Working With Values
October 5, 2005
Creative Behavior always has great articles. This article, working with values, is all about working with morals, choosing ethical projects, and creating value… not just money.
‘This is the real world’
‘There are no friends in business’
‘Its all about the bottom line’
“Applying a system of values and ethics in your design practice is almost certainly something you’ve thought about at some point or another, probably in some hypothetical question relating to doing work for a cigarette manufacturer, oil company or the like. However I think a fuller more complete approach is necessary. In this article I’ve briefly examined a few of the issues that all designers should seriously consider.”
Public Service Announcement
October 3, 2005
If you’re at a cafe, resturant, or out in public anywhere and over hear someone say something, in your conversation under 5 minutes later… don’t repeat, use, or restate anything the table next to you has said.
Thank you.
Getting Real: Take it slow if you need it fast
September 30, 2005
There are only a few smalls shops that I have respect for. One of them being 37Signals. David Heinemeier Hansson (creator of Ruby on Rails) wrote a quick article about something most people in the industry understand but just don’t realize/utilize it.
“As a programmer in this small shop, I’m constantly reminded of what happens when I try to go faster by ignoring broken windows. It doesn’t work! You can postpone that refactoring or those tests or this automation for only so long before it starts to hurt both motivationally and economically. But its exactly at that point, when the hurt is pressing, that its the hardest to step back.
In the moment of pressure, it’s incredibly easy to commit the fallacy of thinking that you “don’t have time to do the right thing�. That’s a big warning sign and should condition your brain to slap you when the thought pops into your head.
The reason, of course, is that no business and no project lives or dies by what you do today, but rather as the result of your actions over a longer stretch. This goes for any activity, not just programming. Are you answering the same question over and over again in customer support? Inline the answer at the point of trouble. Or otherwise adjust to be self-explanatory.
Realize that “don’t have time right now� is a self-fulling prophesy. You will never have time right now if you don’t take it today. The business is not going to slow down to allow you to clean all these things up one wonderful day. It just won’t happen.
In other words, you want to take it slow if you need it fast.”
