I guess it could be helpful to define what the product exactly is. Genius is a high traffic transactional site, so they probably have the same problems that any large site has. They're also incredibly text heavy, and I probably wouldn't being going too far if I said that they are striving to eventually have every piece of written text available. Looking at these two qualities alone, I feel that there is enough going on to make their product compelling to virtually any person that has done software engineering, applied statistics, machine learning, or read a book.
(Stackexchange would make a better Genius.com)
So the original product has now morphed into some sort of "global" annotation system for any kind of text (including literature, law, tech). I just feel like they will have a hard time attracting true experts in these subjects.
I guess I'm also just not a fan of the site's overall aesthetic. The design is very dark and cluttered. Not very inviting.
Likewise with "It's not not your job"; there's definitely a conflict between "take ownership over the overall success of the business" and "focus instead of trying to do everything all the time", and I tried to nod toward this, but I do think both sides are true! You do want to focus AND you don't want to be saying "Well, the company failed by at least I did my job".
Anyway, these are definitely far from perfect but I'm throwing them out there anyway because I think they're better than nothing.
I'd love to see your criticisms in the form of annotations on the piece itself tho! Everyone should get to read them!
http://meta.genius.com/4127010
That picture of Bruges is from Seeing Like a State[1], which should be required reading for all managers.
[1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300078153/ref=as_li_tl?ie=...
