Dave Burke : Freelance .NET Web Developer specializing in Online Communities

Geek View of Tucker - The Man and His Dream

Good Geek Wisdom in Francis Ford Coppola's Tucker - The Man and His Dream, released in 1988 starring Jeff Bridges.  It's a great movie telling a sad story about Preston Tucker, a man who realized his dream to build a next-generation automobile in the 1940's only to be crushed by the Big Three and a corrupt Senator just as the first (and last) 50 Tuckers rolled off the factory line.

Geek lessons were how Tucker avoided conventional approaches to manufacturing, creating great innovations in his barn with only a handful of men who believed in the dream.  What I also found Nerd Worthy was how the first Tucker prototype the public got to see was built (mostly from parts found in the local junk yard) with only the basic scope requirements.  I'm not a car guy so can't detail the features missing in that demonstration Tucker not included in the final version, but they didn't waste time on features that, while important, didn't HAVE to be part of the prototype.

Reminded me of a line used in the Adam Bosworth podcast I forgot to mention, how projects that require 2 years or more are rarely worth doing and that 6 months is a more reasonable length for building a product.  After that, it's future and evolution is dictated by it's users.

Good movie for geeks and non-geeks alike.

 

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Posted on 10/11/2005 1:25:00 PM by Dave Burke
Categories: Everyday
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