I am told that the manner by which others understand that I am busy is when my writing coherence suffers. This primarily occurs in email when whole words are dropped, sentences become jumbled, and logic falls on the floor. Rands, I literally did not understand what you were asking in that email. Poorly written emails… more
My introduction to Scott Berkun was his amazing talk at Webstock 2008 on the Myths of Innovation, based on one of the three books he’s published in the last decade. I remember his talk not only because of the compelling content, but because he eschewed the traditional get-to-know-you slides in his presentation – he jumped… more
A few years ago I wrote a piece that romanticized the state of the sky falling. The article is not about fixing disasters, it’s about preventing them, but no matter how much you prepare, disasters happen. The romance surrounding disasters is history speaking. When the disaster shows up and you see it, no one but… more
For a word that can so vastly change the fortunes of a company, it’s worth noting that no generally accepted definition of the word design exists. This means when your boss stands up in front of the team at that all-hands and says, “We’ll have a design-centered culture,” there’s a good chance he’s saying nothing… more
Over a half a million unique visitors stumbled on Rands this year and as the year winds down, I wanted to take a look back at the year in articles. These are articles that turned out to be popular or just pieces I loved to write: Bored People Quit. From a traffic perspective, the clear… more
The fundamental goal I have for a wallet via its design is that it prevents me from randomly collecting crap. Years of folding leather wallets with myriad pockets and flaps all yielded precisely the same result: a Costanza-sized monstrosity that contained random crap that at one time I thought I needed, but eventually became useless… more
Being computer literate means getting asked to help. I’m happy to help. I believe the less you fear your computer, phone, or tablet, the more you’ll get out of it, so, absolutely, How can I help you? However, this free tech support does come at a cost. I have a system for evaluating a problem… more
Early in the design discussion for the logo for the latest Rands in Repose charity t-shirt, Robert Padbury responded to my early design feedback: “You know, I realized something when I was thinking about this the other day – People don’t really have more than the following three responses to a design: It’s awesome. It… more
When I’m presenting to a large audience, I have three internal states: “I’m screwed.” I have not yet begun the presentation, but I’m imminently starting. This phase sucks. Every possible screw-up I’ve ever performed or could perform is running through my mind and my gut instinct is a sensible “just fucking run for it”. This… more
It’s hard to pick a single best work by Joel Spolsky, but if I was forced to, I’d pick The Joel Test. It’s his own, highly irresponsible, sloppy test to rate the quality of software, and when anyone asks me what is wrong with their team I usually start by pointing the questioner at the… more