Simplicity Rules

Adam DuVander on keeping it simple

“Basic” is a compliment to Muxtape

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Muxtape is a new website that makes sharing a mixtape very easy. I’m not sure you could trim features from it without taking away basic functionality. In that sense, it’s “basic.” But I mean it as a compliment.

Muxtape - a simple way to create and share mixtapes

I love what Brian has to say about it:

“Muxtape is fun. Don’t pester me with business model questions or remind me that they have some fine print issues to clarify. If you can’t learn from Muxtape or Line Rider (start with a simple idea that appeals to *emotions*; make it easy to get to the fun; make it simple to share) you should go sell insurance.”

Sail power saves tons of fuel

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In many ways, the times of sail-powered ships were simpler. Now one company wants to help cargo ships go old school.

Partially sail powered shipping saves energy

SkySails tested one of their large sails on a Germany-Venezuela voyage and saved $1,000 per day. In buzzwords: SkySails has a hybrid system to bring green energy to the gas-addicted seas.

How can we make things simpler on the web by turning back the clock? There must be something good we can learn from 1995.

Via Grigs

8 things you don’t know about me

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My friend Dawn asked to know more about me recently, so I thought I’d share with you. For many, I’m just the simple guy. But, oh, I’m more complex than that. See for yourself:

  1. I grew up on 30 acres an hour north of San Francisco. We had no animals, but we had plenty of fruit trees, a barn, a tire swing, and lots of land to play around on.
  2. A donkey man lived on our property for almost a year. John Stiles was wandering the country with his two wagons (he slept in one) and a plethora of animals* when we offered him a place for the winter. It ended up being a nine month gig, and he built a third wagon during that time.
  3. I once looked up gullible in the dictionary to prove a friend it was there. That is not a proud moment.

    4. Five of my eight things, in pictures

  4. In college I started a radio station. As ever, it’s barely hanging on, but it’s still around. Like many things I’ve had a hand in starting, I did it because I wanted to participate, but there was nothing like it.
  5. I ran a BBS in high school. This is where I earn my geek cred. I built myself a second computer, got an inbound-only phone line, and invited people to connect their computer to mine. I even wrote games for users to play and had a short-lived, but profitable, software company. The name of the BBS? Fallen Chaos, after misheard lyrics (“crawling chaos”) from a Metallica song.
  6. I’ve never seen The Wizard of Oz. No, I have nothing against it, and one of these days it’s going to happen. The time just hasn’t been right yet. Don’t rush me.
  7. There is a street named after my family in Windsor, CA. I was the fifth generation to live in the formerly tiny farming town. This year is the 100th anniversary of the DuVander Ranch (now mostly a Raley’s shopping center). When they created the new downtown a few years ago, they honored our family with a few hundred feet of blacktop. Bonus trivia: DuVander Lane is situated in what used to be the field where I first met the Donkey Man.
  8. I have been in three bands, and each played a version of Sloop John B. I sang in all of them, played guitar in the first two, and switched to bass for the third. I even have a few MP3s hanging about here and there. The names: A.J. (Adam and Josh), The Rash, and trailBOSS.

Your turn: what don’t I know about you?

* Yes, El Guapo, I know what a plethora is. His animals, as I recall: Two mules, 18 donkeys (plus two born while he was with us, minus the two who died from bee stings), three goats, about a dozen chickens, and three or four doves.

Fix Feature Creep

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Sometimes when I introduce myself to a group of people, I say I’m in charge of stopping feature creep. For anyone who works on the web, it should be a big part of your job.

Feature creep is when, usually a little at a time, a small project becomes a big project. Even if you aren’t a designer or programmer, you’ve probably experienced it. You know when you go on a vacation to a new city and you have a huge list of things to see that keeps growing? That’s feature creep, too.

A web company called Six Revisions has Eight Tips on How to Manage Feature Creep:

  1. Accept that feature creep will happen
  2. Commit enough time to requirements-gathering
  3. Giving a hand might cost you your arm
  4. Be the devil’s advocate when changes are requested
  5. Be task-oriented, not vision-oriented
  6. Shed the “Customer is Always Right” mentality
  7. Research before committing
  8. Realize that feature creep is a two-way street

To not combat feature creep is to let your project become too complex. If a new feature isn’t necessary, scrap it, especially if this is a new project.

Read the full article to see their explanation of these eight tips.