Saying no the right way — taking things away from people while keeping them on your side — seems like it’s becoming an increasingly crucial skill. Came across three bits in the last few days that echoed this idea…<\/p>\n
1) Marco says<\/a>, “Making a product better often requires removing features.”<\/p>\n Dealing with the negative feedback is tough. Every feature removal, even if minor, is greeted with an initial barrage of emails from people whose lives I have just completely ruined by this change to my free website or my $5 iPhone application…It\u2019s especially tough with web and iPhone apps, for which there\u2019s no good way, or no way at all, for the offended customers to just keep using the old version.<\/p>\n But the result, once the fire has died down, is a much better product for the majority of customers.<\/p>\n If I could never remove features, I\u2019d never add any.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n 2) A day after reading that, I heard Thomas Friedman discuss<\/a> how the next generation of political leaders will need to focus on taking things away from voters.<\/p>\n We’re entering an era where being in politics is gonna be, more than anything else, about taking things away from people.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
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