title: Speed of usefulness lang: en
What we need is a metric called speed of usefulness. Jeffrey calls this Content Performance Quotient (CPQ) …because business people love three-letter initialisms. It’s a loose measurement: How quickly can you solve the customer’s problem? It’s the shortest distance between the problem and the solution. Put another way, it’s a measurement of your value to the customer. It’s a new way to evaluate success.
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Otherwise we end up with what Jeffrey calls “pretty garbage.” It’s aesthetically coherent and visually well-designed …but if the content is wrong and doesn’t help anyone, it’s garbage. Garbage in a delightfully responsive grid is still garbage.
*Beyond Engagement: the Content Performance Quotient by Jeffrey Zeldman* (cache)
I wonder if usefulness is not the main reason that killed blogs. Because it quickly became tied to monetization: if what I produce is useful, let’s turn it into something valuable. And if I am what I produce, let’s turn me into a valuable asset. Hence social networks.
Let’s not forget to publish absurd stuff sometimes.