Jul 07 2010
Too well optimised?
There’s no getting away from the fact that when you take the time to measure an activity, it gives you something very tangible you can then set about improving. Seth Godin points out that thanks to constant developments in IT, it’s easy to optimize just about every aspect of our working lives. And whilst we as marketing consultants have extolled the virtues of a well-optimised website or blog post, or the improved effectiveness of a well-targetted, optimised ad campaign, it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that somewhere along the line, the main focus should always remain on actual creation – not on optimisation.
It’s still a fine line to walk, because you can of course optimize your creation time as well by developing new habits to get the most out of your thought process. But a never-ending cycle of optimization can also become a crutch, a place to hide when you really should be confronting the real issues your business is facing. It’s a salutory lesson that while Yahoo was optimizing their home page in 2001, those cheeky chaps at Google were inventing something totally new.