Are we making it better?

The post says some problems can be judged in a binary way, but many product-development problems are too hazy for that. In those cases, aiming to solve everything for everyone is often impossible, so treating the issue as a simple yes-or-no question becomes harmful.

It proposes a more practical question for new initiatives: whether they make things better. That shift lowers the pressure to be the one final solution and makes agreement easier, because people can compare one real state with another.

Reading notes

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• Some problems fit a binary frame, but many product-development problems do not.
• Trying to solve hazy problems as if they were binary can be futile and harmful.
• Questions like getting started with Basecamp or the readability of the Active Record query interface are examples of hazy problems.
• A better test is whether an idea makes things better.
• This framing makes new initiatives easier to discuss because they do not have to be The Solution.
• Consensus is easier when people compare whether A is better than B.