Here’s a very interesting (and inspirational post) from Rands in Repose. The post uses the building of the Brooklyn bridge as a metaphor for breakthroughs. In the beginning of the article, he explains the intentions of the ferry operators in New York City before the bridges were built: they didn’t want to build something great. They just wanted to make a profit.

Go read the article. It’s worth the fifteen minutes you’ll invest.

Do you want to build something great or make a profit?

People who just want to make a profit are not pushed to greatness. People who want to build something great don’t care about the money. It’s the same with business and projects.

However, something strange happens. People only interested in profit inevitably end up loosing to the people who want to built great things. And people who want to build something great usually end up with a better product.

Greatness lives in small things, too

When we build a new version of AceProject, when we decide the new features we’ll add, or which ones we’ll fix, the team has to be focused on making something great. On making AceProject the best it can be…for now. It creates very animated, very passionate discussions and disagreements in the team. It’s not easy. But when we’re ready to release the new AceProject version, everyone is immensely proud of what we’ve done.