“At the risk of gross generalization, I think designers typically spend the first ten years of their career hoping nobody finds out they’re an impostor, the next ten years thinking they’re hot shit, and the decade after developing empathy for the people they work for.”
I didn’t even finish this interview before sharing it here. I really enjoyed Mike’s first book and I’m looking forward to picking up a second. The word is that it’s another fitted to excite desire.
Knowing the stories isn’t memorization. Once you know the stories you know how one thing causes another, how things are related and reflected, and you can think about the present and the future. And you end up knowing pretty well when things happened — because you know how things fit together — even if you don’t recall every single precise date and the names of every player.
Brent Simmons on why memorization isn’t just to remember facts, but to tell stories.
“Politeness buys you time. It leaves doors open. I’ve met so many people whom, if I had trusted my first impressions, I would never have wanted to meet again. And yet — many of them are now great friends. I have only very rarely touched their hair.”
I have few detractors and can’t really claim to have any enemies. Perhaps I’m not opinionated enough. Most likely it’s because I’d much rather be the polite person than the person who has to be right. Mr. Ford has a few tips for those who struggle with politeness.
“You are not your job. You don’t need to do it out of love or because it’s central to your character anymore than you’d expect any other laborer to, no matter what they do. Love your life, work your job.“
Artist Zac Gorman of Super Time Force and Magical Game Time talks at length about doing what you can & be happy regardless when it comes to work and your identity.
“Making software isn’t easy. You have to make a lot of decisions and have good strong reasoning for doing so. A lot of the decisions I make are with my gut, and revolve around my personal taste. But there’s another way to design things, and that’s “safely.”
It’s not easy either, but designing safely means designing for everyone (80%+ of the population). Often, designing safely means making decisions that don’t make you happy personally. You include a feature so that someone else will like it.”
I think Louie should take it one step further. Write Opinionated Software. Don’t write mushy middle-of-the-road swiss army knife software. Write something with a voice.