1491 (Second Edition): New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt

Born to Run by Christopher Mcdougall

Future Perfect: The Case For Progress In A Networked Age by Steven Johnson

The Voyage of the Rose City: An Adventure at Sea by John Moynihan

How to Be Black by Baratunde Thurston

This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

Started, still in progress:

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick

The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever by Christopher Hitchens

Articles and essays of note:

Why Things Fail: From Tires to Helicopter Blades, Everything Breaks Eventually – wired.com

How Culture Drove Human Evolution – edge.org

The Enemy (Kindle Single) – Christopher Hitchens

The Hunt for Geronimo – Vanity Fair

First, Graves talks about the intention and value of drawing, which is particularly valuable for those who don’t draw or don’t think they need to. I think he neatly sums it up with this statement:

“Drawings are not just end products: they are part of the thought process of architectural design. Drawings express the interaction of our minds, eyes and hands.”

What we’ve done since we were children is cast aside to easily, without considering what is lost. The literal connection that exists between our brains and hands has a much higher degree of fidelity and nuance than is possible with a mouse (pen, or tablet input as well). It takes a significant amount of time to develop and atrophies when not used.

And then Graves talks about his process, which I found particularly illuminating, since I don’t think I’ve ever given names to the drawings I do, other than calling them “iterations”. He identifies three drawing types called the  “referential sketch,” the “preparatory study” and the “definitive drawing.” The last is most appropriately done on a computer these days, but he finds the most value in the first two:

“With both of these types of drawings, there is a certain joy in their creation, which comes from the interaction between the mind and the hand. Our physical and mental interactions with drawings are formative acts. In a handmade drawing, whether on an electronic tablet or on paper, there are intonations, traces of intentions and speculation. This is not unlike the way a musician might intone a note or how a riff in jazz would be understood subliminally and put a smile on your face.”

Read the whole piece here.

At a lot of companies, especially larger ones, the goals and language set are dominated by people with backgrounds in business, sales and marketing. Much of what is discussed has an aura of rationality, science or math, its largely subjective, and its difficult for many designers to overcome the wall of jargon they encounter. Designers definitely need to learn some of this to approach the table, but they should be prepared to bring their own. Look for ways to shift the culture, ways to open up the discussion to include stories from real users, and ways to build on what’s already being done.

Take a hard look at where you are working – is it even possible to achieve this? In my experience, if there isn’t someone a couple rungs above you who gets it, you are in for a long, frustrating and probably futile quest. If this isn’t working, find another company that does get it, work in consulting, or start your own. Agency work is appealing to designers partly because someone else is paid to inject them into the position they covet, but also because someone is running interference for them. They get to focus on design work while someone deals with the challenging clients.

I vastly prefer working in-house, where I see a rich range of problems and get the chance to see solutions through to conclusion and revision. It’s a personal preference, and one that requires patience and stamina in different ways than other contexts.

Here’s the video (first there’s an ad).

TechCrunch also did a pretty good writeup of the app, which saves me from having to explain it.

• Car wash carhop
  Learned that illl will created by older siblings can negatively affect job duration
• Gas station attendant
  Learned how change the oil in a VW, smoke Marlboro Reds
• Busboy in a fancy restaurant
  Leaned how to set a proper table, which side to serve and clear form, hang out with waitresses
• House painter
  Learned about importance of health insurance. First management experience, and my team sucked
• Apartment painter
  Learned how to paint student housing interiors, survive all day on a diet coke big gulp
• Sorority houseboy
  Learned how to steer clear of a house full of college girls
• Mail room of McDonalds world headquarters
  Discovered they serve beer in the HQ McDonalds
• Printing plant
  Learned about union-mandated breaks
• Bartender
  Discovered bar tending isn’t that much fun, really.
• Stereo equipment sales
  Learned how commission sales work (or doesnt)
• Lawn maintenance
  Learned how to drive a big truck, second management position
• Busboy
  Learned that laundromat/bar combinations are a great idea
• Picture framer
  Learned how to get involved with much of the female sales staff, third management position
• University telecom warehouse storekeeper
  Learned about DOS/Windows, and all the types of RJ jacks. First direct experience leading to current career.
• Telephone customer service/technical support
  Learned about flaming co-workers via email not being a good idea, fourth management position. Also first experience working in a meritocratic workplace. Led to beginning of current career.
• Product design and management
  Learned I loved designing interactive products, fifth management position. Start of current career.
• University computer science department design intern
  Learned I had no idea how to build a large website, learned a lot about methodologically sound research.
• Interaction design consultant
  Learned a lot about client management, had to lay off my first employee.
• Interaction design manager
  Learned a lot about excellent and horrible management, big company politics.

Bonus – If you can bear it, here is a video of me giving this talk, via Ustream.

Join me if you can!

