bwagy, the blog of Ben Young

Malls are great at this, they’re specifically designed to take you the long way.  Escalators that are easy to go up, tiresome to go down.  Toilets at either end of the mall.

This works well for the mall, not so much for the user.

Like lines at a concert, people will naturally be guided by you, if you guide them.

Whether it’s:

• Your onboarding process, once someone joins the team
• A support request
• The first 90 day experience of your customers

Simulate that process – is that really what you want people going through?

I’ve finally completed Hackers by Steven Levy, it goes through the history of hackers.

And not hackers in the sense that we know them today.

But in the sense of tinkerers, explorers of knowledge, creators of shortcuts (or hacks).

They lived by the premise that information wants to be free… a fundamental ethos of the internet.  Information sharing, makes us all smarter and that’s the ultimate aim of the hacker.

It’s funny, in this, I see a lot of digital marketing culture, transparency of information, results and you can see what you’re competitors are up to.  It’s the ultimate hackers marketplace.

Well worth a read.

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Also worth a read, Growth Hackers on Quora.