Lessons From a Pottery Class
On blindly crashing forward, channeling that inner high school kid, and rabbits.
On Productivity…
Anyone working with me quickly learns that I'm a staunch advocate for iteration. Perhaps it's the "fail fast" mantra ingrained in me during the 2000s, or maybe the idea of committing to large projects has always seemed overwhelming. Either way, I favor starting with a minimum viable product (MVP) and building from there. "Let's walk before we run," "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," and "It's just code; we can change it," are my go-to phrases that my team might be tired of by now.
But it works.
I believe that quantity leads to quality. This brings us to the story of The Parable of the Pottery Class from Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland:
So, if you're facing an overwhelming project or task, break it down into smaller segments. Try and fail, then try again. Start with something basic and refine it. Don't hesitate to scrap it and begin anew. With each attempt, you'll learn, grow, and ultimately succeed.
Remember, perfection is the enemy of progress. Lordy, I really am filled with sayings, I bet it drives my team crazy. #sorrynotsorry.
In future newsletters, we'll explore how this concept relates to the Pareto principle. Stay tuned.
On Marketing…
I reached my marketing peak as a junior in high school.
It came to pass that I would run against my best friend, Ryan, for Student Body President. Ryan had more popularity, involvement, and, let's be honest, better looks. I felt like an underdog. But, I was scrappy and I launched an aggressive marketing campaign.
I reached out to the local radio station, hoping they would promote my campaign on air. They declined.
I approached restaurants near the high school, attempting to persuade them to advertise "Vote for Derek" on their billboards. They declined.
I contacted the newspaper, suggesting an opinion piece about my campaign. They. Declined.
Undeterred, I plastered the school with posters proclaiming: "Vote for Derek" "Pharr for President" "Where There is Smoke | There is Pharr" (a personal favorite). I kept buckets of candy in my locker, each piece adorned with these slogans, distributing them between classes. I participated in the school talent show with a comedy set to boost my visibility. I followed the student paper's photographer around and photo-bombed as many pictures as I could to make into the school paper (and I'm all over the yearbook BTW). I even talked to freshmen.
And I won by a significant margin. (Not to worry, Ryan ran for senior class president the following week and won by a landslide.)
So, why reminisce? Putting 100% into creation—writing, building, evolving—is sometimes enough. The act of creation can be the goal. But if you want others to recognize your work, to share in it, to use your products or services, you gotta tell them about it.
And as I develop this newsletter from its early stages, I find myself drawing inspiration from that eleventh grader, ready to make an impact on the world.
On Change…
So, I've changed the name. By doing so, I realize I'm altering the agreement we've established. You might have signed up for a once-a-week newsletter, and receiving it twice might seem misleading. That’s on me, and if you unsubscribe, no hard feelings.
But if you stick around, I think you will like where this is headed.
Why the switch to Chief Rabbit? I think the best thing to do here is to go into my process. I spent a few days brainstorming, reading, throwing things at ChatGPT and stewing. Through this, I established a few criteria for the new name:
It should be fun.
It should be unique.
It should have four syllables or fewer.
The URL should be available.
It must hold personal significance.
It shouldn't be offensive.
About those last two bullet points. One of my favorite books is Watership Down by Richard Adams. I revisit it every few weeks. The scene where Bigwig is fighting Woundwart in the warren and says “My Chief Rabbit has told me to stay and defend this run, and until he says otherwise, I shall stay here” gets me every time. I'll delve into Watership Down in future newsletters, but in a nutshell, it resonates with me.
But, is the name potentially offensive? I struggled with this a bit. I am very sensitive to cultural appropriation. But at the end of the day, the word "chief" originates from the Old French word "chef," which means "leader" or "head," used from around the 13th century. This Old French term itself comes from the Latin word "caput," meaning "head." At the end of the day, I believe that there is nothing offensive or marginalizing about the word.
Why even change the name? Well, I jumped into this whole newsletter thing, came up with a name, and boom I was off and running. Yet, a few weeks in, I realized the original name felt too limiting. Seven Day Snippets suggested a once-a-week limit, but I aim for twice weekly without being confined to Sundays. I would have preferred to discuss OpenAI’s Sora right after it happened, rather than waiting. And as I said above, I believe in iteration. That is what that looks like. Starting something, plowing forward, making changes, and plowing forward some more. I hope you like the new name as much as I do.
Ever forward.
— Derek (aka Chief Rabbit)
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Oh. My. Gosh. That makes my day! Thanks for checking it out!
Congrats on the leap Derek. I know you put a lot of thought into this - your writing is fabulous. So enjoyed this - whoop whoop!