Posts

By all accounts the Kim Scott book ‘Radical Cando(u)r’ has become a bible in Silicon Valley and tech circles. And rightly so, as the need for honest and open... Read it →

It felt like only a few months ago we wrapped up 2020 with a solid one-fingered salute as we passed to 2021. Similarly I feel the same this year, and truly hope ... Read it →

Ins The past few weeks (months?) have been spent interviewing for new hires at Clearleft. It’s not easy finding the right candidates of late. Due to Covid it seems th... Read it →

In my binging of recent podcast episodes there was another from the Design Better show that caught my eye 👁 / ear 👂. In the show with Scott Berkun I was reminded of the di... Read it →

I’m going to try and stick to week notes for a while. Bear with me 🐻. I’ve been making small, fiddly changes to this website, and found myself going down a ... Read it →

Meet Sophie. A business leader at a large organisation, Sophie oversees multiple products. She works with both her in-house product and design teams, as well as external partners. One of ... Read it →

Imposter Syndrome. That feeling when you doubt yourself, asking whether you’re deserving of your accomplishments. You can't help but feel it's only a matter of time until you’re expo... Read it →

I really like talking to people. Introvert or not, I’m curious by nature and enjoy understanding what people are up to, what they do, and how they do it. So... Read it →

What a year. This time last year a friend of ours passed away suddenly, leaving a wife and two young boys without a father. It put things into sharp perspective. ... Read it →

I find it second nature to question myself. Often I’ll reflect and analyse in an endless loop, eventually introducing doubt into my own decisions. If you’ve ever watched The ... Read it →

When I spoke at the recent MUX London’s ‘Festival of UX & Design’ in September, I knew things would be different thanks to Covid-19. I just don’t think I realis... Read it →

I’m jumping back onto the weeknotes train. Incidentally I’m changing the name to ’digests’. This is to lessen my own anxiety over not posting every week and allows me to wr... Read it →

The peak end rule suggests we remember experiences based on how we felt both at its peak (good or bad) and at its end. In the context of reflecting on 2019, ... Read it →

Agile and design. Like oil and water, the two don’t play well together. Yet as we create more complex digital products and services, they need to work to a co... Read it →

A triple whammy of backed-up weeknotes. Sundays are generally far too busy to be able to decompress, wind down and write a comprehensive recap of the past 7 days. I'm not ... Read it →

So tardy with this week. Better late than never I suppose. I also think I have a relatively good reason, getting home late on Sunday night meant there was no ... Read it →

Claps. It’s what I’ve been calling a new XC route on the South Downs, a short skip from my front door. It stands for climbing + laps, and it’s a 7.... Read it →

What a week. Often accompanied by Rich, each day this week was spent travelling to a new, prospective or current client across London or Sussex. A good problem to have... ... Read it →

OK, I’m doing it. I’m jumping on the weeknotes train. Next stop: frequency anxiety! 🚂 Folks may notice that I’ve given my corner of a web a little upgrade. ... Read it →

Digital transformation. It sounds so grandiose, doesn’t it? Like some sort of beautiful metamorphosis: an ugly caterpillar of old tech🐛 magically becoming a beautiful butterfly🦋, resplendent in its new digital ... Read it →

I’ve just finished a long stint working within a large, risk-averse organisation. Being product-side for a change has been an incredibly eye-opening experience. It’s the first time in more... Read it →

The retrospective is — in my opinion — one of the most important activities in any project. Routine post-sprint retros are a great indicator of project health, but end-of-project wash-ups are where the real gem... Read it →

Our ability to learn when things go wrong is what helps us grow. Not just as individuals but as an industry. By better understanding when our ego clouds our better ... Read it →

Our industry’s penchant for showing semi-fictional, utopian case studies has always rankled me. No project goes smoothly. There’s always something that goes wrong, and it’s often those moment... Read it →

Sign-off. As Andy rightly points out in his recent post, it’s a thing that shouldn’t be part of the modern digital designer’s lexicon. I totally agree, and in som... Read it →