Ideas from HBR

I’ve started listening to podcasts recently, and one that seems to work really well for me is the Harvard Business Review Ideacast. Ok, it’s a little bit B-School, a little bit world-of-work, but it’s surprisingly interesting despite the apparently staid context in which it exists. Here’s some interesting episodes I’ve listened to recently, along with ideas in them: [The “Jobs to be Done” theory of innovation ](https://hbr.org/ideacast/2016/12/the-jobs-to-be-done-theory-of-innovation.html)It's an idea that’s come up on my radar recently, but I had assumed it was a new spin on the Getting Things Done productivity method. Turns out, it’s a different way of looking at how people interact with things and companies. In brief, when you’re buying a product (or a service) from a company, it’s not because you want the product, it’s because there’s a proverbial “job” to be done - whether that “job” is satisfying your hunger, or getting to a place; framing it that way rather than buying a burger or jumping in a cab lets you identify better what the actual activity being performed is, and this helps identify areas and ideas for innovation. ...

February 8, 2017 · 3 min · karan

The New Devil's Dictionary

A guide to the terms of modern living: tab (n.): Something opened, then closed, then opened again, then closed again, for eternity. social (n.): An app or website that simulates what it might be like to interact with other people. Instagram (n.): A persistent reminder that people you know can afford more expensive restaurants and better vacations than you. So much to cringe and nod at.

September 10, 2015 · 1 min · karan

Tim Bray on Blogging

This article prompted me to remember that I had a neglected blog: Blogging is Healthy: It’s no longer the white-hot center of controversy it was in 2005; now it’s part of the establishment, and if you look at the numbers from the popular platform providers like WordPress and Blogger, still growing quite nicely thank you. Freshness Matters: When you don’t update a blog, it gets stale fast. The natural tendency of the human mind to favor what’s fresh is reinforced by search engines leaning the same way. ...

March 22, 2011 · 1 min · karan