What's not broken and how are you making it better?

just add bacon 8)

dip it in chocolate

I like butter, broken or not.

is this about Star Wars?

i'm talking about pistachios

The act of break pistachios makes them better.

however, not proofreading usually leads to terribly embarrassing statements.

exactly

My leg is just fine, but I'm thinking about having it put in a cast just so people can sign it.

Also, Breaking Bad is pretty god.

Break dancing is okay.

"Hey, Break a leg."

Breakfast.

damnit, proofreading...I'll get it one of these days.

i agree, there is a total lack of pistachios in the star wars movies

luckily i hear there will be a scene added to the blu rays in which Darth Vader discusses his allergy to them which led to his turn to the dark side

It's so good, it's GOD.

bubble wrap. just add dancing

correction: breaking bad is AMAZING

I didn't get why the pistachio companies had to have Snookie and other people advertise pistachios. I'm pretty sure they could have saved a lot of money by just panning over a bag of them with a voice over saying "They're pistachios, you know you want them".

I like pistachio's so much, I'd like to make a breakfast out of them.

Introducing, Pistachi-O's.

sure seems like any "improvement" includes a step or two backwards, first.

good luck

If you care about what's not broken, you improve it because you can't stand the potential of it being broken.

I am of course referring to any appliance that will cook bacon.

Once there was a comic in MAD Magazine where a sign was hung up that said "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." And some dude crossed out ain't and put ISN'T instead, and as he walked away the sign fell off the wall and broke.

Life philosophies can be weaned from that.

"If it ain't broken, make it better anyway" is an awesome way to look at anything. This is the exact type of philosophy that I try to instill in all of the people I work with. I way too often get the "well, it's always been that way" type of responses or "it's working to what's the problem?" Most people are afraid of change and like being in a comfort zone but true innovators and people that are on the cutting edge always find ways to make things better.

Sorry, I didn't see as many serious responses in here but wanted to give one.

shirtflirt on Sep 02 '11 at 3:08pm
sure seems like any "improvement" includes a step or two backwards, first.

good luck

I hear what you are saying shirtflirt but in my experience you don't have to take steps backwards to make improvements. If you are stepping backwards you aren't looking at things correctly. That doesn't mean that there aren't failure but if you establish your current baseline then the worst you can do is end up where you are already at. Taking a risk or making a change doesn't have to be haphazard. You can still plan and communicate.

I like this blog. Great potential conversation.

Also most people try to hit a homerun every time. When you are making something better or trying to improve on something the key is to have a continued and maintained culture or mentality towards improvement. The ideas can be super small but if you continue to build upon and maintain all of the small improvement ideas you are eventually going to have something really huge. Plus along the way as you are making little improvements those big ideas are just going to evolve naturally.

I feel like I may have taken a blog that wasn't too serious and killed it by making it serious. Whoops.

love those thoughts jared.

yea i just always hated the concept of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" ... i think that if you're too comfortable, your not going to do anything great... i enjoy always feeling uncomfortable, like things could be better.

total tangent but i think this might also be why i like living in places that have all four seasons... i get sick of summer and want winter. but halfway through winter i want summer back haha. i'm like a shark that dies when it stops swimming.

i'm also not a huge fan of nostalgia. i love remembering and being fond of moments from the past, but i hate getting caught up in wishing things were like they used to be... i prefer longing for the future and championing change.

Good points Jared - yo never know whether something can be improved upon until you take a risk trying to improve it.

"If you are stepping backwards you aren't looking at things correctly. '

sometimes that's the best way to get perspective, too.

wait there are serious blogs, too?


i guess i should have been more specific, and said with technology. and even more specific, editing software. each new "improved" version of avid comes along with new bugs. new tools, too, but newer problems.

Progress is the antithesis of sitting still.

I find that, when my company makes 'improvements' to our in-house operating system, we constantly get regression errors. By trying to fix new problems, they inadvertently bring old problems back to life. It's a frustrating form of time travel.

That being said, I have no issue with improving upon something that already works well. Why not make a good thing great?

That being said, I have no issue with improving upon something that already works well. Why not make a good thing great?

Totally agree with this, but then there's the other side of this point where something is already amazing but people can't let things that work perfectly alone, and then just keep adding more cumbersome and clumsy things to something just for the sake of "progress" or "not standing still" that makes the original decent-working piece into something far more convoluted and harder to navigate. I do believe some things can be improved only so much until they are working at optimum level, and anything added or changed is just needless tinkering for its own sake.

This isn't directed at anything on Threadless, just a random observation that annoys me about "progress" always being something positive and change for change's sake. It's an unfortunate by-product of capitalism, where a latest gadget has to come out every year, regardless of innovation or improvement.

jstumpenhorst on Sep 02 '11 at 3:46pm
Also most people try to hit a homerun every time. When you are making something better or trying to improve on something the key is to have a continued and maintained culture or mentality towards improvement. The ideas can be super small but if you continue to build upon and maintain all of the small improvement ideas you are eventually going to have something really huge. Plus along the way as you are making little improvements those big ideas are just going to evolve naturally.

I really like what your saying there. I think about my Threadless designs in this way. I love the freedom I get here that I just don't get working for clients. I've learnt so much from just trying things and seeing what happens.

i guess i just don't see the benefit of tinkering.

we're so conceited and arrogant that we think we can improve...everything. even improvement is a matter of perception and often times, perspective. i think if you are trying to improve something without conscious thought, this leads to the truth of the matter. otherwise, we're just following our shadow; thought.

if it ain't baroque

shirtflirt on Sep 02 '11 at 5:33pm
i guess i just don't see the benefit of tinkering.

we're so conceited and arrogant that we think we can improve...everything. even improvement is a matter of perception and often times, perspective. i think if you are trying to improve something without conscious thought, this leads to the truth of the matter. otherwise, we're just following our shadow; thought.

Very eloquently put and I agree to a certain extent, improving isn't always about adding things, taking away can be just as valuable

yeah...it's definitely not an absolute statement. but it's my statement, absolutely.

I suppose it depends on what "better" is?

I'm going through some of these thoughts with my business right now- looking at processes and services and trying to improve them to achieve my bigger goals in life. Things are fine for where I am now, but I want to go bigger and better.

Obviously withough conscious thought and direction, making changes for the sake of changes can be costly and potentially alienating to clients/customers, but with smart and considered developments changes are the only way I can see to reach new goals.

For me that's breaking things down in to basic actions and values and figuring out how they each play a part in getting me to where I want to go. Then building around them. I guess mainting certain foundations, and structuring the changes on top of them.
Also, simplicity will always bring the most effective results, I figure.

spacesick on Sep 02 '11 at 5:36pm
if it ain't baroque

Maybe it's Blue grass music.

I'm glad I don't have to rewind my movies anymore before returning them to the video store. Wait, what video store?

I miss shitty independently run video stores SO HARD.

hyuk hyuk!

I'm helping

i'm surprised i haven't seen Xzibit in here yet. he's all about this.

Those independent video rental stores began by some nutjob tinkering with the system, letting people borrow, then rent his movies... Then makin it into a business.

if it ain't broken I could probably break it for ya for a small fee.

I like this thought process. Until you reach perfection, which is near impossible, why not try to keep improving?

I read an article today about a guy with 12 fingers and 12 toes

blew my mind

i thought this blog was about my butt or dom's weenis

I was promised donuts.

Where are they?