You know I used to hate analogies and metaphors. Then I realized I just hate them as arguments. "A country is like a ship, it needs a strong captain". Why is a country like a ship? Under what circumstances?
Then I realized what an analogy really was is an invitation to think differently about something.
This is how you use analogies, correctly, to great effect.
Not sure it expresses quite the same intent, but a similar analogy might be those penny arcade machines -- I presume you have them in the states I love them here in he UK! You put pennies in at the top, there's a moving plate at the bottom and every now and then a whole bunch of pennies fall out.
To get value (pennies out):
- you need to keep putting pennies in (lots of small efforts)
- there's an element of "aim" at a sensible area
- an elemt of unpredictability when the payout will drop
- of dealing with uncertainty to play enough coins in one area before moving on
I also quite enjoy taking analogies too far, I mean what about if you started suddenly putting in something bigger than pennies, of having prizes balanced on top of the penny plate, and... well who is the arcade owner taking a rake in all of this :-)
Jim Collins in his books talks about two concepts that seem very directly related: “the 20 mile march” and “the return on luck”. Having discipline to collect (small) value consistently (the march) seems similar to collecting metal rings. Using the built up skills and taking only well calculated risks, seems related to grabbing that brass ring when it shows up.
Two things come to mind - the value of agile iteration, and the value proposition of internal hackathons. Both let you make many more small bets, the majority aligned with your roadmaps and a handful of tiny moon shots.
You know I used to hate analogies and metaphors. Then I realized I just hate them as arguments. "A country is like a ship, it needs a strong captain". Why is a country like a ship? Under what circumstances?
Then I realized what an analogy really was is an invitation to think differently about something.
This is how you use analogies, correctly, to great effect.
One more for the list:
* You have to keep the software malleable so when a brass ring appears in an unexpected location we able to reach for it.
Not sure it expresses quite the same intent, but a similar analogy might be those penny arcade machines -- I presume you have them in the states I love them here in he UK! You put pennies in at the top, there's a moving plate at the bottom and every now and then a whole bunch of pennies fall out.
To get value (pennies out):
- you need to keep putting pennies in (lots of small efforts)
- there's an element of "aim" at a sensible area
- an elemt of unpredictability when the payout will drop
- of dealing with uncertainty to play enough coins in one area before moving on
I also quite enjoy taking analogies too far, I mean what about if you started suddenly putting in something bigger than pennies, of having prizes balanced on top of the penny plate, and... well who is the arcade owner taking a rake in all of this :-)
That’s the right dynamic of jackpots.
Jim Collins in his books talks about two concepts that seem very directly related: “the 20 mile march” and “the return on luck”. Having discipline to collect (small) value consistently (the march) seems similar to collecting metal rings. Using the built up skills and taking only well calculated risks, seems related to grabbing that brass ring when it shows up.
Two things come to mind - the value of agile iteration, and the value proposition of internal hackathons. Both let you make many more small bets, the majority aligned with your roadmaps and a handful of tiny moon shots.
It seems fitting enough. Arguably, you can skew your chances by failing often and safely before writing a single line of code, though.
Recently, I am very occupied with Marty Cagan's works. You might try this analogy with anybody from this silicon Valley product group.
Good analogy. But all I keep thinking of now is how many kids lost a finger in that contraption as they were going around? 😱
Like one a month maybe?
😅
Small price to play for fun, right?