The share of automobile miles driven by people aged 21 to 30 in the U.S. fell to 13.7% in 2009 from 18.3% in 2001 and 20.8% in 1995, according to data from the Federal Highway Administration’s National Household Travel Survey released earlier this year. Meanwhile, Census data show the proportion of people aged 21-30 increased from 13.3% to 13.9%.

According to the experts, young people don’t want to drive anymore, and the Internet is to blame! Aside from criticizing journalists for lazily falling back on not one, but two tired tropes (kids these days + the Internet) to generate interest in something that is not incredibly newsworthy, I wanted to see what else might be causing a decline in US car culture.

I see automobiles as the most prominent (and for many years, almost the only) designed object in most American’s lives. For years, they were also an overt expression of identity. In movies, in cities and towns everywhere, life seemed centered around the car. Sections of cities were destroyed and new cities built for them. Like any strategy predicated on growth, it had to come to some end, right? With the design force Apple and multiple websites and interactive products, there are other options Americans to express themselves.

It may be that American youth is less interested in what’s being offered by auto manufacturers. I don’t have any data, but perhaps cars today are too conservative and aimed at broader market segments, with fewer interesting variants to be appealing. Smaller, cheaper cars for years have been overlooked by manufacturers as worthy of their attention. Practically speaking, people must be doing something with their time, and it seems they all want to be online. All along cars have been just a means to socialize, and now its a lot easier to do that using Facebook and Twitter and mobile apps. It’s very hard to use these while driving.

Another aspect not covered is how the rise of hacker and maker culture comes into play. Cars can’t be hacked so easily anymore (exception noted), with blackbox computers and sophisticated engines and drivetrains. Computers and websites can be easily customized and are vastly cheaper than cars, too. The economy has been in a prolonged recession and new cars are inaccessible for many.

Lastly, it seems collaboration and environmental concerns are powerful motivators for people to consider public transport, sharing services, and living in denser urban areas.

Compared to older generations, Millennials participate in and are more open to collaborative consumption programs, such as media, car and home or vacation sharing. – Millenials Prefer Sharing Over Ownership

In many ways, they are trying to undo what their parents and grandparents did when they fled the cities for “greener” pastures.

The challenge for designers is systemic, and has been for some time. Its a massive service design challenge in some ways, and one that seems to be coming from the bottom up, rather than the corporate-driven suburbanization effort. Better urban planning and a much wider array of transportation options are needed for people who want to use their cognitive surplus.

What I Look For – The Short List

• X-ray Eyes
  People I know that get product can “see through” a product along multiple dimensions to understand all of what goes into making it and where it can go. What the decisions were, the trade-offs and meetings during the process of development. How many times did they test a part, and did they fix it? What will happen over time? How are they planning for the unknown?
• Mostly Makers
  Skills in making, editing, and curation are very important to me, but are only part of a holistic skill set and outlook (and many great product people aren’t makers). Curiosity about how and why things work and succeed (or fail – why does Hollywood make so many bad films?). A good track record helps, but being flexible about what success is may be necessary. Some of the best product people I know I’ve known for a long time, but its hard to get that insider perspective.
• Well Spoken
  I like it when someone can articulate the stance a product takes. Is a company trying to break out or fit in? They see how people use it (can they use it, is it meaningful, do they like it, will they keep it) now and in the future, and everything orbits around that. More literally, can people talk about products with clarity and directness (and metaphor). Many fields have a specific language set so insiders can be very specific, and product people should be well-versed or be able to adopt the local language.

From the Experts
I asked several friends and colleagues to share their experiences, and was delighted with their responses. Several commented on the difficulty of the question itself, but all took up the challenge. I’ve synthesized their responses below, but thanks to Charles Adler, John Borthwick, Dan Boyarski, Liz Danzico, Alex Rainert, and Khoi Vinh for taking time to respond. Here are their key points:

• Its About People
  People that get product understand that fundamentally this is about people. Product people use products. They talk about products in the context of use (as opposed to the features) and about the emotional engagement that exists for them. Development is a human process, and requires an understanding of the interaction of the roles involved and, of course, who the audience is.
• It Takes Holistic Thinking
  Getting product also requires (or may be an outcome of) holistic thinking. They think about all aspects of the product: market, technology, operations, support, design. They can talk about and balance the relationships among them.
• Bring a POV
  Despite being able to balance across disciplines and requirements, they have opinions that they hold strongly and can trust and defend them. They can say smart things about products – their own and other people’s. They understand where they’ve failed and can build on that.
• Prove It
  Being able to demonstrate the ways they go about solving problems is important. Seeing past work is one measure, and seeing the results of in-person problem solving is used often. They understand the roles required, and they actually have experience shipping something.
• Legacy
  Perhaps the most elusive, but in some ways critical quality, is whether someone can be trusted in the future to continue, extend and grow a product.

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*By “getting product”, I mean people who can understand how and why products are made and succeed (or don’t), and can articulate and repeat that outcome.