'It's like having a kid,' Graf says. 'You think he's beautiful, but you know there are flaws. You feel a little vulnerable. You just hope other people see the beauty in it, too.'
01 May 2006
15 March 2006
graphic paths that are stunning
The challenge for the new maps that are coming ... Is to allow the users to have maximum flexibility in configuring their information, while at the same time leading them down graphic paths that are stunning. In other words, artistic maps that are also great science.
David Rumsey, "The Past and Future of Mapping," O'Rielly Where 2.0 Conference, 29 June 2005. Podcast from www.itconversations.com/shows/detail633.html - quote starts at 27:38.
05 March 2006
Every time you add something you take something away
A design and usability blog: Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals): "Every time you add something you take something away Jason Mar 04
25 comments Latest by Scott Meinzer
What’s the most ignored paradox in software development? Every time you add something you take something away.
Screen real estate. Interface clarity. Simplified testing. Shorter development time. Certainty. Agility. Managability. Adding anything dilutes everything else. That’s not always a bad thing, just be aware of it. Be aware of the trade-offs.
The dilution effect is why maintaining a clear vision for your product is so important. Without a clear understanding of the limits and boundaries of your product, the product will morph into something you no longer recognize. Or worse, something you can no longer manage or control.
A product people loved can turn into a product people liked. Then the product people liked can turn into the product people can live with. Then the product people can live with can turn into the product people can live without.
Of course the reverse can also happen. A product people can live without can become a product people love, but once you’re at the love stage it can turn around on you just as fast.
This reality reveals itself on release day. The first thing you’ll hear from customers that love your product is how they’d love it even more if it did this or th"
03 March 2006
21 November 2005
What do you want to contribute?
...when asked to spend time with an unknown and unproven young man seeking his way in the world, Drucker freely gave the better part of a day to mentor and give guidance. I had the honor of writing about that day in the foreword to The Daily Drucker, wherein I recount how Drucker altered the trajectory of my life by framing our discussion around one simple question: "What do you want to contribute?"
And therein we find the secret to Peter Drucker: He had a remarkable ability not just to give the right answers, but more important, to ask the right questions -- questions that would shift our entire frame of reference. Throughout his work runs a theme that highlights a fundamental shift, away from achievement -- jettisoning with the flick of his hand, as if he were waving away an irritating gnat, any consideration of the question of what you can "get" in this world -- to the question of contribution. Drucker's relentless discipline to say "no thank you" to invitations and inquiries stemmed from thinking always about how he could best contribute with his one lifetime.
11 November 2005
User
The problem is we don’t have good language. When I’m on Flickr I’m a photographer or a commenter. When I’m here I’m a writer or a blogger. When I’m on Craig’s List I’m a job seeker or a buyer or a seller. When I’m on MSN Search or Google I’m a “searcher.” When I’m on Memeorandum I’m a “reader.”
“User” just seems so unsatisfying. “Participant” is a lot closer. What do you think?
11 October 2005
act despite uncertainty
Because uncertainty is inevitable, decisions can never be perfect. Often we believe that we can improve the decision by collecting more information, but in the process we lose opportunities. Skilled decision makers appear to know when to wait and when to act. Most important, they accept the need to act despite uncertainty.
Gary Klein, Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions, MIT Press, 1999, p. 276-277. Amazon
29 September 2005
value in the act
Modeling is similar to planning-most of the value is in the act of modeling, not the model itself.
Scott W. Ambler, Agile Modeling, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2002, p. 19.Amazon
26 September 2005
"Aha!"
EVERY now and then, humanity wakes up, looks at itself in the mirror and realizes that it's been wasting a lot of effort doing things the old way just for the sake of tradition. From the caveman who first put a bunch of rolling logs under something heavy, to the genius who packed four times more orange juice onto a truck by condensing it first, history is filled with "Aha!" moments that propel society forward.
JVC had just such a moment when it looked at how people were using camcorders. "Let us get this straight," the corporate entity said (I'm paraphrasing here). "People buy tapes to put into their camcorders. They fill up a tape, then rewind it and play it into a computer - which takes a whole hour per tape - so that they can edit it and burn a DVD. Or maybe they buy one of those camcorders that record directly onto miniature DVD's, which are very expensive, hold only 20 minutes of video and can't easily be edited on a computer."
The "Aha!" moment came when JVC looked at the iPod. Why, JVC wondered, are we still recording onto tapes and discs, if we can record directly onto a tiny little hard drive like the iPod's? The camcorder could hold hours and hours of video, and you'd never have to buy another tape or specialized blank DVD.
....
But because the transfer-and-edit process is so confusing, the Everio G winds up suited for a very specific audience: people techno-shy enough to want the world's easiest-to-use camcorder, but techno-savvy enough for its awkward video-importing challenge. It may take JVC one more "Aha!" moment to realize and correct that contradiction.
David Pogue, "Aha! Video Straight to a Computer, NYTimes.com, 22 Sep 2005. via Tomalak
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