After seeing this blog of a blog of a blog (blog^3?) I decided to add to it. Marc’s blogged about “Jeff Sandquist’s Seven Day Rule for Software“. So I’ll take this opportunity to share my Five-Minute Rule.

I and a couple of friends actually have two more rules: The Five-Minute Rule and the One-Day Rule.

Just like how you and Jeff had an eerily similar 7-day rule, same thing happened with my friends on the 5-min and 1-day rules.

The Five-Minute Rule:

“If software breaks within the first 5 minutes of install or usage, TOSS IT.”

The One-Day Rule:

“Use a new piece of software for a day. When I wake up in the morning, if I am not moved to continue using it, or if I am having difficulty using or configuring it, uninstall it.”

The first rule is pretty harsh, but I try so much new stuff that frankly I can probably find something else that does the same thing better without too much effort.

The second rule covers cases where software might be the coolest idea since sliced bread, but it has a really sh*tty interface and you have to hand-edit config files and there is no installer. At some point you have to let it go as a waste of time.