384: Finding Time for North Star Design

This week, we talk about the real struggle of finding the time to do North Star design. It’s complicated! In The Sidebar, we try to find the digital equivalent of a Norman Door.

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The Sidebar:

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In this week's Sidebar, we try to decide what is the “Norman Door” of digital design.

• nosam7 asks: What, if anything, would you consider the "norman door" of the digital space?
• What are Norman doors? A Norman door is a poorly designed door that confuses or fails to give you an idea whether to push or pull. It was named after Don Norman, the author of The Design of Everyday Things which explored the phenomenon.
• Don Norman wrote The Design of Everyday Things.

Follow up:

• Domenico Flauto tweeted at us: To me, invisible design is all about removing friction and making the interaction (or trigger) blending in with your subconscious. This creates a "wow moment" the first time, but then gets taken for granted
• Fabio Giolito followed up to our notes about motion sensors as invisible design: About lights with motion sensors. Our apartment had them when we moved in, but I had to ask the landlord to remove it after one night because we have cats.
• Gus Johnson, Every Cat At 3AM
• Nancy Zuo tweeted: another invisible experience I thought of is going back to eating seeded grapes after eating seedless grapes

Main Topic:

John Cafazza asks: With a typical day being filled with heads down work, review sessions, and all the things necessary for shipping new features, how do you and your larger design team find the time and headspace to design for the future of your product? A proverbial North Star vision for the entire Product.

Cool Things:

• Brian shared The Sinner, an anthology series that examines how and why ordinary people commit brutal crimes. Not a whodunnit, but a “why-“dunnit.
• Marshall shared Ready Player Two, the follow up to Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. If you want some 80’s nostalgia candy, this is for you.

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Byeee!