From the WSJ Innovators of the Year feature, a curious analogy for Jack Dorsey, but the “efficiency of motion” theme is a helpful way to think about untangling complex systems:
He’s considering Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times as his next cinematic lesson. “Every little move Chaplin does, every tic,” says Dorsey, “is either to further the story or for comedic effect. There’s no wasted motion. It’s so stark and so clear. And when you focus on the details and on efficiency of motion, something really magical happens.”
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With both Twitter and Square, Dorsey’s flashes of insight are by-products of a lifelong quest for simplicity and order. Dorsey yearns to create streamlined beauty out of giant ungainly systems that at first glance appear to be irredeemably chaotic. He is the Charlie Chaplin of technologists: He makes the impossible happen through efficiency of motion.
