Key moments in tech history

I can still, and perhaps will always, remember:

• The first day we connected our NES to our TV and Mario appeared
  
• The first day I instant messaged a friend using MSN Messenger from France to England
  
• The first day I was doing a presentation and said I could get online without a cable
  
• The first day I was carrying my laptop between rooms and an email popped up on my computer - in the air O_o
  
• The first day I tentatively spoke into my computer and my friend's voice came back
  
• The first day the map on my phone automatically figured out where I was

Each of these moments separately blew my mind on the day. It was like magic when they happened. The closest I have had recently was probably the first successful call using Facetime, and waving my hand at a Kinect sensor. (Another, that most people probably haven't experienced was watching a glass door instantly turn opaque at the touch of a button. Unbelievable)

Each of these moments blew me away because things happened that weren't even part of my expectations. I expect our expectations these days have now risen sufficiently high these days that it'll probably take teleportation to get a similar effect from a teenager. Maybe life would be more fun if we kept our expectations low?

Wow! What a Ride!

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

 ― Hunter S. Thompson

How to peel a Post-It so it doesn't fall down

Back in 2005 I submitted a suggestion to the BBC for World Usability day (you're forgiven if you didn't get the memo about the day). They were looking for the easiest-to-use product and I submitted the Post-It which promptly cleaned up.*


How can anyone not use a Post-It correctly?', I argued, the first time you pick one up it's hard to use wrong. But, like my expectation for the end of desktops I was wrong again. While working at Jump we were surely among the highest users of Post-It's per employee in the world and, as a result using Post-Its well was clearly worth learning. Other than basic Post-It hygiene (like using a bold pen, writing large, writing straight, one-thought per Post-It etc.) a common issue with Post-Its is not staying the distance. But we can do better.


The standard way to peel a Post-It is to twist your hand as you peel, removing the Post-It from one corner to the opposite. What you'll find is that the Post-It, though it removes easily, is left with a raised corner. This is fine for recording a phone number for a few days. But if it contains useful information that might stick around for the life of your project, like a quote, concept or insight, you will likely find that after a week or so you'll be picking up once precious Post-Its that have rained to the floor, and writing another.


To have Post-It's that stick around (excuse the pun) for as long as you need them to, you need to eliminate the raised corner, which is where the weakness seeps in eventually unsticking your beautiful board of insights.


Here's how in full blurry colour glory:


 

(In case you don't see the video here's the link: How to peel a Post-It so it doesn't fall down)


With your thumb under the Post-It, place your fingers flat over the stack covering the Post-It evenly. Hold the stack from underneath with your other hand. Instead of pulling up, pull back in one movement staying at the height of the Post-It and essentially shearing it from the stack. With a few Post-Its practice you'll be able to remove the Post-It leaving it perfectly flat. It will then stick cleanly to any service without a raised corner and hang around neatly for months. A subtle benefit you'll find is that your Post-It boards look smarter too.


Petty though this may seem, I hope you find it useful.


Ironically, I am told that Jump was taught this during a project many years back by employees from 3M themselves.


*it was arguably an unfair competition given that it's fellow competitors included such multitasking devices as smart phones, mp3 players and credit card machines. One might hope that a piece of paper would prevail.

Keep testing those patterns

A few words of wisdom from Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's ex-chief software architect in conversation with Steven Johnson.

You are the sum in many ways of your experiences and you get these success patterns, failure patterns, sometimes those patterns help—like what you just described. But sometimes those patterns hurt, because they constrain your outlook. Something that might not have worked before might work now, because the environment has changed. But the innovators that I know that are successful keep testing those patterns over and over and over because people around them change and the technology environment changes. And so you might look at somebody and say: “You’re a one-trick pony. You keep building the same thing over and over.” But it’s a good thing! That means you’re taking those patterns and just recasting them continuously against changes in the environment. And if you believe passionately in a pattern, it’s great. Go for it!

via my brother-in-law (who could get a job as an information DJ)

The curious reverse following of following

If you've been on Twitter a while, tweeting now and then, you'll probably have experienced what I have come to think of as reverse following.

