2008 – The Year of the Small Idea

Published on 1/1/2008 in Profound Thoughts. Comments

At least I hope it is.

A year ago I was doing some consulting for a client – the specifics are unimportant. But what is important is to note that every idea I came up with turned into “great… we’ll build a web site” or “we’ll build a social networking site.” In other words, let’s ignore everything else that’s out there and reinvent the wheel but in our own, walled garden way of thinking. Let’s trap our users and force feed them our marketing messages.

Last year we discovered Twitter, Tumblr, Dopplr and a couple dozen other great ideas that were so simple we all collectively slapped our foreheads in wonderment that we didn’t come up with them. Facebook came out of nowhere and LinkedIn showed signs of life.

This year we need to figure out how to use these new toys. For example, what counts as spam and what is informing the community? What counts as listening and what counts as dialog?

More importantly, this year we need to start thinking small. Forget the big idea – it’s too expensive and it will probably get lost in the media clutter. Instead, sneak up on your customers. Make them notice you without hitting them over the head with a sledge hammer. Don’t shout, whisper.

There are so many ways to throw that tiny pebble in the big pond. All you have to do is try it.

Bonus Thought: From Hugh:

Blogs were the big story for 2005. YouTube for 2006. Facebook for 2007. What’s the big story for 2008? I have no idea. Nor do I think it matters. For the big story, really, is always going to be the same. Websites comes and go, but “Cheap, Easy, Global, Hyperlinked Media” will be with us forever, save for Nuclear Holocaust.

Side note: Yes, new design. I going to change it further. I haven’t settled on anything yet but for now we’ll stick with this.

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  • Amen, sir. Another problem with Big Ideas is that, if you bet on them and they don't work, you're sunk. If you keep investing in small ideas, over and over, and focus on using them well, you build up genuine, durable advantages over time.

    Happy New Year!
  • Core values should never change, but the mechanisms and tools used to execute them should always adapt for the better. Blogs, YouTube, Facebook and other the social networks are just tools relevant today, yet not known how to be used fully. Dave, I agree with you on these points, and that we need to learn how to use them fast.
  • Dang - now what will I do?

    Well you are right and I think more folks in the business world are starting to see this too - why build it again if we can leverage it using someone elses investment in the upkeep and extension? I only disagree slightly with your statements in that I think this is a big idea for a lot of people - perhaps it is an allegorical extension of NIMBY (not in my backyard) which we can call DNTBI (don't need to build it)
  • I think the key is making a company NIMBLE. When you create what you call the "walled garden" solutions, you have to put ponderous wheels in motion often.

    Sometimes quick and arbitrary seems to be better, but that can give corporations the vapors, if you know what I mean.

    Good post.
  • Good one, David. To my way of thinking, the so-called "big idea" certainly has its place, but 98% companies are going to find that many such ideas are going to be the equivalent of France's Maginot Line -- easily outflanked.
  • Nicely said, David. Here's to learning to use new tools to accomplish old goals: better listening, better understanding, better doing.
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