Abstraction, Gentleman's Agreement, Buying Software Once
Thursday Three: Episode 9
read time 4 minutes
Here are three interesting ideas you won’t find doom scrolling.
TL;DR
Is abstraction a good thing?
The Gentleman’s Agreement: The key to boosting subscriptions
What happened to buying software once?
Is abstraction a good thing?
On March 12th, I passed the CISSP exam — a longer post about my journey, study strategies, and lessons learned to come…
But during my studies, one of the things I learned was the concept of abstraction — essentially making things look easy from the outside when in reality, they are a lot more complex.
Think of it this way.
When you turn on your car, all you have to do is put your key in the ignition and turn it — or if you have a fancy push to start, push a button.
From a user perspective, this seems easy. But on the back end, turning that key triggers a series of complex internal processes (fuel injection, engine ignition, etc) that you never see.
Most people have no idea how any of that stuff works. But they’re able to start their cars anyway.
So that’s the concept of abstraction. It makes it so users can do complex things like start their car by simply turning their key.
And if you look around, you’ll see it everywhere…
Sending an email — You can compose and send emails through an email service provider without having ANY understanding of email protocols and network communication.
Buying food from Chipotle — You can purchase a burrito bowl without knowing a thing about the complexities of food preparation and supply chain logistics
Drinking water from your kitchen faucet — You can drink water from your kitchen faucet without knowing anything about the intricate processes involved in water treatment and distribution systems
You might be thinking to yourself, abstraction is a great thing! Why do I need to know how email works or how and where Chipotle sources their food?
And I partly agree with you…
But what is the point at which abstraction is too much?
The point at which we are so far removed from the source that NOT understanding what’s going on behind the scenes is more damaging than helpful?
AI comes to mind. Social media too. Does anyone besides the smartest of the smart people in Silicon Valley really understand how any of that stuff actually works? Maybe. But the end consumers certainly don’t. So they just sit back, and continue to use the stuff, without an ounce of understanding of how it works or what’s going on behind the scenes.
At what point is too much abstraction too much?
What are the long-term effects of it?
If you have any thoughts or opinions on this, would love to hear from you — throw a comment in Substack. Just click the button below.
The Gentleman’s Agreement: The key to boosting subscriptions
If you listen to MFM, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you don’t, podcast hosts Sam Parr and Shaan Puri use a “Gentleman’s Agreement” to boost their podcast subscription numbers.
Here’s Sam Parr AI explaining what it means:
The Gentleman's Agreement is a concept we came up with for our podcast, My First Million. It's based on the idea that our content isn't actually free. If you've listened to more than one episode, you owe us a debt. The way you pay that debt is by clicking subscribe on YouTube. It's called the Gentleman's Agreement because we can't be there to make sure you pay your debt, it's an honor code. We also have a similar concept for our female listeners called the Lady's Understanding, which involves not only subscribing on YouTube but also on the podcast app and Spotify. It's a fun way we engage with our audience and encourage them to support our show.
It sounds silly, but it works…
And since hearing about the gentleman’s agreement on MFM, I’ve seen other creators propose a similar type of agreement — like my friend Jon Finkel’s “Meathead Agreement.”
So what’s the takeaway here?
I just love this concept and think it’s a unique way to encourage people to sign up or share your newsletter, podcast, or whatever.
If you’re a creator trying to grow your subscription numbers, maybe try it out.
What happened to buying software once?
Last week, I went down a Jason Fried rabbit hole. I didn’t know much about him other than he wrote a book that was sitting on my bookshelf — Rework.
One of the cool things he’s working on is a project called once.com. I can try and explain what the project is about, but I think his Founder’s letter does a better job than I ever could. Here’s a snippet:
So basically, selling software once as opposed to a subscription. Interesting idea right? Going back to the basics.
The subscription business is a wonderful business to be in — especially if you have a bunch of customers who forget about their subscriptions! That’s why there’s been a slew of apps that help consumers 1) Identify what they are subscribed to and 2) Give them recommendations for where they can unsubscribe to save money — apps like Rocket Money, Truebill, and Hiatus.
Anyway, I found this project fascinating and I’m curious what it will turn into. You can read the whole founder’s letter here.