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Making Digital Footprints
Last weekend I went ATVing in the forest with my daughter. We followed several trails, turned left here, then took a right at the next fork. I kept trying to memorize the trees and paths we followed, but when we turned around to go back, I quickly realized that I was completely lost. Fortunately we…
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The Art of Missing Out
Today’s news feeds and social media streams do a great job of telling us what’s going on in the world right now. The appeal of refreshing our feeds and tuning into broadcasts is their promise to keep us “in the know”, and let us know what the world cares about at that very moment. One…
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Enough to Give
The dominant narrative, the one we hear and tell ourselves, is that we don’t have enough. Not enough time, not enough education, not enough energy, not enough money. And so we spend our time trying to get more of these things. Something happens though, when instead of looking at what we don’t have, we look…
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Never Roast Angry
One coffee-maker in Barista mentioned advice given to him by a mentor: “Never roast angry.” This, of course, is ridiculous advice, right? How could coffee-drinkers ever notice the roaster’s attitude when she roasted the beans that went into the coffee they’re drinking? But what if they can? What if your taste buds can pick up…
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When the WiFi Goes Out
We get into routines, and they’re not always helpful. Habits slowly form into ruts that seem difficult to steer out of. Sometimes we need a shift to simply to pick up our head and check out our surrounding. A change of course doesn’t always happen without some outside force. The beauty of vacations, summer breaks,…
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Rubber Duck Debugging
In his recent videocast, Dan Pick introduces us to “rubber duck debugging”. As it turns out, this is actually a thing. Essentially “rubber duck debugging” means talking through your problem with a toy rubber duck (or similar object with equivalent IQ). In staring into the silent, supportive eyes of a rubber duck and being forced…
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The Lost Art of Listening
If all the policitcal debates filling our airwaves and social feeds are any indication, listening is a dying art. In the world of design, the first essential step to designing an effective tool is learning about the user. If we don’t intentionally take time to understand the user, ask questions and challenge our assumptions, we’ll…
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The Problem with Dissection
In high school biology we dissected frogs. I can still remember the formaldehyde smell that wafted up as we cracked open the container holding our little victim, and readied our scalpels. For kids (and adults, let’s be honest), dissection opens a whole world of muscles, bones and organs, all held together in this little creature…
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Nothing to Hide
Last night I watched Rob Ford for the first time. I’m not really up with all the Rob Ford buzz, but was finally curious enough to hear the guy speak. I was actually surprised by my own reaction. I felt kinda envious. Yes, envious of Rob Ford. As they paraded Ford around in his bright…
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Four Years
Four years ago I accidentally made a new year’s resolution. I decided to show up at least every week and write something. Over four years I’ve managed to ship 258 posts, 57,299 words and 2 ebooks. This platform has been an opportunity to share things I’m learning, while processing things I’m learning through the very…
