All web apps are trying to suck. They are trying to be bloated. They are trying to be unstructured. They are trying to be confusing.

You are the stopgap. You are the one who stands between order and chaos. You are the sniper who must pick off every distraction, unneeded feature, and extra word that doesn’t absolutely have to be there.

You must be a killer. You must say no. You must anger those who disagree with you. That is the only way to make something great.

It’s not just software that’s this way. It’s true for anything you make. This American Life’s Ira Glass talks about it in this interview (below). He says that to succeed as a storyteller, or in any creative endeavor, you’ve got to enjoy killing (the part about killing starts around 1:30 in).



This idea that entropy is the enemy when you’re building something really makes sense: The universe is fighting against you. It’s trying to make whatever you’re creating chaotic and disordered. Everything will decline and degenerate unless you stop it from happening.

Greatness come from being a ruthless killer. Without vicious editing, your creation is destined to wind up the same as all the other crap that’s already out there.

Related
Eureka: We’re editors [SvN]
Storytelling and Business [Kevin Brooks]