Category Archives: Always make new mistakes

Punishment

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以直報怨 2

Punishment is for avoiding further harm, not revenge, unless revenge has such an effect.

If no further harm is possible, no punishment needed.

— Me@2011.11.11

— Inspired by Bertrand Russell

— Me@2012-09-26 11:06:48 AM

2012.09.26 Wednesday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK

The Divine Michelangelo

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Michelangelo was now preparing for the end and how he would be remembered by history. He began to destroy drawings and poems he didn’t think were good enough [in order to create the myth of the divine artist]. He even attacked one of his last works of sculpture: the Florentine Pieta, which was intended for his own tomb.

— The Divine Michelangelo

— BBC

2012.09.20 Thursday ACHK

香港科技, 2

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這段改編自 2010 年 3 月 27 日的對話。

美國 Silicon Valley（矽谷）的 intellectual power（才智實力），其實是建基於 科學、科技 和 科幻 的文化。而這類文化，是累積多年而得來的，而不是只靠大量金錢，在短短幾年間，就可以得到。

James C. Collins 在他的《Good to Great》中，用了 flywheel（飛輪）作比喻。香港見到矽谷的飛輪轉得很快，於是買了一個飛輪回來，企圖聘請很多「大力士」把它轉動至高速。殊不知，即使有很多「大力士」，飛輪都是極之難轉，加速得奇慢。別人的飛輪可以轉得那樣快，是因為別人的「大力士」，已為飛輪加速了幾十年。

— Me@2012.09.08

The Flywheel: The additive effect of many small initiatives; they act on each other like compound interest.

— Wikipedia on Good to Great

2012.09.08 Saturday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK

Don’t just fix the mistakes

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4. Don’t just fix the mistakes — fix whatever permitted the mistake in the first place.

The process is so pervasive, it gets the blame for any error — if there is a flaw in the software, there must be something wrong with the way its being written, something that can be corrected. Any error not found at the planning stage has slipped through at least some checks. Why? Is there something wrong with the inspection process? Does a question need to be added to a checklist?

…

The way the process works, it not only finds errors in the software. The process finds errors in the process.

— They Write the Right Stuff

— By Charles Fishman | December 31, 1996

2012.08.19 Sunday ACHK

Negative reaction

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IsaacL 286 days ago | link

Maybe it doesn’t apply so much for visual design, but I often find that a negative reaction to a new concept or piece of software is better than a “meh” reaction. One example: I made a browser game a few years back, one of the early players posted a huge rant about how frustrating the game was, I fixed the design issues they raised, they grew to love the game.

So I tend to think that a negative reaction is often a sign you have something good, but flawed. You don’t want people saying “yeah, that’s kinda cool”, you want them saying “OMG THIS THING SUCKS I’M TRYING TO GET IT TO DO X BUT I CANT BECAUSE IT DOESNT HAVE FEATURE Y” – at least in the second case you know you have something they want, and you know how to fix it.

— Hacker News

2012.08.13 Monday ACHK

Collector 2

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時間管理 4.2

After being as exhaustive as you can, you can be selective. As a beginner, you have to be exhaustive anyway: don’t think that other beginners can have any shortcuts. Remember, no one, even genius, can violate the principle of hardwork.

— Me@2008.10.28

2012.03.14 Wednesday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK

Generalizing a problem

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One of the many articles on the Tricki that was planned but has never been written was about making it easier to solve a problem by generalizing it (which initially seems paradoxical because if you generalize something then you are trying to prove a stronger statement). I know that I’ve run into this phenomenon many times, and sometimes it has been extremely striking just how much simpler the generalized problem is.

edited Sep 26 2010 at 8:34
gowers

Great question. Maybe the phenomenon is less surprising if one thinks that there are ∞ ways to generalize a question, but just a few of them make some progress possible. I think it is reasonable to say that successful generalizations must embed, consciously or not, a very deep understanding of the problem at hand. They operate through the same mechanism at work in good abstraction, by helping you forget insignificant details and focus on the heart of the matter.

answered Sep 26 2010 at 10:27
Piero D’Ancona

— Generalizing a problem to make it easier

— MathOverflow

A general case has less information (details) than a special case. 

— Me@2012.03.10

2012.03.13 Tuesday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK

地獄篇（前傳）

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失敗是正常，成功是例外。

人生，是一個尋找例外的過程。

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地獄是正常，天堂是例外。

人生，是一個創造例外的經歷。

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唯有經過地獄的磨難，才有創造天堂的力量。 — 尼采

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— Me@2012.03.01

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2012.03.01 Thursday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK

Result-oriented

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Another thing to consider is your definition of results. It’s possible that you could do every right … but still your business fail, …

There are some things that simply not in your control, and there are times when you have to define “results” in a different way than you might have thought:

Yes, my business is going through a rough time. But what am I discovering? What strengths am I gaining? What increased capacity will I have to apply to future efforts?

…

Even when the observable results appear to be negative, you can still make huge progress …

— The Speed of Trust, p.116

— Stephen M. R. Covey, Rebecca R. Merrill

2012.02.28 Tuesday ACHK