S02E12 — DEC2020

At the Wrap Speed 2

Hello world and welcome to the twenty-fourth edition of this rather illusive newsletter.

Another year, another season finale. How exciting. It’s kinda crazy that back in January I kicked it off with the words “Nothing’s like it used to be”.

Ok, let’s do this.

✦

To quote Venkatesh Rao from his Breaking Smart 2020 roundup:

“Whatever our personal successes or failures, as a species, the highlight of our collective performance is probably that we made it through the year without either sliding into apocalypse or going insane.

Well, most of us. As of this writing, 1.75m people are dead from Covid, and will not be seeing 2021.”

What a year, huh? The weirdest one for me so far. But it started so naive and innocent. Among other nice things, I got my first tattoo, joined a new company, and snuck during the night into the office of my crush to leave her a note. Yes, I’m still acting as a teenager and yes she's taken as I’d learn afterward.

And then The Void took over. You know exactly which one I’m talking about. Little by little I surrendered all of my routines to it, including how much attention I dedicate to this newsletter. Simply put, I was very lazy about writing. Laziness or procrastination call it whatever you want. I spent too much time thinking instead of keys bangin’. This led to fuzzy flows, shorter texts, lack of substance and barely meeting deadlines.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom, but now I see I could avoid missing a couple of good shots just by actually being more disciplined and writing more.

13/ January · 6 Lessons in 6 Years
It was my last month on my previous job and I wanted to perpetuate the last talk I gave there. Folks told me I could be a “motivational speaker”. I strongly disagree.

14/ February · In the Engineer's Nest
This piece was supposed to serve as the intro to this season's theme “working with other people as a designer”, but of course I failed to stay on the route as time went on. Originally published five years ago, I was amazed by how little my perspective changed. Still not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.

15/ March · On Designers Turning Product Managers
This was an impulsive write up on a local micromovement. I like how short but concise it is. A real nugget. Local folks totally dig it, but that’s the catch — it failed to convey the message for the broader audience because it lacks the deeper context component.

16/ April · The Luxury of Dissing
Similar to the previous one, this too was forged out of my frustration. I wrote it in a single sitting. Then I toned it down. And again. One thing I never wanted to do is to bash someone or something. I might criticize, but just after setting the views of both sides. It’s easy to take a stance and be stingy. It’s hard to be flexible.

17/ May · Design Team X
This is the only design management text this year I guess. Now I feel this could have been a longer piece with more examples of real-life situations.

18/ Jun · Baby Alienation
My personal favorite. It is deeply personal and bold at the same time. I like how it flows, I like the length. Surprisingly I received the most and most thoughtful feedback here. This is the kind of writing I like to read and something I’ll try to do more in the future.

19/ July · Spotify Tabs?
Probably the most designy thing I’ve ever put together. It even has the vibe of one of those “homework exercises” that companies give you during the interview process. The reception was nice in the design community and I was even so blunt to send it to some Spotify folks I know. Haven’t heard of them ever since, haha.

20/ August · My Esoteric Funk
I was a bit scared to publish this one because I don’t usually go around talking about this stuff in real life either. Still not sure if this was a good idea.

21/ September · My Favorite Mobile Games
The lowest point of the season. I always keep a couple of these filler pieces stashed, just in case I fail to come up with something more meaningful.

22/ October · Black Art of B2B Usability Testing
This one feels like a recipe — “Everyone bakes bread, but this is how I do it”. Contextually it lives in the same realm as “On Designers Turning Product Managers” and “Design Team X”, but more pointed towards designers.

23/ November · Marketing & Product Design
This one needed more edginess and/or a more interesting angle to start with. It feels too broad and somehow flat.

That’s it for the summary and here are some thoughts on moving forward.

I’d like to experiment with a more irregular cadence. This should ideally include more casual pieces but also better longform ones. This should push me in a situation to plan things ahead in order to keep things going but also some level of quality. So far I was writing month by month, never in advance, and rarely with a backup plan.

In terms of the topics, I’d like to write less about design and more about weird shit, because I like to read weird shit. Fewer how-tos more r&d. More prototypes and obscurity, fictional and factual, and even maybe about ongoing events.

I’d also like to do some collaborations. Still don’t know in which form but we’ll see. Don’t expect anything and be open to everything.

And once again I’d like to thank my friends, copyeditors, and sanity-checkers Marija and Mladen. You’d be reading a bunch of gibberish if it wasn’t for them. 

Thank you for staying with me.

That’s it for issue #24. See you next year.

Love and peace to you all,
—A