Category Archives: Uncategorized

2 Years Later

On the evening of Tuesday, June 12, 2018, I released the first update to my website since sometime in 2012. This has been in progress, according to this blog, since February 2015. Let’s talk about what has changed since then. First, my last update happened shortly after joining eBay, after being laid off from Critical […]

Innovation by the numbers

I think the hardest thing for many people to understand about device upgrade cycles is that, at a certain point, the devices we use constantly are pretty well optimized for their form factors. We get minor updates to cameras, or screens, or processors, but very few true changes to what we consider the core device […]

Thoughts on interviewing

While I take a break from redoing my website, I was thinking. Once upon a time… For a while at eBay, I was one of the regular interviewers for product manager and developer candidates. As a PM, my workflow was essentially, “Don’t do dumb things.” I certainly wasn’t qualified to ask about their theories on […]

I’m not alone in this

The most frustrating projects I’ve ever been involved with have been the internal projects. That website for Tender? Oh, the arguments. Working on a personal site is just as irritating, but the arguments are just with myself. Besides the usual ennui and self-diversion around actually designing anything, I’ve been focusing my time on finding a […]

Why are we here?

It’s one of life’s great mysteries, isn’t it? (Red Vs Blue, S1 E01) Every time I sit down to redesign my website, I think “I don’t really need to mess with this,” and go back to playing FIFA. I don’t claim to be disciplined with my free time. If I’m not working, working, working on my […]

Is prototyping important?

Don’t be an idiot. Of course it is, and there’s nothing wrong with someone asking you to build prototypes as a designer. It’s just another way to express your vision, and frankly, way better for it than static mockups. Asking if prototypes are important is like asking if wireframes or user research are important. As […]

Thanks for asking.

QShould designers learn how to code? ASure. Do they need to? I don’t know. When’s the last time you asked a print designer to create a Postcript file or PDF by hand? You never have. At most, your average print designer will do some basic pre-press prior to delivering the files. Then it goes to […]

On Flat Design

QIs flat design bad? ANo No matter what Eli Schiff argues, it’s just a style. A reaction to what came before – the green felt abomination of Game Center, the rich Corinthian leather of Calendar, or random cartoon characters in the interface. Flat design isn’t why designers are encourage to code, it’s not why prototyping […]