Fixing the small stuff and making a big difference
Posted on: May 31, 2008
More often than not, pain can be alleviated by tending to the simple things. But more often than not, this isn't done because being simple in itself carries a recursive curse: "How could it be so easy?" and thus, small stuff gets ignored. It shouldn't be.
One of my favorite examples is whenever I see a broken (hyper)link, including on prominent websites. A single wrong character is enough to sever the connection and block someone from getting info. In the past, I've let it be and come back a few weeks later, and it was still broken. I thought, "How could it be that this wasn't fixed yet?" Perhaps it's a silent bystander effect; visitors assume someone else will report it. But it doesn't happen. As a result, on dozens of sites over the years, I've sent a quick note about those broken links — and ended up being the first to report them. Some site owners/admins of course expressed frustration at wondering why no one noticed before.
I'm sure others noticed, they just didn't do anything about it.
This is also why I continually to be ultra-appreciative when someone lets me know there's a broken link on my site, or an inworld Torley Textures kiosk is busted (Mana Janus helped script a new version which I've been using to replace the old ones ever since), or even a tip I neglected to mention in a video tutorial. These all do good.
Big ideas are easy to come up with, magnitudes more difficult to implement. I hear big ideas all the time. I don't hear "tiny ideas that matter a lot" as much.
It takes real guts… genuine courage, insight, and curiosity to point out the small stuff — what might seem obvious, but actually isn't.
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May 31st, 2008 at 9:11 AM PDT
[...] Linden: Fixing the small stuff and making a big difference. Nanci is usually the one who blogs the SL things, but I read Torley's latest post and it [...]
June 1st, 2008 at 8:56 AM PDT
Peng's comment isn't lonely anymore! About time I confessed that Torley is my secret creative courage coach…surprise, Torley!! Gonna be digging around for my real guts and curiosity today. Picked up my insight and genuine courage right here.
June 1st, 2008 at 10:11 AM PDT
@~Mags: Aw, thanks for sharing! That took courage.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:57 PM PDT
This post makes me sad. I wish I could make you God Of Linden Lab for a few weeks. It's so frustrating to see so many small things go unfixed with Second Life. A lot of it isn't even user-apparent… there's thousands of little bits of litter all over the source code. There's no way open source people can help clean it up either, since Linden Lab has said they don't want our help anymore ("in the near term").
June 4th, 2008 at 7:22 AM PDT
You're right. It's the little things that nag in the back of your head and eventually end up as dissatisfiers. Having the courage to say something and get them fixed can, in their own little way, make positive change in the world.
I also try to recognize these little things and let people know my appreciation when they are right. In that vein, thanks for your quick tips. They have made my Second Life experience much better.