I imagine myself holding a basketball while in a space suit orbiting the earth. I’m floating in some particular direction. Off to the right is the hoop, traveling in a completely different direction. Our paths are orbital and curved. The good news is that our paths will get near each other soon. So I start…
First, Trump is going to get the GOP nomination. Hillary Clinton will get the Democratic nod. Trump is going to try to paint Hillary as: Out of touch Elitist 1% with a giant Super PAC War Hawk getting us into trillion dollar interventionist wars Entitled Shrill Living with an abusive misogynist husband He is going to…
I wear clothes. The materials are not found naturally like a bear pelt. They are combinations of many things using modern (and ancient) technologies. I used to wear glasses to correct what nature gave me for eyesight. I then had Lasik, literally lasers in my eyeballs to fix my vision permanently. I had braces to…
In general, people don’t like new ideas. What I mean by this is that the first reaction “most” people have to a new idea is FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.) It’s natural based on how our brains work. We love patterns. Things in motion stay in motion, things at rest stat at rest. A new…
Presidential Elections Rule #1: The one with more charisma will win. Since presidents have been using television to communicate with the people, the one with the most charisma has won. I’ll start conservatively with 1952, but it really was 1960 when television really took off. 1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) – 442 Adlai Stevenson (D)…
Recently, at Engagio, I have been talking with customers looking at the details of the different problems (opportunities) to solve. I am looking for a particular situation with the following characteristics: A task that happens all the time, preferably by lots of people. Clearly sub-optimal workflow with incredible pain in every step. Computers could help. People…
I’d like to make a new rule. Any sentence preceding the phrase Just Sayin, should not be said in the first place. “Just sayin” is only said after obnoxious or insulting sentences. These are better left unsaid. We all say things that hurt other people, intentionally or not. Shrugging your shoulders are muttering, “Just Sayin”…
I am dictating this blog post using Google on my phone. We see how it works. I just got back from having my wrist surgery to solve the pain I’ve been having for the last 18 months. I believe they call it arthroscopic wrist surgery. The doctor found two torn ligaments and a whole bunch…
A few years before I left Marketo, I started thinking about my succession plan. I knew that I might leave one day, so it was important to me that I leave the organization in good shape to live without me. This was complicated by the fact that I had designed most of the product. For…
In every design, you make choices that take you down a road. Sometimes those road leads to peril, other times to victory, usually both. There is no way to know what destiny existed in the other choices. I ask my self those questions all the time. “What if …” Some decisions are made while our minds…
This is a rough outline of what a great music program would look like (to me). First some equipment required: Macbook Pro laptops Adapter to plug in instruments Microphones Electric guitars Bass guitars Accoustic Guitars Keyboards Electronic drum kit Small (15w) amps Posters of rock legends Ok, now for the outline: Intro to Garageband Garageband…
Go into any high school and look at the Art and Music classes. In all of the art classes, they ask you to make original art. They ask you to paint, draw, sculpt and teach you how to use those mediums, but they do not ask you to copy existing art. They ask you to…
HR departments are supposed to do a bunch of good things. However, I think they don’t quite work out that way most of the time. Which kind of HR do you have? The “Avoid Lawsuit” Department From misconduct and harassment to injuries and workers comp, this kind of HR almost want people to wear helmets…
I’ve been listening to Freakonomics Radio and Planet Money on my car ride to work. Economics is a fascinating subject. It has just as much to do with human psychology as UX Design. One segment was by some guys who fixed Brazil’s hyper-inflation by inventing a new kind of money. They said, “People have lost confidence…