Category: General

From an analytical right brain perspective, what I’m exploring often relates to the thinking, design, and maintenance of optimized complex systems, such as hardware, software, communities, organizations, and ecosystems. From a more holistic and intuitive left brain perspective, I’m simply exploring a more natural and flowing way of life.

It’s imperative to understand though that I didn’t create this design thinking or way of life, I just observed its existing patterns hidden within my years of reading and research. If anything, many people have already communicated these natural design patterns throughout the ages but often times from such a limited perspective that it’s often lost within just their area of expertise, rather than being understood by the average person.

So really more than anything, I’m just the messenger or translator of what’s already been out there. My purpose, above all else, is to try to communicate this knowledge in a simple way that hopefully everyone, no matter their background or work life, can understand. More than anything though, my hope is that even if a person doesn’t fully understand what I’m saying, there is still something within it that feels right to them, even if they themselves can’t explain it. This, if anything, is how I’ve made most of my discoveries over the years, in that I never disregarded something if intuitively it felt important or right to me, even if I couldn’t understand why at that point in time.

Ok, this isn’t working. I need to define some things here before I can start this “journey” in honest. Otherwise, I’m just going to get “lost in the woods” again and end up backtracking to where I started again. Already I see this happening, so I need to wipe the slate clean, start over, but bear the following things in mind using the “hate something, making something better” approach.

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I hate just writing about stuff that I know. In effect, if I only write about what I already know and what I’ve already realized then this journal is going to be extremely ineffective to me, almost to the point of being useless. The reason for this is that there is often a chaotic mixture of thoughts in my head, leading up to a discovery, and a journal is the perfect place to jot down all of these thoughts, in a variety of forms and structures, so I can keep track of where I’m trying to “trail break”.

The problem with this approach though, of course, is that most of what I write is probably not going to make much sense to a lot of people. So the question is do I have a public journal at all or just a private one. And yet, during my adventures of exploration, I come across things that connect with the exploration of others. So in that sense, sharing these thoughts seems like the right thing to do. In effect, in doing so, it makes me feel like I’m an explorer, delving into the unknown and leaving trail markers and notes behind for those who are also exploring on the edge like myself.

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I hate sounding like an all superior know-it-all. It’s because if I’ve learnt anything in my past explorations, at the point you start thinking you know it all, that’s the point you start closing your mind off to the world and stop seeing other amazing things to explore. In effect, it’s the point you start losing your awareness. So sure there is nothing wrong with me being a teacher or guide, sharing my information with others, but, more than anything, I need to continually be a humble student of life, always actively open to new experiences and discoveries that may present themselves daily, if not hourly.

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I hate criticizing other people. The reason for this is pretty obvious. It’s because it’s so easy to criticize or to destroy someone else’s words or thoughts. To create though, that’s difficult. Therefore, when I read or hear something that I’d like to criticize or break apart, I need to instead look at it as an opportunity to connect with that person, fully understanding what they were trying to do, and then create an alternative approach instead.

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I hate writing from a limited perspective. A lot of what I’m exploring applies to many aspects and areas of life. Therefore, the more specific I am in my writing from a certain perspective, the less useful what I’m writing is to certain people, because they may not see how it applies to them. For example, if I talk about something and explain how it relates to game design, I immediately risk making it unrelatable to people within business organizational design, even though the basic principles apply to both, plus other areas of life as well. So to avoid this, my greatest challenge is going to have to be write in such a way that it connects and relates to many diverse perspectives at once.

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I hate making myself look like an obsessed nut case. While it’s very important for me to keep focused and relay what I’m passionate about, it’s also critically important for me to relay who I am as a whole person. Simply put, if I focus too much on my passion, I’ll seem like an obsessed nut case who can’t chill out, disconnect, and enjoy real life. In reality, I have a lot of other interests and loves like nature, animals, the outdoors, hiking, biking, drawing, composing music, photography, cooking, dining, online video games, and more. It’s important for me to relay these things, primarily because that are bridges to help people relate to me which in turn can lead to a possible connection or relationship in the future.

My journal will still be inactive for a while yet but I’ll probably reopen it at a later date. You can read more about this in the News section of my site which will relay updates relating to my web design work in future.

This journal is now inactive but will remain on my site for archival purposes.

In closing, I’d just like say that sometimes to have the curiousity to discover new things, we need to have the courage to let go of other things.

I’ve been noticing some commonalities lately on the importance of filtering.

Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.

Seth Godin: The more people you reach the more likely it is that you’re reaching the wrong people.

Progressive Disclosure: A strategy for managing information complexity in which only necessary or requested information is displayed at any given time.

