strategy

My point is that my reasons for working on Are.na are personal. Our endurance for continuing this work comes from it being personal. Our strength as a business comes from it being personal. And the rewards that I get from this work, and deciding to continue this work, are personal.

For some people, in considering this possibility, the question... See more

Some researchers suggest that 50% of those in the workforce lack a sense of meaning and purpose. If we want to find deeper meaning, within our lives and our work, in this busy modern age, how can we ensure that that our lives and work are as fulfilling as possible?

Attached are the most common questions I find myself asking in ~every product/feature review meeting. Hopefully one or two make their way into your repertoire. (link in next post) https://t.co/ir0d3yQD57

A designer’s first job is to articulate the tangible value we bring to every situation. It’s not the clients’ job to try to guess it.

The goal is to make the complicated simple — not the other way around. The best ideas are often expressed as simple ideas. They’ll have power because they’ll feel inevitable.

Ubiquity = Invisibility. What we’re overly familiar with, what becomes common, we stop seeing. One function of design is to restore our perception, renew our understanding, and invite us to be more alert.

Stuck on a problem you can’t solve? Go bigger. Expand it. Make it giant. Do not try to contain it, or simplify it, or reduce it. Make it so large that you can begin to see a new pattern. Solve the larger problem and the smaller one will get solved along the way.

Find a way to connect every project to something much bigger: a higher order value, a truth, a courageous goal, or a larger question. Then, if your efforts start to lag or feel mundane, return to that larger ideal that inspired you in the first place. It works.

From the yop: Devise a project brief and share it with the full team. This is your bible and should include an outline of the main objective, the overall project vision, success metrics, tech and user requirements (if it’s a product), timeline and deadlines, stakeholders and roles, and the approval process. This means everyone understands and has... See more