Book notes: Made to stick

I read this book and It covers 6 essentials keys to build a sticky product. I have added some of my take-ups along with authors storytelling.

  1. Simple
    Simple things scale. A product which is simple gets better adoption. In the book, the Author talks about SouthWest airlines secret to profitability. A simple message to the entire stakeholder: We are running the cheapest airlines in America.

2. Unexpected
To have your idea stickier you need to break someone’s guessing machine and then fix it. Robert Cialdini says: Mysteries are powerful because they create a need for closure. We have to add an element of inquisitiveness in our product.

3. Concrete
It helps us construct higher, more abstract insights on the building blocks of our existing knowledge and perceptions. Concrete ideas are easier to remember. Experiments in human memory have shown that people are better at remembering concrete, easily visualized nouns.

4. Credible
Ever wondered why celebrities and cricketers endorse all those soda and junks? A simple reason: we are their fan and we swear by them. They become a credible source for us.

5. Emotional
We tend to donate seeing a picture of crying baby or someone with ailments. People remember things better because they evoke more emotion, not because they are more frequent. People remember things better because the media spend more time covering them (perhaps because they provide more vivid images), not because they are more common. The availability bias may lead our intuition astray, prompting us to treat unusual things as common and unlikely things as probable.

6. Stories
Stories have the amazing dual power to simulate and to inspire. And most of the time we don’t even have to use much creativity to harness these powers—we just need to be ready to spot the good ones that life generates every day.

Cold turkey

Why does it so happens when all of a sudden people stop replying or communicating?

The other side gets into a situation he or she has no clue about. This is something very common in sales and relationship.

You are pitching someone, on the face, they will show all their interest. After some time the communication goes cold turkey.

In dating game, if the expectation of either side is not met most will go unresponsive, instead of giving a reason and walking away.

How would the other side improve on himself if he will not receive the feedback? Is it something one has to guess and keep in agony?

Why can’t we give honest feedback and then close all the ties? I find this going habit very absurd and irrational.

Aging

Death is part of our journey, yet we are all scared about it. At the same time, we get busy with our errands and forget about living.

We waste years regretting what we could have done when our parents were alive. We complain about our busy lifestyle.

We are so connected yet so disconnected in real life. We are all busy yet no task gets completed. We all have one life, those who matter most to us should get all our attention.

Connections

As we age, our life journey crosses various paths. We make connections and shed some. Some help us in shaping better of ourselves while others not so much.

Getting sad, angry or worried over someone making fun of:

  1. Looks
  2. Pedigree
  3. Life
  4. Achievement
  5. Virtue
  6. Principle
    or over rejections are not logical.

In the end, we were born alone and so will happen when we die. The only thing which will stay with us is our urge to acquiring self-knowledge.

Unknown

We have conquered many diseases as we progressed. The discovery in science and medicine is nothing less than a miracle. These scientist and researchers are true gods.

Modern life made everything better for us and gave rise to many new problems. We are more prone to dying of heart attack and diabetes than plague or chicken pox now.

Stress, food habit, and less physical movements as the reason for modern-day disease. We are living a life long on blood thinners and diabetes tablets.

I was lucky to be born in the ’80s. The mad rush I am seeing is shocking. Everyone expects them to be some superhero: great in everything. We are feeding pressure to excel, competition at every level.

As an optimist, I hope for much better unknown.

Hiring

Hiring seems to be like a big pain for an organization. Twitter and other platforms have many postings by various founders.

Hiring is not an art or a science. It is more to do with treating humans as they are. Most of these companies treat engineers as resources with salary being key incentives. This incentive works until your competitor pays them 2X-5X because he has raised a lot of money.

To hire and keep your team motivated you to have to be honest with them and treat them like a stakeholder. They should feel like part of the big operating system. Some founders tend to get good early employees by following this principle. As they grow and demand from investors changes, they forget the principle. That is the time when many old veterans leave and yes the incentives of ESOP does no good.

Product

Typing Product on Google gives enough results. Heck, same goes for many available books on Amazon. We are in the era of building and product leaders are key stakeholders.

There are so many methodologies and development practices which are used by these gurus.

What I have understood with my limited consciousness is:

A product has come out of necessity or solving a pain.
A product should empower its user to progress in their journey.

Roots

It is very easy to get lost in glory and forget our roots.

We, humans, are no different than a raging bull. We crave for approval and appreciation. We like recognition.

Our actions and affiliation changes as we progress. We get into the ego train which directs towards the vice.

It helps to remember our roots and the journey to who we are now. It helps us in staying grounded and reminds us of the process.

Expectation

Expectation is the cause of all our sorrows.
— Bhagwad Gita

Is it possible to live a life without expecting anything from externals? An ailing fathers expectation that his son will visit him this Christmas. Mothers hope to see her daughter’s wedding soon.

Why do we let our happiness in hands of another? Why can’t we let things guide on its nature? Why do we have to live a life with expectation and when things fail to go our way, we end up in pain?

Man is a rational Animal.
— Aristotle

I am not sure if humans are rational. Aristotle meant philosophers are rational animals.

Monkeys

I like monkeys, I am fascinated by their grit and perseverance. Their focus on what they want.

The other quality which has kept them going is a reproduction. I don’t know if they believe in Love and all, but they are truly aware of seeding their species.

Sigmund Freud said there is no such thing as love, it is all about our quest to reproduce our offspring’s.

I don’t understand what will happen to the marketers if humanity starts agreeing to Freud.