Like his contemporary Google, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gave a letter to potential stockholders before his IPO filing. In it he laid out his holier than though mantra about how his company is not out to make money (yeah right!) . He said " goal is to make it easier for people to exchange opinions and ideas, which will ultimately improve products, businesses and the economy." Well we all believe you Mr.Z. But one can't blame him, afterall Google gave the 'Don't be evil' motto during their pre-IPO letter.
What caught my attention was the mantra that he advocates and apparently is put up in offices all around the world. Apparently, Facebook believes that 'Done is better than perfect' where you can come with wild wacky ideas that don't necessarily have to be practical at the moment. It can later be improved upon. They regularly hold 'hackathons' for this purpose. I don't have a background in hacking, but it goes something like this.
Hacking is an inherently hands-on and active discipline, Zuckerberg said. Instead of debating for days whether a new idea is possible or what the best way to build something is, hackers would rather just prototype something and see what works.
How many companies have an open door policy or a framework for ideas to be implemented. Most companies hold sessions for idea generation where the top bosses pitch an idea and the followers just nod their head in agreement. There is very little argument because it is seen to be disrespectful to do so. Also, the boss is always right. Without a junction you will always be travelling on the same straight road. So unless arguments and differing view points arise, your policies and ideologies will continue to go along the same road you continue to travel. At the same time there will be competitors who have created that junction and taken a different route. You believe you will reach your goal first but only to be disappointed that by taking a different route, competitor is already reached the goal.
But in the end it is the company that suffers, because unless you innovate and adapt to changing market variables, you remain a constant, stuck at the same place believing in the old glory days of yore.
Remembering the glory days is important but unless you look ahead, you will not know where you are going. That is something to keep in mind.Call it whatever you want but new ideas have to keep churning out if you want to be successful.
What caught my attention was the mantra that he advocates and apparently is put up in offices all around the world. Apparently, Facebook believes that 'Done is better than perfect' where you can come with wild wacky ideas that don't necessarily have to be practical at the moment. It can later be improved upon. They regularly hold 'hackathons' for this purpose. I don't have a background in hacking, but it goes something like this.
Hacking is an inherently hands-on and active discipline, Zuckerberg said. Instead of debating for days whether a new idea is possible or what the best way to build something is, hackers would rather just prototype something and see what works.
“There’s a hacker mantra that you’ll hear a lot around Facebook offices: ‘Code wins arguments,’” he wrote.
Moving fast enables us to build more things and learn faster,” Zuckerberg said. “However, as most companies grow, they slow down too much because they’re more afraid of making mistakes than they are of losing opportunities by moving too slowly. We have a saying: ‘Move fast and break things.’ The idea is that if you never break anything, you’re probably not moving fast enough.”
This is one of the reasons probably for the continuing success of Facebook where the average age of employees remains 26. This young crowd is bound to come up with some ideas and Zuckerberg believes in harnessing this pool of talent to the maximum. It is an important philosophy which most companies should advocate. Many of the old establishments believe in the rigid philosophy ' It worked for us and it will continue to work' . When faced with competition from outside that constantly tries to innovate, these companies will be found wanting. It happened to Kodak and now it seems to be catching up with Nokia in the mobile phone segment (via: Apple and Samsung).
Many companies influenced by the net and marketing gurus say that they advocate innovation and tries to foster it. But in the end spend thousands of dollars for consultants to solve problems which could have been easily resolved internally at a fraction of the cost.
How many companies have an open door policy or a framework for ideas to be implemented. Most companies hold sessions for idea generation where the top bosses pitch an idea and the followers just nod their head in agreement. There is very little argument because it is seen to be disrespectful to do so. Also, the boss is always right. Without a junction you will always be travelling on the same straight road. So unless arguments and differing view points arise, your policies and ideologies will continue to go along the same road you continue to travel. At the same time there will be competitors who have created that junction and taken a different route. You believe you will reach your goal first but only to be disappointed that by taking a different route, competitor is already reached the goal.
But in the end it is the company that suffers, because unless you innovate and adapt to changing market variables, you remain a constant, stuck at the same place believing in the old glory days of yore.
Remembering the glory days is important but unless you look ahead, you will not know where you are going. That is something to keep in mind.Call it whatever you want but new ideas have to keep churning out if you want to be successful.
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