Building in slack

Slack is about empathy and creating a flexible enough design that empowers people to decide what kind of solution they want or need.

What legos, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Newegg, watch strips with more than one hole, height-adjustable chairs, and thermostats with turnable dials all have in common is that none of them presume to know exactly what you will want, but instead they provide the capabilities and resources needed for configure a solution that’s right for you — in other words they all built slack into their design.

Solutions and technologies that endure and continue to solve problems at scale are those that account for the inevitability of changing contexts and cultures.

Ben Thompson from Stratechery wrote a great piece on the idea of 'primitives' - a practical example of building in slack: https://stratechery.com/2016/the-amazon-tax/

Brian Ball
Slack -- is an interesting word choice here - as it's also a messing tool of its own.
2021-02-13 14:43:58
Abraham Kim
I was confused at first because I thought this was about the communication tool Slack at first lol

2021-02-13 15:49:23
Abraham Kim
BTW Ben Thompson is such a dope writer on technology and strategy
2021-02-13 15:49:50
William Liao
brianball
haha, fair point. Any alternative suggestions? I'm open - will likely continue to write variations on this theme and am no married at all to the term 'slack'. 

abrahamKim
 He is! I encountered his content for the first time about a week ago, his takes are very well-thought-out and illuminating. 
2021-02-13 21:20:32
Brian Ball
Alternative words to slack that I might choose include buffer and margin. You could also consider the idea of leaving oneself room to breathe. Margin of error is one reason our roads aren't the exact with or our widest cars. Sometimes we swerve a little. Float - is a term that used to mean the time you had between writing a check and somebody cashing it. That was "slack" time for you to get money in the bank to cover the check.
2021-02-14 15:14:13
Abraham Kim
A lot of value in this comment ^
2021-02-14 16:43:28
Abraham Kim
Will I believe you will love this

https://fs.blog/2021/05/slack/ 
2021-05-05 15:35:42