Why try harder

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 ITS 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 DONT TALK ABOUT TRYING ENOUGH

ITS NOT SEXY

NOT EVEN GEEKY-SEXY

THIS

IS

JUST

PR

A STORY

BUT

ITS ALL THE SAME, REALLY

TRYING HARDER IS AN ATTITUDE

LETS 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 dont 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, LETS 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?

ITS NOT THAT EASY

XP

CHARISMA

EFFORT

KARMA

80

120

75

42

42WELL

ITS NOT

THERES 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 DOESNT HURT

YOURE 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

Its 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

Isnt pretty

You are only incrementally getting better

Quality is the only way forward

SAVING HUMAN RACE

BY TRYING HARDER?ARE YOU KIDDING?

NO.

IM 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 DONT WE

TRY HARDERBY DEFAULT?

WHY DONT WE TRY HARDER? We are lazy

Its out of our comfort zone

Were focused on short-term, instant gratification

This is how our culture works

Trying harder isnt sexy

Herd mentality

We pursue the wrong kind of perfection

HAVE NO FEAR OF PERFECTION.

YOU WILL NEVER REACH IT.

Salvador Dal

USE PERFECTION WISELY Motivation

Strive for it

Dont 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

zbigniew@macoscope.com

mailto:zbigniew@macoscope.com