Comments on: Destroy Your Artifical Barriers

By: Tel

Tel — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:51:11 +0000

You miss a few important points. Many of those barriers are designed primarily for the purpose of protecting the middlemen who make a profit being gatekeeper. These people will not take kindly to being cut out of the deal, and they tend to have some power (that’s how they got to be gatekeepers in the first place). So you find that the 800 pound gorilla spends a fair bit of time and money “consulting” with important government industry regulators, and the expensive lawyers that you don’t think are good value actually know of some obscure and rarely used law that just happens to cover your business model and now they are working for your competitors.

Yes these people are expensive, and stifle creativity and efficiency but the one thing they are exceptionally skilled at is protecting their own back. Just a word of warning.

The other point is that procedures are necessary even with a relatively small team, just to keep the team together and make sure things get done. No one can be bothered updating the key points of documentation when they are in a rush, but that documentation becomes very valuable down the track. Cutting corners boosts efficiency some of the time, for a short while, then it comes back to bite.

By: Paul Hassing

Paul Hassing — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:19:29 +0000

I think you’re spot on, Adam. I’ve been writing (what I thought was) concise copy for 20 years. Now that I’m on Twitter, I’m learning a whole new way to get gripping messages widely read with only 140 characters. Never has ‘the quick & the dead’ rung more true! Best regards & keep up the ace work! P. :)

By: Adam Singer

Adam Singer — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:19:11 +0000

@Susan – I agree, a world where we all communicate openly is an exciting possibility.

@Tim – You’re right, but hopefully they do understand at least the basics of netiquette, HTML, etc.

@Joel – Fear is definitely a factor, one which must be removed from the equation altogether by everyone from the top down for success to happen.

@stetoscope – In the beginning it may be difficult, but I think it is definitely something which gets easier and more natural with time and experience.

By: stetoscope

stetoscope — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:18:20 +0000

Hi Adam,
I think the most difficult barrier is our incapacity to understand others. I agree with you the web separates people with a single click but sometimes this click is really hard to do. Why, because we just do not know what to say, we do not understand well enough the woman or man behind the click.
That is what is so hard for a brand now is how to create a coherent and vivid community.
Very hard challenge and still not really well explored.
The facebook community is a very good example to study deeply.

By: Joel Brown

Joel Brown — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 09:55:52 +0000

Another artificial barrier that i would say far to many people create is stopping themselves, for fear. Fear of anything really failure, or even success.