Fixing things that aren't broken

In the world of software development, we're always iterating.

Websites can look nicer. Web-Apps can have a better user experience. Designs can be more modern. Messaging can be clearer. And on and on we go.

But I've been thinking lately that this iterative attitude might not always be healthy. At least, not unless we're thinking about it the right way.  When we're working hard to make things better, I'm learning that we need to be paying careful attention that we're not breaking the things that are working perfectly.

Because part of the art of iterating I suppose, is to understand what you want to leave alone just as much as understanding what you want change. And if making the change you want is going to disturb that which you want to leave alone, then maybe the best thing you can do right now is nothing.

Doing nothing is really hard to do, because it means we have to accept where we're at, which can itself be challenging.

But maybe, sometimes, doing nothing is actually the right answer.

Fifteen Years

A few weeks ago my family went out to California to pay respects to one of Maile's uncles that had passed away.  He was in his mid/late 50s and died of a massive anurism.

It was pretty sudden when it happened, and his family was of course devastated.  While at the funeral though, I kept thinking about his daughter Angelina, who's 20 years old.

It got me thinking.

My daughter Leila is 5, which means that should she lose me at the age of 20, we have 15 years left with each other. (And my son Kai is 3.)

I've written about loss before, and I do so not to be morbid, or depressing, but merely to understand and accept the reality that life is short, fleeting, and unpredictable.

We've been taught that to live our lives without a little planning, or without saving money for retirement, or without working hard to build something, can be a careless way to go through ones life.  And this is true - to an extent.  If I reach 70 or 80 or 90, I'd like to still be able to support myself financially.

But I've come to believe that living our lives in a way that assumes we'll live until old age is equally careless.

Because if we were to know our children only had 15 years left with us, we might not be quite so willing to accept that 2 hour commute every day.  We might have a little less patience for a job that didn't give us the autonomy we need. And we certainly wouldn't give up a family vacation to work on a project unless it was meaningful and rewarding beyond the bills that it paid.

So while I still want to build a company that's great, and I still want to save money for when I'm old, I also try to let the idea of what would happen if I only had 15 years left with my kids influence me.

Because I think living my life that way is likely to make me happier today, and in the future, regardless of how long I actually end up living.
 

Podcast Episode #11: Ryan Singer of 37signals

For this episode of my podcast, I was joined by Ryan Singer, a designer at 37signals who kids that his "cocktail title" would be a product manager. Much of what I know about web design comes from listening to what Ryan has to say on the matter, and I really appreciate the time he spent with me.

We talked about how teams work together, design, how work gets prioritized, and the kinds of things that influence their decisions - about both design and the process of getting their work done.

Ryan shares some great insights, and I hope you find the talk as valuable as I did.  As always, you can listen right here in the post, or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Ryan writes regularly on the 37signals blog Signal vs. Noise and occasionally posts articles on his site feltpresence.com, where he's also posted some great videos of talks he's given.  You can follow Ryan on twitter at http://twitter.com/rjs.

Thanks again Ryan, I really appreciate you joining me.

And lastly, as has been the case a number of times, the intro music comes by way of the Smashing Pumpkins and their Teargarden by Kaleidyscope project.

Links

The People and links Ryan mentioned:

• Kent Beck and Test Driven Development
• Ed Catmull - How to Keep your Crisis Small

Compliments are harder than criticisms

One of the things I've realized about creating things (whether a web app, blog post, or something else entirely) is that criticism is actually really easy to take.  At first, you might think that being criticized is hard and requires you to have really thick skin, but I've learned that's not the case.

I suppose it doesn't hurt; I just don't think it's all that important.

When someone criticizes you, they might have different taste, a different perspective, or maybe they've just been doing it longer than you have.  So, it's really easy to shrug it off, defend yourself, or point out your view on things.  Most things are opinions anyway, and, odds are, anyone that's creating something themselves is probably less likely to criticize you in the first place.

What's hard though, which was unexpected to me, is being complimented.  When someone reaches out and says, "hey, that blog post really meant a lot to me", or "you taught me how to do something I didn't know how to do", suddenly, someone's made themselves open to making a connection.

And opening yourself up to making a connection with a stranger that compliments you is a lot harder than putting up a defensive wall against someone that criticizes you.

And this, I think, is where most of our challenges and opportunities lie. Not in arming ones self for attacks and criticisms, but by being open to being changed, making connections, teaching, and working to help others.

It's not easy - but as the saying goes - few things that are worthwhile are.

What to do if you're a PlayStation subscriber (or if you ever lose you're wallet)

It's been all over the internet today that Playstation had a major security breach, and is telling customers that subscriber information has been stolen, possibly including credit card information. They've even taken down their network at this point.

Playstation mentions in their release, but it's sort of buried, that consumers can call the fraud alert line of any of the three major credit bureaus. Here are the numbers:

Experian: 888-397-3742; www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013

Equifax: 800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

TransUnion: 800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

If you're a PlayStation subscriber, call one of the above numbers, let them know to put a fraud alert on your SS#, and for a certain time period (I can't remember exactly, I think it's 6 months) they won't issue new credit under your SS# without calling you up first.

I mention this because I lost my wallet a few years back, along with my ID and credit cards, and doing this gave me a lot of peace of mind.

The PlayStation communication sort of makes it sound like it could be a big hassle:

Note, however, that because it tells creditors to follow certain procedures to protect you, it also may delay your ability to obtain credit while the agency verifies your identity.

This is not a big deal.

It just means you won't instantly be able to get a credit card at the Gap or Banana Republic or Target. You don't really need that anyway, do you? And, if you're buying a car or a house, when they check your credit let them know you have a fraud alert on your account, and you'll have to approve it with the creditor. Again, not a big deal.

Any hassle you might have to deal with trying to get credit will pale in comparison to trying to dispute something later.