One of my favorite past times is looking at Art works and reading Art descriptions. There is something about Art that transcends any level of verbal communication.
The other day I came across a different form of art by Francis Alÿs. In 1997, Francis pushed a block of ice through the streets of Mexico City until it completely melted. The title, Paradox of Praxis is the record of an action carried out under the rubric of “sometimes making something leads to nothing.”
So after 9 hours of walking in the streets of Mexico city, where he struggled with the quintessentially Minimal rectangular block until it was finally reduced to no more than an ice cube suitable for a whisky on the rocks, so small that he could casually kick it along the street.
From a 60 cubic feet block of ice to a piece of ice block which quickly turned to a drop of water.
9 hours.
It got me thinking. In Game Monetization, product development or life in general, we push and do stuff the whole day to end up with nothing. On Francis’s case, a trail of water drops that quickly evaporated.
It can be a frustrating experience to have nothing to show for all the efforts made, I admit. So how can you avoid making similar mistakes in product development (my topic of interest for this blog).
Here are few ways you can avoid Paradox of Praxis in product development.
- Understand the nature of your solution
- Measure impact in small increment
- Seek advice from those who implemented similar solutions
- Stop fixating on the solution
Such a circumstance or experience of ‘nothing ti show for’ is prevalent in big companies than mid-sized or smaller ones. Analyzing why or how group dynamics affect such things in big companies will be another topic for another time.
AppLixir is a Reward Video Ad Provider for Games and Sites
Photo Credit Francis Alys – https://publicdelivery.org/francis-alys-ice/
