Macintosh Creator Raskin Dies at 61
"Jef Raskin, a computer interface expert who conceived Apple Computer Inc.'s groundbreaking Macintosh computer but left the company before it came to market, has died. He was 61."
Wow, eBay item 6511741453 - Yahoo! Schwag reminds me so very much of my own time at Y!
Adam Gopnik rants against a new signage system in TOO MUCH INFORMATION
"Worse than merely unfamiliar, though, the signs are infuriating -- first, because they are there for the convenience of cars, and thus violate the first Law of Civilization, which states that nothing must ever be done for the convenience of cars (the mark of a city worth living in is that there are never enough places to park); and, second, because they eclipse, as decor, the jaunty, jazz-era syncopation of the classic New York street-corner sign pair, each sign gesturing toward its own street, but with the two set at slightly different levels, so that they have a happy, semaphoric panache. "
The city's comissioner of transportation argues for the signs by talking usability, but I think Gopik's rebuttal is sound on both a use and a aesthetic platform. It's a fine reminder that a system is more than its parts, more than a single homogenous solution that fits all, it must embrace the soul of a place and the nature of its people.
Many designers desire to go into management because they think that it will allow them to finally "make the call," give the orders they so often chafe under, and give them instant respect. But even CEOs have to learn it isn't quite that simple.
from HBS Working Knowledge: Leadership: The New CEO's Wrong Message
"The CEO is undoubtedly the most powerful person in any organization. Yet any CEO who tries to use this power to unilaterally issue orders or summarily reject proposals that have come up through the organization will pay a stiff price. Giving orders can trigger resentment and defensiveness in colleagues and subordinates. Second-guessing a senior manager can demoralize and demotivate not only that person but others around him, while eroding his authority and confidence."
The New York Review of Books: Europe vs. America is a well written, provocative article, but also delightful for the footnotes (!)
"1. The US television network that recently broadcast a passing glimpse at Janet Jackson's anatomy was excoriated for its wanton lapse of taste; but the avalanche of accompanying commercials for products designed to enhance male potency passed quite without comment. The female breast, it seems, can rot a nation's moral core; but malfunctioning penises are wholesome family fare."
Quality is more than skin deep, and a footnote can be a place to relax and chat (perhaps cattily), as well as cite, as Nicholson Baker well knows.
A while back I was reading Working Knowledge in which Davenport wrote "Intuition is compressed knowledge." That phrase stuck with me as a true thing.
Now Malcolm Gladwell's new book Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking shows how right-- and how wrong-- that can be. I don't have to tell you to buy it: it's already number two on Amazon's bestsellers list (after the yet-to-be-published Harry Potter book. Someday somebody tell me how that can be so). It's a wonderful exploration of one of my favorite themes, our gut reactions, and definitely a must-buy. While the prose is not quite as elegant as The Tipping Point's, it's still a deftly written and compelling book.
It's got me thinking once again about the care and feeding of our gut. In January's HBR, they reprint Peter Drucker's classic article Managing Oneself (also available in the wonderful collection Harvard Business Review on Managing Your Career) which gives us a hint on how to make that possible...
In this article, Drucker says
"The only way to discover your strengths is through feedback analysis. Whenever you make a key decision or take a key action, write down what you expect will happen. Nine or 12 months later, compare the actual results with your expectations. I have been practicing this method for 15 to 20 years now, and every time I do it, I am surprised. The feedback analysis showed me, for instance — and to my great surprise — that I have an intuitive understanding of technical people, whether they are engineers or accountants or market researchers. "
Although he sees it mainly as a way of getting to know himself, it is also a practice that is changing him. That "intuition" he speaks of is just "compressed experience" reinforced by his tracking practices, and by by tracking each decision, he is training his gut to become smarter and smarter.
Our metaphorical gut is like our real one. Everything we feed our gut makes us who we are. Spinach and steak, one thing. Taco Bell and Coke, another. Hemmingway and Gladwell, one thing. Spiderman and Rose Tremain, another. (before you start screaming, I read all of these).
When I want to improve my writing, the first thing I do is change my reading. When I was younger, I used to write exactly like whomever I was reading. Now my influences are varied enough that I don't unconsciously mimic voice anymore, but I do notice the level of effort rises to the quality of the materials I consume. After a week of reading the New Yorker, I'm using complete sentences once again.
Gladwell talks in Blink about how John Bargh did a set of studies in which people who took tests in which words reinforcing politeness or suggesting old age were embedded. Participants actually had their behavior changed afterwards (to the point that people exposed to old-age words actually walked more slowly, as if they were old). The implications this has on how we care for our guts are eye opening. What price are you paying for a night of American Idol?
As humans, we are naturally adaptable. We can ignore that and let the world have its way with us, or we can harness it and become our best selves.
It's all good.
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personally I have no idea what's going on....
