Ask The Same Question
Coming up on the 100th issue of the newsletter, is a bit shocking. Dedicating myself to a repeated task, asking for nothing in return (like paid subscribers), but simply feeling the reward of honing the craft — in this case it’s writing and expressing thought. Truly feel blessed that I have the time and space, despite other pressures, to do such things.
I was debating on gatekeeping this video (yes, gatekeeping is important sometimes), just for close peers/collaborators, but when commuting to the office this morning - it felt important to share and add my sense of context as well.
In this 2007 conversation around “social computing”, we see a young Reid Hoffman still working on LinkedIn + Erik Fair of Yahoo + Mena Trott of Six Apart (acquirers of Live Journal) + of course Kara Swisher moderating (some things truly never change).
And what really stood out to me is how many of these questions we are still asking today. Quite literally, the exact same questions.
The benefits of community driven products and how to build them. They share the difference between an “it” vs “we” community. A distinction that many forget today in my opinion.
Mena Trott talks about one of her blogs → is her posting one candid photo a day from her camera phone, to a calendar for friends to see a daily authentic view of her… literally BeReal and the goal of so many other products. This search for authentic self really drives the American psyche of social internet.
The examples go on and on, and I encourage you to tap into the rich conversation yourself.
But the primary thing I wanted to tease out is the importance of asking the same question, for a really long time. And making sure that question threads the line between pointed, yet broad, to give oneself the opportunity to make a true expansion in what the question poses.
There are two things that I’ve been thinking about, when asking the same question (not relating to forming the actual question itself): social consequences + legibility.
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES
In the ever present Twitter meme of “the same people that pivoted to web3 are now pivoting to AI” — I find it quite dangerous that folks don’t genuinely hold on to a few core questions that fulfill them. Instead it seems that many of us are willing to blow wherever the clout winds might most accumulate to our sails.
Now, the natural caveat is that we should be able to hold the same question while utilizing whatever tools are around us. This is important and allows us to study the effects of different probes towards the subject.
However, that really doesn’t seem to be the case. The reasoning is quite obvious. For many of us, this is the first paradigm shifts we are experiencing while in the workforce.
As a counter example, in the video the panelist speak fondly of “web 1” as they now build across the burgeoning paradigm of “web 2”. Where even Reid jokes about the useless definition that some give it, and his own version of it.
Everything is the same…
My only encouragement is to not be afraid of being irrelevant for a while. AI folks seemed broadly irrelevant for the past 6ish years. And that irrelevance allowed them to build deep expertise, opinions, and most important → MAKE REAL PROGRESS. Which brings us to our next point.
LEGIBILITY
Something that is a bit of a double edge sword when thinking about personal or even brand identity, is legibility. There are clear benefits to those coming in contact with you through various means and mediums, to understanding what it is you’re presenting. Whether that’s works, writings, general values, etc. And the backhand of that is feeling a sort of box because of these same things. “They know who I am, so now I have to be that thing.”
But in asking the same question, legibility is your filter in an ever growing world of distraction.
DOES THIS PERTAIN TO MY QUESTION, OR DOESN’T IT?
Utilizing that clear filter allows for that rare piece of working peace we all desire right now. It’s in THAT space, we can move about the cabin of real work.
Legibility starts internally, and radiates outward. The same way that design is an embodiment of values. Asking the same question is an internal force that guides one’s production, and sets the stage for how we might interact with it.
To ask a useful question, is the first step of progress. The first step of helping others gather, those looking to articulate that exact same question. The domino effect continues.
Watching domino effects in real time with our contemporaries is one of the joys of this industry. The two example of my peers that come to mind, in very different ways:
Cami Tellez asking what does rewriting the American underwear story look like with Parade.
Nikita Bier probing a form factor with Gas (acquired by Discord) and TBH (acquired by Facebook).
This didn’t come from hopping question to question to question. Cami focused on just underwear… for years. And then came the expansion to owning the rest of that consumer’s drawer. While other startup brands (that would consider themselves competitors at the time) attempted to launch several product types at once.
The benefit was Parade’s legibility, and that has resonated to partnership with Target + Cami being named in the 50 most powerful women in business by WWD + and much much more.
Irwin's work is a reminder that focus is not just a matter of the eyes but of the whole body and mind, of our entire being becoming more present and attuned to the world around us.
— “Seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees” by Lawrence Weschler (about the artist Robert Irwin)
Ask the same question. Prolonged, dedicated, maniacal focus… that’s how we collectively push the progress ring out just a little bit each time.
That’s how we can really see the world for what it is.
I don’t do edits really, so excuse typos and things that don’t make sense.
Thanks so much for giving me your attention. I hope it was worth it, if not… unsubscribing will not hurt my feelings, and will give you back time you literally cannot have back.
Much love.
Live in the light