHT KIND OF PERFECTION

HOW TO TRY HARDER?

TRYING HARDER 101• Think this through

• Realize that the choice is always there

• Do it for yourself

• Compare only to your past results and actions

• Set a reminder for a check and reflection

• Take pride in trying harder and enjoy doing it

TRY HARDER

THANK YOU

Zbigniew Sobiecki @zbigniew

[email protected]