Stop brainstorming; Internet colour; Startups
💡Think
A phrase I heard a while ago (I can't remember where) that lives rent free in my brain was "there's no such thing as a design emergency", and you know what, it's kind of true.
With that in mind, the next time your Slack pings after hours, or you receive an email at the weekend, don't feel obliged to switch into work mode to solve whatever is being asked.
There's a really low chance that the world will blow up if you don't respond until the next day.
Is it an emergency? Highly unlikely. So get back to Netflix, or however we're supposed to spend our free time these days 😉
📷 Look
📖 Read
❶ You probably shouldn't work at a startup
There's an aura around joining a startup to help them become a unicorn or whatever, but for those that have worked within them their entire career (👋🏻), you're burned more often than not. This article is from someone with a similar background, and they elaborate on their near misses (they rejected Allbirds early on), and put a case forward that maybe we don't all need to work at a startup to produce good stuff.
❷ What colour is the internet?
This is the coolest article I've seen in a while. Do you remember when the Matrix was released and they represented code in green letters? Does this feel suitably "internet" to you, or is the colour something else? How about when computers all used to be sepia in tone? Or aluminium colour, thanks to Apple? It's the most designery designer's content possible.
❸ Stop brainstorming
Alright, I know the title of this article is a little aggressive but do have a read of it. I kind of agree with the sentiment. Based on my own experience, brainstorming sessions typically serve the louder, extroverted members of the team because fair facilitation is really hard. Additionally, the more ideas you create, the more you have to throw away and the less you value a direct route. What happens if you throw away a golden idea because it's lost in the sea of not so great ones?
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Bonus round
Funny article about how bad Google Slides is
I ran a livestream with the HotJar brand and product team last week
🎧 Listen
Building to flip is building to flop
You can ignore the tongue twisting headline of this one, as the content is really good. It's a discussion on why building businesses to be sold/flipped ultimately means you cut corners from the start and build what they call a "spec house" – something that looks good on the outside, but is a bit rubbish on the inside.
Listen to this podcast (27 minutes)