Over last few weeks I have been reflecting on my past work, and one big idea which hit me - when you begin something, anything, you really, really suck. We see the very final polished versions of products and ideas when we consume them, hence it is hard to imagine how raw, unformed, and fragile …
Designers enjoy some unique privileges in our society. Designers are paid to care about the human experience when others worry about system performance, targets, budgets. Designers get rewarded for their taste - something we all want, but doesn't necessarily have. And designers have the responsibility of inventing from a blank page, almost everyday. But one …
The transition to remote life is upon us. You are probably using Zoom or Google Hangouts or Microsoft teams to get work done, and maybe also connect to your family members. The internet is abuzz with memes which convey these ideas much better than I can express in mere words. Well-edited artwork aside, if you …
In 2017 I wrote that soon we will see better designed products because companies which make design tools were getting big rounds of venture capital. While this has been true, I am now seeing some very well designed products. But not because someone used better tool to make them, but because they were made more …
Email has been around a long time, from internet history standards. It began in the 1960s and is still here. Even though now we have so many other ways to message - including WhatsApp, Slack, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn and even Behance. https://twitter.com/benedictevans/status/576174141708996608 So by the Lindy effect, email will be here for a long …
Today I came across this little exercise from 'Steal Like an Artist Journal'. The exercise is simple - note down name of someone who influenced you, then write down their influences and so on. I started with Steve Jobs and checked Wikipedia entries on people whom I knew influenced him. My ignorance turned out to …
While tools like WhatsApp are ubiquitous, it still sorts of blows my mind how much connected we are. I am back in the Netherlands after spending around a month in different Indian cities - meeting colleagues, friends, and family. And while I am on a different continent in a different time zone, I feel strongly …
What significant issue did you change your mind on, in the past year? I find this a worthy question to focus reflection as the year ends. I changed on quite a few things. Broadly I went from being more of a capitalist to being more of a humanist. Here are some details: Diversity I realized …
I woke up to this tweet today by the VC Arianna Simpson. It was not much of a surprise that reading books comes first on the list, and of course I was curious about what kind of books. Going further, this tweet emerged:I love the way it is articulated - 'infinite appetite'. I think all …
We think of books in terms of discrete units. We think of them as things to be 'finished'. But apart from maybe detective novels, you would want to consume a good book multiple times. I read the book 'HBR guide to persuasive presentations' almost every time I need to make a high stakes presentation. I …
