lenticular design
11 years ago, Mark Rosewater coined “lenticular design” as a term of art in game design. Here, I adapt his introduction to the concept to demonstrate its relevance to software product development.
Tag: Product Management
strategic capacity
In a small & fast engineering team, it’s challenging to quantify work being done. There’s so much to do, and it’s difficult to categorize. How can you determine your capacity for addressing your strategic roadmap when stakeholders ask about it?
devaluing quality
Software building is a team activity, and QA is an indispensable stakeholder on a well-functioning team.
victory laps
Moments worthy of victory laps come from stories which have a beginning, middle, and end. If you’re not actively communicating these stories to a team, eventually startup-era victory laps fade into memory.
startup power
If you don’t invest in engineering leadership early you’re burning your salary budget. Once it’s time for process, you need someone who empowers your engineers and helps them operate safely rather than imposing rules that grind your releases to a halt.
escape delta
A moment of conceptual breathing room by putting forward a well-articulated, divergent view could save a ton of resources later.
feature shortcuts
When you’re building a software product, time always feels like your enemy. Co-opting an existing feature for a new use can feel extremely clever, like you’ve sidestepped a ton of work. But it doesn’t scale, it adds friction, and it adds danger.
product moats
Shipping new features feels like it’s increasing the “moat” around your product because just look at all the time and effort it took. There’s just one problem: Features aren’t a moat.
using forums
Offering community managers a forum to build a community is like giving a project manager a kanban board. Yes, they can make it work. But is there really a “kanban market”?
mental models
Designing software that doesn’t account for human mental models is unethical. It gaslights people into thinking they’re incapable, and the domino effects of that are incalculable.