Joel Spolsky’s post on barriers to entry makes a similar point and goes one step further: instead of starting with a list of skills, start with a list of reasons why people aren’t buying your stuff.
That’s a great post,thanks for linking. I especially like the counterintuitive removing barriers to exit.
I’m not sure that what I’m talking about works if applied to businesses—generally in business it pays to be tightly focussed. Being 10% better at what you do than your nearest competitor can mean that you get a 99% market share.
The same may apply to employees in some very focussed professions but probably not many.
Joel Spolsky’s post on barriers to entry makes a similar point and goes one step further: instead of starting with a list of skills, start with a list of reasons why people aren’t buying your stuff.
That’s a great post,thanks for linking. I especially like the counterintuitive removing barriers to exit. I’m not sure that what I’m talking about works if applied to businesses—generally in business it pays to be tightly focussed. Being 10% better at what you do than your nearest competitor can mean that you get a 99% market share. The same may apply to employees in some very focussed professions but probably not many.