Signal-to-Noise Ratio: The ratio of relevant to irrelevant information in a display. The highest possible signal-to-noise ratio is desirable in design.

Steve Jobs: And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much.

I’ve also noticed that a lot of designers don’t talk very much on their sites either…well their business/product sites anyways. I’m assuming it’s because they want to filter what they say so that their work speaks for itself. And in reality isn’t that great design? Stripping everything away so that the design itself speaks directly to your soul or emotions.

I was chatting with someone the other day about how I believe that in the future, instead of having massive plasma or LCD screens (since their environmentally unfriendly), we’ll instead have small hand sized devices that project an incredible sharp and vivid picture on surfaces around us at any size we desire.

So imagine a futuristic version of an iPod or iPhone with this technology built within it. If I’m meeting a client at a coffee shop, I can place it so the projection is cast across a small portion of the table top, so we can go over a design composite without the entire coffee shop seeing. Or if I’m at a friends place and he hasn’t seen a new movie release that I’ve already seen, I can place it so it projects it upon a large portion of the wall in his living room, thus creating a theatre-like performance (with the audio being transmitted to his stereo wirelessly).

Of course the next step is the ability for the device to not only project images like a computer or TV screen but also receive input via precise recognition of your hand movement. Initially it might be pretty basic but over time it could theoretically detect movement so precise that you could type on a projected keyboard with it. I mean imagine having your iTunes music library cast up on a wall in cover flow mode and being able to flow through your albums with your hands, almost like flicking through a virtual library of vinyl record albums.

Again this really isn’t that far fetched. For example, take a look at this video of a Hitachi device just recently shown at the CES. With another five to tens years of miniaturization, who knows what we’ll have. Oh and add in vocal and facial recognition and you’ve got something pretty cool.

In relation to what was said on Dembot and Scripting News, yes RSS is the key to decentralized social networks. Just as critical is the ability to aggregate this decentralized information though. Every blogging platform today pretty much includes RSS as a way to subscribe to this content being output. Yet not all platforms include the ability to aggregate this content and display it.

I haven’t talked about David Weinberger’s book Small Pieces Loosely Joined for some time now but I was reminded of it the other day when I was thinking about relationships. I can’t remember what I was watching or reading but it related to the fact that relationships that are somewhat flexible are usually stronger because of it. I mean I’ve always said personally that there needs to be some give and take in a relationship for it to be sustainable. If one side is doing all of the giving and the other is doing all the taking, then that relationship isn’t going to last very long. Now I realize why. Because it’s a very fixed and rigid relationship.

That’s why I immediately thought about the two words “loosely joined” when I was absorbing this knowledge. Upon thinking of those two words though, other examples came to mind as well. For example, if you look at research into making buildings earthquake proof, a lot of it relates to small pieces loosely joined as well. The flexibility of the structure allows it to withstand the enormous shock waves that strike it. And in thinking about that, my thoughts immediately jumped to my latest post about the new design book I recently acquired entitled Universal Principals of Design.

Of course at that moment, I realized why I was thinking about the design book. Small pieces loosely joined is a design principle in itself and an excellent one at that. It embodies so many things. I mean if you read Getting Real by 37 Signals you’ll see this principle mirrored throughout it. Start small, simple, and loosely build in small stages. If you read any book on building community, such as Community Building on the Web by Amy Jo Kim, you’ll see it there as well. Start small, keep things loose so you can feel out your community, and let it grow slowly over time.

And even just today, I encountered another upcoming book that mirrors this principle one again called Why Work Sucks And How To Fix It by Cali and Jody. It relates to how typical work environments are basically killing us because of their rigidity. Cali and Jody have instead come up with an approach called ROWE (Results-Only Work Environments), whereby people in the company are given the freedom to do whatever they want as long as they achieve the results required of them. Again we’re talking about creating relationships that are “loosely joined” which in turn makes them stronger (i.e. a massive increase in worker productivity because of it).

I mean even if you look at articles relating to open source you’ll see these thoughts of creating loose environments mirrored as well. Take a look at these two quotes below from Paul Graham’s article on What Business Can Learn From Open Source and you’ll notice that they pretty much mirror Cali and Jody’s thoughts on what a flexible work environment should be.

Things are different in a startup. Often as not a startup begins in an apartment. Instead of matching beige cubicles they have an assortment of furniture they bought used. They work odd hours, wearing the most casual of clothing. They look at whatever they want online without worrying whether it’s “work safe.” The cheery, bland language of the office is replaced by wicked humor. And you know what? The company at this stage is probably the most productive it’s ever going to be.

