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Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On, And Others Don't (2009)

by Kevin Maney(Favorite Author)

3.77 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

038552594X (ISBN13: 9780385525947)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Crown Business

review 1: The basic premise of this book is that companies (and individuals and whatever) can shoot for a product with high fidelity, or high convenience. Or high fidelity, with a touch of convenience. Or high convenience, with a touch of fidelity. But they shouldn't shoot for both high fidelity and high convenience, or they're chasing a mirage. And they'll fail.And that's it. Complete with a little graph.And he repeats the graph several times. And he repeats himself several times.I did find it interesting, and he did give a lot of examples that both clarified his point and were interesting little historical snippets of business.I think he has a very good point. I agree with him. Maybe that's why the book seemed to go on and on. Was he trying to convince me when I was already convin... moreced?I'm not sure how I can apply this to writing. I guess I was already aiming for high fidelity. Because high convenience would be fanfic -- available in 5 seconds with the right Google search, free, and you're already familiar with the characters and world. What could be more convenient? Yet I don't know as there's much of a market for an illuminated manuscript of my writing either.Well, anyway, that's the trade-off. Fidelity. Convenience.
review 2: This book was very well written, and got its point across succinctly. It's basically about how every business has to negotiate along the fidelity (quality, status) and convenience (ease of use, cheapness) axis, and that those who try to do both or do neither won't take off. He draws from examples as varied as Starbucks (high fidelity, which started to falter in 2007 when it tried to become too convenient and oversaturated the world with franchises) to Segway (less convenient than walking and without the fidelity of a car).I'd say this book is useful for anyone involved in making or marketing a product. Even writers. It only has one point to make, but it does it well. less

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