Previously head of design at Basecamp & HEY, now looking for something new. Co-creator of @helloweatherapp. Puns always intended. he/him
Sep 21, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
This is such a good thought. The efficacy of UX design is 100% constrained by the authority that UX designers have over business decisions. If the C suite primarily cares about the bottom line, no amount of empathetic design thinking will really matter.
This is because “what’s good for the biz” and “what’s good for users” are often opposing forces.
For example, increasing engagement is awesome for business, but generally toxic for users.
Unless the biz owners care about these principles, they’ll never side with users.
Aug 4, 2020 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
THREAD: Here's a little tale about what it's like to be an indie iOS developer working under Apple's 800lb gorilla rule...
Earlier this year, Apple acquired Dark Sky, a highly popular weather app and API, used by thousands of indie apps big and small.
In the acquisition, they announced they'd be shutting off the API, forcing all those developers to find some other service. theverge.com/2020/3/31/2120…
Jun 1, 2020 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
When your country has continually failed you, disrespected you, abused you, called you names, opposed your humanity, caused you to live in constant fear of bodily harm...
When you’ve been told you’re equal but treated like an animal, when you’ve protested quietly and gotten viciously reprimanded, when you try to vote to change the system but the districts are segregated, gerrymandered, and the votes are suppressed...
May 25, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I have now experienced enough instances of people trying to organize a project with Slack that I can say with confidence: it's completely absurd.
42 simultaneous conversations spread across 8 different chat channels, with 4 total lines of actually important information—most of which are links to Google Docs—all buried amongst a stream of other chatter and GIFs and reactions.
May 13, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
The ultimate goal in UI design is not just nice typography, or color palettes, or layout, or information hierarchy.
It’s combining *all of that* in a way that people can glean on a subconscious, perceptive level. So they can understand the UI without having to think about it.
The only way to do this is by gradually building up a scaffolding made of many tiny details, each one imbued with meaning.
Every single element should convey context and intent.
Mar 21, 2020 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Quarantine day 1 vs Quarantine day 7
Quartantine day 7 vs Quarantine day 14
Mar 18, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
EMOTIONAL RELIEF THREAD 1/∞
I'm going to post little morsels of positivity on this thread from time to time, because we're gonna need it. DM me or reply with stuff that makes you smile, and I'll post it here.
To kick things off: HELP ON THE WAY.
Mar 12, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
I've been working from home and homeschooling for almost 10 years. If you're switching yourself over to my weird lifestyle, here are some tips... 1/81) Having your kids and family around all the time can be distracting. But it's also a JOY. Appreciate the joy. (Especially right now, we desperately need it!)
You can always get back to work, but you can never get back the times when your kid wanders by for some goofy reason.
Mar 5, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
As we're starting to see positive ecological side effects of virus quarantines, I can't stop thinking about @jasonhickel's Degrowth concept—that our endless hunger for economic and GDP growth is the direct cause of increased ecological destruction. 1/ npr.org/sections/goats…
Many of the drastic actions people are taking to stop the virus (reduced air travel, working remotely, shutting down all non-essential activities) are the same ones we urgently need to reduce carbon emissions.
Oct 4, 2019 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
We've been running paid subscriptions in Hello Weather for a couple of years now, and while it's working out well, I'm increasingly convinced that subscription mobile apps are an anti-pattern
Subscriptions are good for us—they're the only way we can afford to operate our app! But they're shitty from customer standpoint. A mobile app is a tiny utility thing, and the mental overhead required to do a trial, pick a payment option, commit, etc just feels off. It's too much
Jul 8, 2019 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Ya know, even the name "Superhuman" suggests that product is going to be exploitive. If a company is selling you on being some ultra-performant x-treme rockstar ninja, peddling otherworldly superiority over your fellow humans, you can guarantee something shady is happening.
Because who are the people desperate to become ultra-performant superhumans? The workaholics trying to cram in 100 hours of work every week, squeezing out every last drop of sleep-deprived productivity they can muster.
May 10, 2019 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Lately I have amassed a few inspiring things that wormed their way into my brain and won't get out, so I'm sharing them with you (thread)
First, this video of my dad's glassblowing work and his reflection on a career as an artist:
Dec 10, 2018 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
New day, same old story: more gross shady behavior from tech companies, selling their customers' location data and hiding behind dark patterns and complex privacy policies that obfuscate what they're really doing. nytimes.com/interactive/20…
So far, WeatherBug, The Weather Channel, and Accuweather have all been outed as pulling this abusive stuff. I'm starting to think most mainstream weather apps are just advertising vectors with some weather info tacked on as a trojan horse. techcrunch.com/2017/08/22/acc…
Nov 15, 2018 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Every horrifying news story about Facebook only reaffirms what has been plainly obvious about the company for a decade+. Facebook preyed on our collective utopian naïveté about the Internet and pursued relentless growth above all else. nytimes.com/2018/11/14/tec…
10 years ago, we not only turned a blind eye to this behavior, but *lauded it* as the path to incredible world domination: an epic battle between tech players to see WHO CAN WIN SOCIAL. Note the pugilistic language in this Wired piece from 2009. wired.com/2009/06/ff-fac…
Jul 25, 2018 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
An ever-present challenge in software design:
Workflows for NOVICE users, who have concerns like: How does this work? What's possible? What steps do I take? Am I doing it right?
vs.
Workflows for EXPERT users: I know how this works! Get out of my way! Add powerful features!
For novices, a lot of UI friction is initially beneficial. They need guidance and clear affordances.
But experts want LESS friction—they care about max speed and productivity.
May 23, 2018 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
I've gotten some snarky replies to this tweet (which is perfectly ironic) so here's a little tip I've learned about close-mindedness over the years...
When someone suggests an unusual new way to do something, it's natural to have an instinctive negative reaction. "That's dumb, you're missing the point, that's not how this is supposed to work."
Quartantine day 7 vs Quarantine day 14 
