Short Thoughts 2024

Align with customers, not with peers.

In order to see, you must be silent.

Plans, promises, predictions. So often confused.

Are you trying to move people? Or are you trying to let people move?

Saying "trust me" is somewhat suspicious.

Asking for transparency is a statement of distrust.

A good designer understands that a rock can be a hammer.

Are you designing letters or paragraphs? Be mindful of the scope.

Don't be confident, because it makes you look for advice on what to do. You should be looking for advice on what to avoid.

Learning is a living process, and from that point of view, talking is better than writing. You cannot discuss with written words.

Socrates would've preferred Zoom over Slack.

If you pretend to be weird or stupid, no one will suspect you. Because why would anyone want to be precieved as weird or stupid?!

The Dao that can be told, is not the true Dao.

Thinking is hard work. That's why "trust your intuition" is a such a popular advice.

People that don't have the stamina to do the hard work of thinking, often call for urgency, or try to frame the situation as a crisis.

Intelligent people are attracted to universal principles that can be applied to multiple problems. Stupid people are attracted to byzantine rules that don't makes sense and that no one else would bother to understand.

Use languages and protocols to invite. Use frameworks and libraries to exclude.

A well designed product can be understood with intelligence and intuition. Specialized knowledge is not needed.

A good designer takes freedom from herself and gives it to the user.

Is design about adding or removing?

Assessing a set of candidates is different from assessing an individual candidate. You can't use the same criteria.

Spending time on analytical problems will reduce your ability to understand customers.

What you consider insightful is often just cleverly worded ideas that you already believe. Perhaps you imagine yourself using those words. Or perhaps you feel validated that a well spoken person express the same ideas that you believe.

No one ever thought that Lucifer and Vesper were different wanderers.

You often make up ideas about others to feel good about yourself.