One thing that I really see lacking in software these days, especially in the open source and standards world, is a good elevator pitch.
If you’re not familiar with the term "elevator pitch", it’s simply a summary of what you or your idea is about that’s short enough to share with somebody 
on a 30-second elevator ride. You typically hear the term related to venture capital, but it’s far more useful than that. If you can’t squeeze your idea into that time frame you need to either refine your pitch further or re-evaluate your idea because it’s way too complex for anyone to understand.
The common problem I keep running into is that a lot of software companies and open source projects in particular are guilty of dropping people onto their homepage and expecting them to know what the software/project is about, without telling them. Problem is, most people who come to your homepage are looking for some basic information about the product/idea, and diving right into the details is a good idea to confuse them and drive them away. A perfect example is the semantic Web movement. It’s a GREAT idea, and one that’s obviously needed, but it doesn’t have a good elevator pitch, and people don’t understand it. That results in it not being used.
So spend an hour summarizing what your project is about into a paragraph. It often helps to take a step back and look at things from a broader perspective, you may just realize that you haven’t been seeing the forest for the trees. And in the end, EVERYONE will thank you for providing a clear, concise summary of what you’re working on.
Part of the 60 Ideas in 60 Days series. Click here for the rest of the ideas.