The other problem with pretend work is that it often looks better than real work. When I’m writing or hacking I spend as much time just thinking as I do actually typing. Half the time I’m sitting drinking a cup of tea, or walking around the neighborhood. This is a critical phase– this is where ideas come from– and yet I’d feel guilty doing this in most offices, with everyone else looking busy.

I know most people who do a lot of intensive problem solving know this as well. More often than not, those critical ideas that you come up with aren’t thought of in the boardroom or office but away from it when you’re doing something simple or mundane like taking a shower, walking the dog, or whatever. It’s one reason why a lot of creative companies often take their creative thinking outside of the office (i.e. local coffee shop, etc).

Anyways in closing up this post, I’d just like to thank David Weinberger for coming up with such a wonderful title for his book. It’s a design principle that I will refer to much more frequently now that I’m much more aware of it. Thanks David!

Time Capsule – The logical evolution of the Airport Extreme, as the added hard drive now makes it a wireless backup server.

Apple TV –  Still not sure about the new improvements to the second version of Apple TV. My wife and I are seriously looking at getting a MacMini with a 22″ or 24″ flat LCD computer monitor and Mac TV tuner as our next home entertainment system. Not only is a flat LCD computer monitor cheaper than a LCD TV of the same size but both the MacMini and computer monitor will power off automatically and we’ll be able to record TV shows similar to a TiVo. Therefore, until the Apple TV includes a TV tuner to record shows (not too mention lets me store any movies, pictures, or photos on its hard drive of my choosing), it benefits are still somewhat limited (especially in Canada where we won’t see movie rentals for some time probably). I mean if all of our favorite TV shows were offered via iTunes at a reduced monthly subscription rate that made it pointless to have cable TV to our home, ya I’d probably buy an Apple TV tomorrow. The ability to record TV shows is still the missing link for me though, especially when it has a built-in hard drive.

MacBook Air – Very impressive and a decent price as well. Functionality of it looks great but wonder how durable it is. I also realize why the need for no DVD drive but this might still be an issue. For example, they said you won’t need a drive with the new Remote Drive feature. The question I have is will you able to watch DVD movies using the Remote Drive? If not, and it’s only for installations and file transfers, then this can be somewhat limiting. Of course you can just buy the optional external Super Drive for $99.

The announcement of 20th Century Fox in that their new DVD’s will have included digital versions of the movie on them so you can transfer them to a Mac or iPod for storing and watching is great but I highly doubt these will be DRM free. Oh and why only the ability to rent a movie via iTunes? Why not the ability to purchase it flat out? Again obviously they’re worried of DRM issues. Why though when it’s been proven that DRM free music works fine. As long as it’s easy to purchase and access, that’s all that people want, and they’ll be willing to pay for it.

Oh well, Steve did say that there were 50 weeks left in the year for additional announcements. I’ll cross my fingers for TV tuner integration. Hell why not just include a TV tuner option with integrated Front Row support in their whole line (i.e. MacMini, iMac, etc). Be pretty sweet, since if the 24″ iMac had a TV tuner built-in with TiVo-like features, I’d probably consider that instead of a MacMini and LCD monitor, since it’s an all in one package and you could make use of the built-in camera for family video conferencing from your living room as well.

Update: Got the chance to view the recorded keynote address. I’d have to say that in watching the demo of the Apple TV, its interface definitely looks nicer than I expected. The key benefit I noticed is the easy access to open and accessible content on the Web that you can subscribe to via RSS (i.e. photos, videos, podcasts, even HD podcasts). So sitting in your living room you can check out other family members photo albums to see what’s new with them to the point that you could spend more time watching content on the Web than watching content on TV. What’s even more interesting about this approach, and what has been predicted already, is that a person’s website (i.e. layout, design, etc) becomes irrevelant, as their content takes center stage (due to its portability via RSS). Oh and with regards to movies, it sounds like Steve promised international movie rentals later this year (hopefully this mean Canada as well).

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a movie that totally surprised me. I expected to see shocking things about the company but I was still blown away by what I saw. The people in this company, especially at it’s head, where unbelievably immoral. The sad thing is I think society is partly to blame for this. For example, you always hear about the “American Dream” where a bunch of guys make it big and make tons of money. This idealized vision needs to change and be injected with morality at its cornerstone. The ends do not justify the means. I’m sure all of these guys thought they were living the American Dream but at the expense of putting others through a living hell (their own employees included).

I think a good book to read after this would be Small Giants. It proves that big isn’t always better and those companies who choose to stay small do so to retain their culture and values which they often know could possibly get lost along the way to becoming big. As the book subtitle suggests, its about choosing to be great instead of big.