These are the times when I get followed by someone, or more likely, some company, who pretty transparently are more interested in spreading awareness of their services than actually hearing what I want to say. The curiousness about reverse following is that the language of becoming a 'follower' provides a semi-legitimate alibi for reaching out directly to someone with marketing - 'Hey, I'm just following you'.

I guess I have come to think of much of what passes for following on Twitter is really a hint for 'Follow me'. Find someone who you think will be interested in your feed, follow them, and they get the not so subtle hint that they may want to follow you.

There's nothing terribly wrong with this, except that I'm sure it provides dramatic inflation on the number of legitimate Twitter followers who actually want to hear what each other has to say. But it's perhaps also a small lesson in the power of a well chosen word - follow, in this case - to enable and legitimize behaviours you might not have predicted at the start. I would venture that more than part of Twitter's success is predicated on this handy, novel metaphor for online interactions.

Not the end of desktops

There was a time, a few years ago, when I thought it was the end of desktops. Looking for a replacement to my laptop that had recently run it's course I barely glanced at the desktops. Why would I want one when I could do more or less everything I needed from a laptop that was twice as powerful and half the weight of my previous one?

I was really wrong.

It's not that I shouldn't have a laptop, it helps. It's just that we have it in addition to a desktop, and now an iPad and smart phone. More and more I've found myself wanting to get stuff done on the desktop over the laptop. I crave the faster processor, the bigger memory, the larger brighter screen, no faffing with power cords and batteries, no set up, better ergonomics and the ability to run more serious, powerful programs.

Part of this need stems from wanting to use processor hungry software for more advanced music and graphics processing. The Adobe Suite and music recording and sequencing software are guaranteed to chew up my memory, benefit from a larger screen (or better, two), a mouse and connections to midi devices, cameras and printers. Same with bookmaking, or photo sorting. Using Photoshop and Ableton are really only viable on a large desktop or, like some MacBooks, the screen needs to be so big you may as well put it on a stand or not bother to try lugging it around.

It seems that we're going through a period of specialization of devices where we'll use a kindle for reading, a tablet for web browsing, a phone for short emails, Twitter and shorter interactions. And a desktop is still great for specialized powerful programs, and a large monitor still hard to challenge for watching videos and working.

As a result I find myself eyeing up larger monitors, powerful processors and bigger hard drives and I'm forced to conclude that, for some people, the desktop will be alive and kicking for a long time yet.

How much does an Ironman really cost?

Because  I hadn't seen it anywhere, and because I thought it might be interesting to share, I've collated here the cost for me of participating in the 2011 Ironman France in Nice.

	Cost
Cycling	£1,236
Event	£757
Swimming	£210
Food	£158
Running	£57
Total	£2,418

Spreadsheet of full Ironman costs

What might we learn?

1. An Ironman is more expensive than you might expect. If you are serious about doing it, it is worth reflecting, if briefly, on the full likely outlay. But don't let it stop you if you really want to do it.
2. Cycling is the most expensive sport, followed a long way behind, by swimming and then running. If you want to be thrifty just buy some shoes and run. Brilliant.
3. The costs of Ironman number 2 are likely to be significantly less than number 1, although the event costs themselves are a substantial portion of the total outlay.

A couple of things to bear in mind:

First, this is not meant to put you off from doing an Ironman. Finding out what you are capable of is a worthy activity and I have lost count of how many times during training - say, when out at 6am on a Saturday morning when cycling from London to Paris - when I said that this was totally worth it.

Second, if you're contemplating an Ironman it's very likely that you already have most of the necessary gear. For me, cycling was really relatively new for me. This was my first road bike, and this was in fact my first Triathlon. This said, the cost of almost any of the other bikes alone from participants at the event probably exceeded the total costs I paid. I did however, already own a wetsuit which otherwise rapidly pushes the cost of swimming up by a few hundred pounds.

Third, event costs will significantly vary. I think mine are on the cheap side, as, although we did have to fly to Nice we didn't pay for a hotel. I also intended to sign up for many more events before the actual thing which would have pushed costs up significantly.

Fourth, I was lucky enough to have parents who are supportive of such foolish ideas and significantly helped with bike cost and event registration.

Finally, sadly, I  didn't finish as I came off my bike half way through the mountains of the cycle leg requiring stitches in my knee. I have rarely, if ever, been more disappointed in my life to have to stop doing something even if it was terrifically hard. But that doesn't mean that it wasn't worth it.

