According to psychologist Martin Seligman, depressed people tend to be more realistic than optimistic ones. And the optimists, even when their good cheer is unwarranted, accomplish more. They do better in school, for example. As Seligman explained to Fortune magazine, the people most likely to succeed are those who combine "reasonable talent with the ability to keep going in the face of defeat."... People in Great Groups are simultaneously analytical and confident. As Alan Kay once observed, "The way to do good science is to be incredibly critical without being depressed." Great Groups don't lose hope in the face of complexity. The difficulty of the task adds to their joy.
25 May 2005
17 May 2005
It is about simplicity through design
The mobile industry is full of excitement about music. Nokia, SonyEricsson and Samsung are all making an assault on music with their latest models.
But converging all these functions that are now possible into one device opens up major design problems.
What the industry should be coming up with are more innovative ways to get at these functions, thinks Mr Jenson, in ways that understand the kinds of experiences people want. It is about simplicity through design.
....The problem facing the technology industry is how to design devices that do what they are supposed to do, easily.
....To him, design is not just about looks. It is about removing obstacles of use for everyone.
...."From a software point of view they were very clever about acceleration. If you scrolled a little bit, it was obvious. Then when you scrolled faster, it got to the bottom.
"So you could go from top to bottom of 3,000 songs in 10 seconds. And no one really even noticed that - it was invisible design"
Essentially, it did so many things without the user having to think too much about it and knocked down barriers to getting at functions.
"The device basically became effortless. That didn't mean it had value, it just means it didn't suck."
...."You don't want to carry eight batteries and eight screens. At the same time you don't want a device that is just horrible at everything. And how do you balance that? I am not sure what the answer is."
Jo Twist, "Designs on less complex mobiles," BBC News, 13 May 2005 via Tomalak.
16 May 2005
at Least Sort Of
It takes two-megapixel photos (a first for a cellphone in the United States). It can scan in business cards, record 90-minute videos, play TV shows and even transcribe dictated speech.
Of course, what makes the Monty Python skit so funny is the infinite gulf between the simplicity of the "solutions" and the difficulty of executing them - and that's what makes the A800 a little silly, too. If you reread the previous paragraph but add "sort of" after every phrase, you'll get the idea.
....The phone, which goes on sale tomorrow for $500 (less if you're opening a new Sprint account), also includes an alarm clock, calendar with audible reminders, MP3 music player and voice notes. And it can record one minute of a phone call, which is fantastic when somebody's giving you directions while you're driving.
The trouble is, all of these features saddle the poor little device with a complexity that will boggle even the veteran cell fan. You have to wade your way through a staggering 583 menu commands, along with far too many pointless "Are you sure?" confirmations, to find them all. Just looking up your own phone number requires eight button presses, for goodness' sake.
12 May 2005
a 'magical product' - the creation of a single mind
For the new Xbox project, Mr. Allard said his team had twice that time and aimed at conceiving a 'magical product' that was so well integrated it would seem the creation of a single mind.
Michel Marriott, "In Console Wars, Xbox Is Latest to Rearm," The New York Times, 13 May 2005.
09 May 2005
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” -- Leonardo DaVinci
As quoted on www.folklore.org
06 May 2005
restraint
Boxes and Arrows: In your opinion, what is one of the most usable sites out there today? Why?
Steve Krug: Completely predictable and boring answer, I?m afraid: Google. Someone asked me around the time of their IPO why Google is such a big deal, and I realized that I think it's because the people who created it were more interested in coming up with something useful than something they could market. They had a bright idea, and they created something that solves a real problem really well. Not perfect, but practical. And they're restrained. Like Jeff Hawkins with the Palm Pilot, they fought off feature creep really well. Microsoft seems to have brilliant people and they do great research, but they never seem to have great ideas and carry them out with restraint. They always seem to be looking for the ideal (but cumbersome and buggy) solution rather than something 'good enough' and workable. A lot of companies get suckered into trying to solve a huge problem (such as creating robot cars) when what most people really want and need is an adequate solution to a lesser problem (like power steering, or a robust, non-distracting navigation system, or maybe just road maps that are easier to fold up).
context assembly
I call this set of functions "context assembly," a phrase I picked up from Groove co-founder Jack Ozzie. When collaboration devolves to the common denominator of e-mail, every participant has to weave context around an otherwise chaotic stream of messages, and there's no canonical view. Context assembly in disposable shared spaces is the essence of Groove, and in that sense TimeDance was very Groove-like.
Unlike Groove, though, TimeDance had universal reach. I have never encountered a diverse group whose members were all willing and able to use Groove. Today, its entry barrier remains about where it was five years ago. For a Web-based application like TimeDance, though, the barrier is now even lower than it once was.
Jon Udell, "What TimeDance got right," InfoWorld, 27 Apr 2005
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)