The Brass Ring Strategy

The foundational business premise of Lead Geeks With Purpose is that software is dramatically under-realizing its potential. Nudging is a good idea (see any of my books for possibilities). The effort will be worth it. However, the big bucks are hidden under a substantial change in the relationship between business & technology. I call this (tentatively) the Brass Ring strategy.

This essay is a marketing experiment to see if “Brass Ring” is an evocative metaphor.

Origins

When I was a kid, we went to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. After we’d gone on the exciting rides, we’d ride the carousel horses. I noticed that kids were grabbing rings out of a dispenser.

“What’s going on?”

“As you go around you grab a ring.”

So I did. At the end of the ride I had stacks of iron rings on each finger. Excited, I showed them to the attendant.

He took them without a word. Seeing my disappointment, he said, “You have to grab the brass ring. That gets you a free ride.”

Watching, I noticed that most of the rings were iron. Every once in a while, though, a shiny ring would show up. The next rider around would get excited, sometimes so excited that they’d miss.

Analogy

Software value is like those brass rings.

• Most changes have small value.

• You can’t predict or control when a big value change shows up.

• You can, however, mess it up & miss the value entirely.

• You, collectively, have to keep grabbing small value for the big value to show up.

What I noticed about business/technology interactions is that business folks seem to accidentally extinguish the opportunities for technology to grab that brass ring. The Lead Geeks With Purpose Workshop is intended to help business folks understand the potential for software to create value & the actions they can take that encourage, instead of discourage, Brass Ring moments.

Feedback?

Does this analogy make sense? Will it resonate? What are alternatives that might work better? Who in the business world can I try this on?