Whether it is music or management, there is no replacement for the real thing.One of our sons is having his 16th birthday this week, and as usual, we asked him for his combined birthday and Christmas wish list. This guy loves music, Nutella and socks (probably in that order) and the list he provided came with an annotated section dedicated to albums he wanted -- filled with an eclectic combination of classic rock groups and emerging indie bands (actually all pretty listenable). Most came with the specific underlined instructions "ON VINYL" next to each.I am finding this return to physical record playing to be really fascinating. Not only can we now hold thousands of songs digitally on our phones if we want, we also have the luxury to play unlimited musical selections anywhere FROM THE CLOUD for relatively cheap. I actually found The McKenzie Brothers singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and I am listening to it on Spotify as I type this.....how great is it to be alive, right? The reemergence of vinyl records can be attributed to a number of things. No question there seems to be a cultural obsession with anything "retro" -- so there is definitely a hip factor at play. But I also think, particularly for those that are into music, a turntable and needle working together against a grooved plastic disc reminds us that there is an authentic richness in the finished product that cannot be attained by the pure digital tracks you listen to online. Virtually anyone can record, produce and post online music these days. However albums on vinyl feel as if they were crafted with the end user who values quality over quantity in mind. There is just something special about the compilation of songs on an album, the album artwork and the set of tracks on a record that brings appreciation for the details that go into the process.Why am I writing about this here? Because this dynamic is not just occurring when we listen to music. It is happening in everything we do. We are becoming conditioned to everything being delivered instantly, easily and frictionless to us. Think about it -- whether you are mobile ordering a coffee to have it waiting for you to grab and go at a precise time that you arrive at the store or, like we saw in the Away article last week, you are managing a group of people in a growing company, there is an expectation that things should and will go smoothly, all of the time, because we want it to be so.Don't get me wrong, these advancements, like the migration of music to the cloud, are needed and welcomed. But what happens when things don't go smoothly? What happens when things get messy or complicated? I mean, people in general are messy and complicated, aren't they? Have we taken the time to understand and appreciate the detailed process and work that goes into consistently delivering a quality cup of coffee? Do we put in the effort to think about and understand how to successfully leading a team to achieve their goals? Or are we just becoming too focused on getting ourselves from point A to point B as fast as we can and ignoring these details?When you think about it, what makes listening to music on vinyl so interesting literally is friction -- a needle combing across grooves in the plastic. It's an old fashioned mechanism for delivering rich sound that is driven by a technology enhanced process for producing music. We need the friction to ultimately make the whole thing work -- and yet we are doing everything we can to eliminate friction all around us. I guess it is okay if we do that, but I wonder if, in our haste to develop and deploy technology to make things better for ourselves, we may actually be making things much worse in the long run....only time will tell.... Sorry to get all Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance on you there for a few minutes. As you are running around doing your holiday errands, I hope you will have a chance to check out the shared articles as well. I promise they do not disappoint! Enjoy!XOXODave
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Friends of Dave #155: On Vinyl
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Whether it is music or management, there is no replacement for the real thing.One of our sons is having his 16th birthday this week, and as usual, we asked him for his combined birthday and Christmas wish list. This guy loves music, Nutella and socks (probably in that order) and the list he provided came with an annotated section dedicated to albums he wanted -- filled with an eclectic combination of classic rock groups and emerging indie bands (actually all pretty listenable). Most came with the specific underlined instructions "ON VINYL" next to each.I am finding this return to physical record playing to be really fascinating. Not only can we now hold thousands of songs digitally on our phones if we want, we also have the luxury to play unlimited musical selections anywhere FROM THE CLOUD for relatively cheap. I actually found The McKenzie Brothers singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and I am listening to it on Spotify as I type this.....how great is it to be alive, right? The reemergence of vinyl records can be attributed to a number of things. No question there seems to be a cultural obsession with anything "retro" -- so there is definitely a hip factor at play. But I also think, particularly for those that are into music, a turntable and needle working together against a grooved plastic disc reminds us that there is an authentic richness in the finished product that cannot be attained by the pure digital tracks you listen to online. Virtually anyone can record, produce and post online music these days. However albums on vinyl feel as if they were crafted with the end user who values quality over quantity in mind. There is just something special about the compilation of songs on an album, the album artwork and the set of tracks on a record that brings appreciation for the details that go into the process.Why am I writing about this here? Because this dynamic is not just occurring when we listen to music. It is happening in everything we do. We are becoming conditioned to everything being delivered instantly, easily and frictionless to us. Think about it -- whether you are mobile ordering a coffee to have it waiting for you to grab and go at a precise time that you arrive at the store or, like we saw in the Away article last week, you are managing a group of people in a growing company, there is an expectation that things should and will go smoothly, all of the time, because we want it to be so.Don't get me wrong, these advancements, like the migration of music to the cloud, are needed and welcomed. But what happens when things don't go smoothly? What happens when things get messy or complicated? I mean, people in general are messy and complicated, aren't they? Have we taken the time to understand and appreciate the detailed process and work that goes into consistently delivering a quality cup of coffee? Do we put in the effort to think about and understand how to successfully leading a team to achieve their goals? Or are we just becoming too focused on getting ourselves from point A to point B as fast as we can and ignoring these details?When you think about it, what makes listening to music on vinyl so interesting literally is friction -- a needle combing across grooves in the plastic. It's an old fashioned mechanism for delivering rich sound that is driven by a technology enhanced process for producing music. We need the friction to ultimately make the whole thing work -- and yet we are doing everything we can to eliminate friction all around us. I guess it is okay if we do that, but I wonder if, in our haste to develop and deploy technology to make things better for ourselves, we may actually be making things much worse in the long run....only time will tell.... Sorry to get all Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance on you there for a few minutes. As you are running around doing your holiday errands, I hope you will have a chance to check out the shared articles as well. I promise they do not disappoint! Enjoy!XOXODave