John Gruber’s illuminating review of the C4 conference called out a great line by Wil Shipley:
“This is all your app is: a collection of tiny details.”
That’s the best descriptive I’ve heard of any product, project, person, or object. A collection of tiny details.
Details pile up. One influences another. One often makes another possible (or impossible).
If you stack up a bunch of great little details you have a great shot at a great product. If you stack up a bunch of poorly executed details you have a great shot at a mediocre or bad product.
Of course cohesion doesn’t happen for free. You can’t just pile up a bunch of details and expect a perfect whole any more than you can pile up a bunch of bricks and expect the Taj Mahal, but carefully considered details do set the tone for a great product.
Just be careful and don’t get bogged down on the details early on.
Seth
on 15 Aug 07So true. This falls in line with the other saying. (Was it here I read it?)
...Make good small changes each day, pay attention to the details, and in the end you’ll have something great.
I’m probably butchering the original quote, but the spirit of it something I try to follow every day.
Jaan
on 15 Aug 07Overall a good overview of C4 me thinks.
Chris Hajer
on 15 Aug 07@Seth
Maybe this Joel on Software: “A game of inches”
Seth
on 15 Aug 07@Chris…
Yeah that does ring a bell. I don’t always agree with what Joel has to say, but that one is spot on in some places.
Jack Shedd
on 15 Aug 07Charles Eames said it best.
“The details are not details. They make the product.”
Adam Richardson
on 16 Aug 07The Eames quote is right on, but the Eameses also never lost sight of the importance of cohesion, and how to balance details against one another. BMW’s of late have been collections of interesting details inside and out, but every single one is shouting for attention. The cars have lacked cohesion, to my eye, and a sense of how they all tie together in harmony. So you don’t want to lose sight of the forest by overly focusing on the trees.
Jim Kieffer
on 20 Aug 07Joe Paterno, the legendary Penn State football coach says, “Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves.” So, yep, I believe that details are key, but must be part of a bigger strategy that is backed by good leadership / management.
This discussion is closed.