Author: Chris

Clients are not Your Friend and That’s OK

“The first time I presented design to a client I absolutely choked. I put the work in front of them and stood there like an idiot. It was humiliating. The next time was a little easier. And the time after that, well, you get the idea. I have done every one of the things on this list. I’m sharing them with you in the hopes that they’ll spare you a humiliating experience or two. It’ll take time.”

Mike Monterio (again) shares some practical wisdom for anyone who works with clients. You can design the most amazing thing, but if you can’t present it’s no good. I cringed reading this, knowing I too have made some of these mistakes.

Oompf, Right in the Procrastination Button

“A study from Stanford reports that heavy multi-taskers are worse at choosing which task to focus on. (“They are suckers for irrelevancy”, as Cliff Nass, one of the researchers put it.) Multi-taskers often think they are like gym rats, bulking up their ability to juggle tasks, when in fact they are like alcoholics, degrading their abilities through over-consumption.”

I fight with procrastination and focus every day. Clay Shirky lays out his reasons for removing laptops from the classroom. Mind you, Professor Shirky teaches “social and cultural effects of the internet and mobile phones”. The focus of his classes is technology, but it’s getting in the way!