Essays (1998-2009)
Many years ago this was the front page of my website – this now serves as an ancient archive.
#60 – How to be a free thinker – Freedom, that ever elusive idea. I do my best to trap some of it here.
#59 – How to pick a president – We don’t get to pick our head honcho very often. Here’s advice, from history, on how to do it well.
#58 – How to innovate right now – If you want to start right now, read this.
#57 – How to be a genius – A wild run through the history of creative geniuses.
#56 – Creative thinking hacks – A 5 minute crash course in how creative thinking happens.
#55 – How to stay motivated – What to do when the energy and fun starts to fade.
#54 – Writing Hacks Part 1: Starting – Some advice on getting through those tough first few sentences.
#53 – How to detect bullshit – Why do we tell so many kinds of lies? And what can we do about it?
#52 – Advice for new managers, part 2 – More advice for those new to the management game.
#51 – Attention and Sex – What we give undivided attention to matters more than anything else.
#50 – Advice for new managers, part 1 – Things to consider when you’re managing people or a team for the first time.
Previous Essays 2005
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#49 – How to make a difference – How do you know you’re adding value to the things that matter?
#48 – Good, evil and technology – Are you a good person? How do you know? Can you apply similiar critieria to what you make?
#47 – Teams and stars – Can you balance star egos with the needs of a team? What makes good teams work and how do stars fit?
#46 – Why software sucks (and what to do about it) – Why is so much of what’s made so bad? Here’s some fun opinions and advice.
#45 – Work vs. Progress – They are not the same thing. Find out why and what to do about it.
#44 – How to learn from your mistakes – If some mistakes are unavoidable, the smart learn everything they can from them.
#43 – How to survive a bad manager – What to do when you work for someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.
#42 – Why you must lead or follow – The way teams work, you must know where you stand.
#41 – Why I left Microsoft – A personal essay on why I left Microsoft after nearly a decade working there.
#40 – Why smart people defend bad ideas – I’ve catalogued many of the ways this happens, including advice on prevention.
#39 – How to interview and hire people – An approach for getting the most out of a 60 minute interview.
#38 – How to pitch an idea – Here’s a short primer on how to pitch ideas and concepts to other people.
Previous Essays 2004
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#37 – How to build a better web browser – Thoughts on how to improve on the current generation of web browsers.
#36 – The mistakes of version 1.0 – How to avoid common management and psychological mistakes of version 1.0 projects.
#35 – How to give and receive criticism – Here’s a short guide on both sides of feedback.
#34 – How to run a brainstorming meeting – The most important thing about a brainstorming session is what happens after it ends.
#33 – How to survive creative burnout – Here’s advice on accepting, dealing with, and working through toasty days.
#31/32 – What they didn’t teach me – part 1 / part 2 – Ten years ago I graduated from CMU – here’s some of what I wish I’d been taught about UI work.
#30 Programmers, designers and the Brooklyn Bridge – The engineering of web sites and software has bred a hubris that anything older than a few years can’t possibly be relevant, and I think it’s a mistake.
#29 – The problem with training (and what to do about it) – Advice on running training events.
#28 – How to manage smart people -There are some basic concepts behind what good managers do, especially when they’re managing smart people.
2003
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#27 – The art of usability benchmarking – Usability benchmarking is one way to get a longer term view of how easy to use things are.
#26 The myth of discoverability – Design is a zero sum game, and you have to carefully choose which elements should take priority at a given time
#25 Notes for job seekers – Some good advice for those seeking employment, particularly college grads.
#24 – How to get the most out of conferences – Conferences are what you make of them. If you’re not sure why you’re going, or what you want to get out of the experience, you’re unlikely to get it.
#23 – How to run a design critique – Critique meetings are one way to make sure teammates are involved, while maintaining a high level of design dialogue and quality idea discussion.
2002
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- #22: The long list of reasons ease of use doesn’t happen – I’ve compiled a list of the most common reasons engineering projects don’t result in something that’s easy to use. It covers diverse topics such as customer confusion, the impact of code architecture, the spinal tap commemorative reason, and more.
- #21: Designing on both sides of your brain– There is every reason to use logical and creative approaches when working on any kind of design problem. The best designers know how to switch between approaches, and bring together both kinds of thinking into a process for discovering and crafting the best ideas.
- #20: Strategic Usability: Partnering business, engineering, and ease of use – It’s easy to fall into working in response to how things are going, instead of using usability engineering as a way to help lead a team in the right direction. Thinking strategically about the connections between business goals, and engineering practices can can help.