Looking good

Ironman Nice swim mayhem

Tomorrow's Child

We just watched Ray Anderson's 2009 TED talk about his mission for his company, Interface Carpets, to climb Mt Sustainability towards mission zero - zero environmental impact by 2020. Ray sadly died just recently, but he shared in his quietly inspiring talk a poem by Interface employee Glenn Thomas about the person who will suffer unless we are responsible with our actions today.

Tomorrow's Child

Without a name, an unseen face,

and knowing not your time or place,
Tomorrow's child, though yet unborn,

I met you first last Tuesday morn.

A wise friend introduced us two.

And through his sobering point of view
I saw a day that you would see,

a day for you but not for me.

Knowing you has changed my thinking.

For I never had an inkling
that perhaps the things I do

might someday, somehow threaten you.

Tomorrow's child, my daughter, son,
I'm afraid I've just begun

to think of you and of your good,
though always having known I should.

Begin, I will, to weigh the cost

of what I squander, what is lost,
if ever I forget that you

will someday come and live here too.

- Glenn Thomas

I also stumbled upon a recent tribute to Ray Anderson, also by Glenn Thomas, as a view back from the future from Tomorrow's Child.

When Love and Common Sense Combined
A Poem From Tomorrow’s Child

Because you cared so long ago
although you know you’d never know
If anything you’d do or say
would make a difference here today.

Though you saw you’d never see,
yet you cared so much for me;
An unknown name, a hidden face,
a future time and secret place.

And when you threw away your fear
like a tired souvenir,
And learned that being strong
meant admitting you were wrong

I marked that day with humankind
when love and common sense combined,
And to my benefit unfurled
a rich endowment for the world.

- Glenn Thomas

Thanks to Glenn Thomas for sharing the beautiful poems.

Custom notebooks from Blurb

Just learned about Blurb's custom note-book making service. Pretty excited.

Of course it's always been possible to create your own notebooks with some binding instructions and a Sunday afternoon, but it's pretty exciting to me to be able to order some really custom ones with my own templates and illustrations adorning or inspiring in them. And maybe even order 20 at a time (saving myself many Sunday afternoons). There's nothing like a notebook that makes you want to write in it (and a nice pen) to encourage productivity, and hence creativity.

Image from blurb

I just wish they'd release a 'dotted' version, like these lovely dot grid notebooks from Behance - I reckon dots are the best subtle notebook watermarking - all the benefits of a grid without the grid. I would even say that according to trends of technology evolution it's like a natural evolution for the grid. It's kind of fun to speculate on what's next (subtly adjusting the size of the dots according to patterns, coloured dots, uneven spacing according to actual notebook usage...). I guess, being able to lay my own images down in the notebook, perhaps I can create my own dotted pages.

Go create.

Disclosure: I'm a pretty massive Blurb fan

The Power of Templates: Replicate then Innovate

While creating a new template for the startup I'm working at I was reminded of the immense power of good templates. Not least because I have been reminded a lot in the past months of the drawbacks of not having good templates to hand. I'm thinking of templates for all the regular things - presentations, emails, letters, feedback, photo editing, note-taking, you name it.

The power comes from a principle I learned at Jump Associates which is, when you're still getting going, replicate then innovate. It's fine to innovate once you're a master of your craft, but until you can master the fundamentals it's usually best to stick with replicating from those who have trodden the ground before you, figuring it out as they went along. Before Picasso went cubist, he was first an extremely accomplished traditional artist.

I think templates are worth the time and energy to create well. Here's why it might be worth spending a little time to set up a template you hadn't considered:

• It saves time in the future (for yourself or others)
• It creates a consistent brand image
• You can worry about great information design once and have the joy of reusing good designs again and again
• It helps get everybody on the same page
• Templates are a kind of institutional memory - connecting people with, and allowing people to build on, good work from the past
• Templates are easily shared
• The template does the replication, freeing people to innovate

Because you can always choose to ignore a template, or build and modify from them, it's hard for me to find too many drawbacks to them. Worth carving out a little time to make or, perhaps better, go find one someone's already made. More templates please!