November 22, 2024

All in the head

I love this feature. Is it a little silly at times? Sure. But there are plenty of occasions where I can’t easily get to my phone or Apple Watch—say I’m carrying things in both hands, or wearing gloves—and I don’t necessarily want to talk to Siri. Nodding and shaking my head is second nature, and I like the audio feedback the AirPods provide to encourage the gesture.

Wish List: More head gestures — Six Colors

Yes

October 10, 2024

Big customers

If you have a customer you can’t afford to lose, you’re in an even worse position. Now you’re no longer a sovereign company making your own product, you’re a consulting firm making custom software for that biggest customer, or others like it. Now you’re tethered. Not good.

Don’t have a biggest customer

Friend’s company is going through this now. He’s trying to create a product, the org wants to service big clients. Never the twain can meet…

October 7, 2024

Shottr Screenshots

Shottr can be used for free for as long as you want. Most of its features are available to free users; the main caveat is that the app will ask you to consider buying it every once in a while.

Shottr — Screenshot Annotation App For Mac

Nice little utility.

September 20, 2024

Heart and Soul and Efficiency

But I do find common ground in the need for the objects in our lives to remain characterful. We have spent an awful lot of time making things more perfect, refined, and efficient. In the process, though, I worry we are losing some of the things which make them interesting. Perhaps efficiency and refinement are an enemy of personality — the vibration of an engine is lost energy; a needle reading a vinyl record is not nearly as precise as a laser reading a compact disc.

Heart and Soul and Efficiency - Pixel Envyy

September 16, 2024

A messy dance

Been pondering recently what makes the Product role so opaque, especially in organisations with low product maturity. This description from Tom Dolan, really sums up the inherent messiness and tug-of-war nature of the role. Definitely one I’ll be using with my PMs.

the messy dance between top-down strategy, bottom-up insight, and the annual tides of our organisation”

Weeknote+VAT - 6th May 2024 - Getting Going - Leaning Forward

September 9, 2024

So I’m angry because that’s the logic of big tech evangelists. To drive down the meaning and value of everything so that whatever’s being hoiked this year at CES is seen, by contrast, as the most valuable and important thing ever. That’s why you can stand on stage showing a gadget that orders the most popular pizza for you and in the same few minutes have someone equate that technology with solving crumbling planetary and social health. And people just keep believing it.

The Bounding Box