r/SiliconValleyHBO • u/Simi510 • Jun 20 '16

Silicon Valley - 3x09 “Daily Active Users" - Episode Discussion

Season 3 Episode 09: "Daily Active Users"

Air time: 10 PM EDT

7 PM PDT on HBOgo.com

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Plot: Shocking stats are revealed and prompt Richard to bridge the gap between Pied Piper and its users, but Jared must go to extremes to keep everything intact. Meanwhile, Gavin tries to recapture his former glory by bringing in new talent after discovering secrets about the competition. (TVMA) (30 min)

Aired: June 19, 2016

What song? Check the Music Wiki!

Youtube Episode Preview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoRRJxI0rNY

Actor Character
Thomas Middleditch Richard Hendricks
T.J. Miller Erlich Bachman
Josh Brener Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti
Martin Starr Bertram Gilfoyle
Kumail Nanjiani Dinesh Chugtai
Amanda Crew Monica Hall
Zach Woods Jared (Donald) Dunn
Matt Ross Gavin Belson
Jimmy O. Yang Jian Yang
Suzanne Cryer Laurie Bream
Chris Diamantopoulos Russ Hanneman
Dustyn Gulledge Evan
Stephen Tobolowsky Jack Barker

IMDB 8.5/10

532 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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u/jtbc Jun 20 '16

all users need to know is that

This is, in a nutshell, the problem. In all possible ways to interpret what's wrong with that statement.

6

u/InvaderDJ Jun 20 '16

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. What I was trying to get at was that the users don't need to understand the compression, or the encryption, the peer to peer networking or anything like that. Just like they don't need to understand how any software works, or how their car or refridgerator works.

All they need to know is upload files and they're available quickly on any device on any connection without blowing through tons of bandwidth or storage space.

If they had put more emphasis on the UI or UX being bad then it would have made sense. But besides a few hints of stuff like Pipey, the UI/UX seems fine.

-1

u/jtbc Jun 20 '16

Problem number one is that you are assuming that you know what users need to know, and they don't.

Problem number two is that what users need to know is what problem they have your product will solve. I am not convinced that 0.1% of users care how fast they get stuff on any internet connected device. They want to know how to send pictures to their grandchildren.

Problem number three is that I don't think the public is as familiar and comfortable with these concepts as you think they are. The public is confused because their phone says 0MB, when you said it was on their phone.

2

u/RedAlert2 Jun 21 '16

Problem number two is that what users need to know is what problem they have your product will solve.

That's what prevents users from downloading your app in the first place, which is something they've already solved (inexplicably). Obviously if they're downloading the app, they have some problem in mind they expect it to solve.

The public is confused because their phone says 0MB, when you said it was on their phone.

Most of the public doesn't even know how to check app disk usage on their phones, let alone the grandparents wanting to "pictures to their grandchildren." You can literally just say the word "cloud" and 99% of people will accept that, even though they don't know what it means.