Maslow’s Hierarchy of Product Design
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a psychological tool proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation”. In short, it shows how people focus their energies in a cascading series of needs. The idea is that you can’t really focus on self-esteem when you are dying of thirst. The diagram looks […]
Adobe Acquires Figma
Note: I was one of the first 100 users of Figma and use it daily for work. It’s a terrific tools and has inspired me for many years. Adobe is a fascinating company. Almost all of their products have been acquired over the years. They are one of the last “desktop software” vendors, yet they…
Ode to Naruto
When my kids were little, we would all watch Naruto as a family. Recently, they have all moved out and are successfully adulting. (A verb I made up) Maybe out of nostalgia or empty nest coping, I have been binge watching the original Naruto. It is an exceptional show with terrific story. Some of the…
Taking notes
As a new employee, I am meeting lots of new people. I have never been an avid note taker, but with a large group of new information and new people, I am finding it crucial remember names and what was said in meetings. It has me thinking of all the ways you can take your…
SentinelOne, First Day
Recently, An old colleague from Marketo reached out to me about a role leading product design at his cybersecurity firm, SentinelOne. The more people I met, the more interesting the position became. It’s a fascinating field and team seemed smart, energetic, and experienced. I accepted the position and today is my first day as VP,…
Beeper App
I used to use Trillian, a long time ago. It consolidated all of my different communication channels. Unfortunately, Trillian stopped keeping up with the different protocols. At this point, it is out of hand. I am using the following to talk with friends, colleagues, mentees, and other folks: Telegram WhatsApp Signal LinkedIn ADPList Slack SMS…
The Product Design Department
QUESTIONWhat is the role of the product design department? I have always felt that the product design department should bring creativity, empathy, cognitive science, and problem solving to every possible facet of a company. Unfortunately, this is usually not the case. Design is often relegated to “make it look pretty” tasks. It is my belief…
WordPress Twenty Twenty Two part 2
I’ve been using WordPress 6.0 with Twenty Twenty Two theme for a little while now. I had a particular vision of how I wanted my homepage to look and work. This is a breakdown of how I achieved the effect along with thoughts on the new Full Site Editing in WordPress 6. It’s been an…
Torn ACL for My Dog
My dog Leroy recently turns 10 years old. He is a black Labrador retriever. Like many dogs of his breed, he loves to run after tennis balls and frisbees. When he was a puppy, he ran so fast, I thought he must have a racing dog in his ancestry. He never got tired either, he…
1Password 2022
I just signed up for the family subscription of 1Password. This is a password management tool. We have not used something this before, but I am impressed so far. The cost for the family is $5 a month. Benefits Just to jump to the end of why you may want to consider doing something like…
The Rehearsal s01e01 Review
I watched the first episode of The Rehearsal last night on HBO. It was a unique experience and was brilliantly composed. (imho) The premise is that Nathan Fielder chooses a person to help them through a crisis by rehearsing the situation in a studio almost like it was a show. It was like Queer Eye…
My PM/UX Influences
I was thinking back over the last three decades in terms of product design and product management. There are certain people who made a significant impact on me. I thought it might be useful to list them down in a chronological order. Joel Spolsky The year was 1991 and Microsoft Excel was being produced. The…
US Constitution: Article II, Clause 2
“Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress… US Constitution: Article II, Clause 2 Why does this matter? There is no such thing as a “right to…
My Design Teams
Rule #1: Understand The Details This is the most paramount thing. I only have one rule. You must understand the details at least as well as the engineers or product managers. How can the organization possibly trust designers if they don’t know the details. Never put a button on a UI if you don’t know…
S.K.Y. Restaurant Review
I had an incredible meal in Chicago last week. It was quite memorable. I wish I could eat at places like this every day. Here is my experience at S.K.Y. Restaurant. The Entrance I didn’t even realize it was the restaurant. There is no sign. No windows in. It’s just this door. Super weird. Inside,…
The Design Wheel
Lately, I have been mentoring (about twice a week) junior designers through ADPList. I have the philosophy that everything in life is designed (for better or worse). Everything from your house/apartment, to the things inside it, to how you dress and talk and run your meetings. Everything can benefit from basic design thinking. When I…
Figma Interactive Tree v3b
Figma Community File Rule of product design #7: Always show your work in prototype. Never make people look at your canvas. There reason to use a prototype is to curate the experience for your consumer which may include engineers, product managers, and even users/prospects. Having your designs be nearly high fidelity and realistic will get…
Figma Updates 2022
Figma just dropped a ton of new features. I have been trying them out (building a new design system) and I am mostly impressed. However, they are very different, so every designer out there should set aside a few hours to become familiar with them. Here is a quick review, but I suggest finding videos…
Employee Journey Maps
One thing I do with people I manage is a yearly journey map. Basically, I sit them down and give them a whiteboard or printed piece of paper with this template: Then I ask them to draw their yearly journey from left to right. The line goes up and down based on their own perceptive…
Recommended Movies and Series
When I suggest a movie or series, I try hard to match the person’s tastes so they like the suggestion. I take pride if the person likes what I suggest and feel badly if they don’t. These are some of the things I personally think are great. However, without knowing you, mileage may vary. TV…