- #19: Leadership in Collaboration: film making and interaction design – There are useful parallels between making films and making web sites or software products. We’d be wise to study how they manage creativity, and how our divisions of effort, and means of collaboration, compare and contrast.
- Essay: The role of project managers in design This describes the role that I played as program manager for IE5.0, and the basic process we used (the essay is derived from an old post to chiweb). It’s a good anecdote as to how one team managed the cross discipline work of design and usability, with the engineering and development process
- #18: Strategies of influence in interaction design: Unless you have the power to make business and development decisions for your project, some of your energy will be spent influencing those that do. It’s the smartest and most effective designers that work to understand the principles of influence, and how it effects the decision making process.
- Best of chi-web and sigia: Summary posts from the last two years of the chi-web discussion list, plus some from sigia. Covers topics range from usability strategies to web design and information architecture techniques.
2001
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- #17: The myth of optimal web design: You can’t make anything that’s perfect – or at least that’s what I argue in this essay about the conflicting goals and practices of web design.
- Interactionary Design Competition Summary / Resources: Descriptions of past competitions, FAQ, and guidebook for anyone that wants to run their own. Includes pictures, design problems, and other materials from CHI 2000 and CHI 2001.
- #16: Critical thinking in design part 3: project management: Designs must be realized to change the world. How does project management intersects with the challenges of design? How can a manager enable great designs to reach the customer?
- #15: Critical thinking in design part 2: idea generation ;: How do you cultivate good ideas? What process do you use? This issue discusses part two of critical thinking, and how it relates to generating and managing good ideas in design.
- Interactionary 2001: A live UI Design competition
At CHI 2001 we did our second competition format. Teams of usability engineers and designers from IBM, Cooper Design, and Trilogy solved design problems live on stage in front of an audience. - #14: Critical thinking in design
At the heart of design and engineering is critical thinking. The ability to separate what is worthwhile from what isn’t is the hallmark of the best in many fields, from film directors to project managers, programmers to designers. - The role of flow in web design
How can a design make your web pages feel natural for users? How do you achieve flow in site navigation and design structure?
2000
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- The art of UI prototyping
It takes a certain craft to know how and when to build prototypes of web designs or software designs. This primer of prototyping explains when and how to build them. - Why great technologies don’t make great designs
This essay explains why so many technologies fail to solve people’s problems, and offers a business and engineering philosophy for creating better technologies. - The web shouldn’t be a comedy of errors
Web designers create as many bad error messages as software designers – read this primer on how to review and improve your site’s error messages. - Fitts’s UI law applied to the web
The basics of HCI and usability apply to the web, and Fitts’s law is a good place to start. - Why good design comes from bad design
Ever wonder why design is hard? This explains a personal philosophy on approaching design problems. - UI that Kills: swords, craft, and user interfaces
What can we learn about web design and software design from swords? Intimacy and desirability are key elements for all forms of interaction design.
- The art of UI prototyping
1999 / 98
- The power of the usability lab
This is the core argument for why usability labs offer a strategic advantage to anyone that invests in them. This is a good primer for usability engineers or designers to give to their teams. - How to avoid foolish consistency
Consistency can be useful or destructive, depending on how it’s applied. This essay explains when it’s useful, and how to be smart in its application. - The Importance of Simplicity
How can simplicity be achieved in web design and software design? What is the argument for designing for simplicity? - The essential bookshelf for Web & Interface design
The basic starting set for those new to web design or software design. - Making usable websites and designs: informal process
For those working alone and with short schedules, here is an informal process for building design and usability into any project. - Three insights into good design
Why do we make so many poorly designed technologies?
Confession I’ve looked with some care at only essay topics from the list “Latest Essays — January 2009.” From that list, I presume to provide a few minor repairs, to wit:
#60 “ever elusive” would work better as “ever-elusive.”
#56 “5 minute” would be clearer as “5-minute.”
#55 “”starts” should have the plural form, “start.”
Plainly, you’ve been told often enough that you think and write well. I seek only to say I agree with that assessment. I hope my fading mind is able to hang on to yoyur name and site, since I suspect I’d benefit by subsequent re-examination, thus return.
Thank you. —Ed Nelson
Hi Scott,
How can I get to your essays from #1 to #39.
Regards,
–Harris M Qureshi
do you believe that violence in television programs leads to violence in our society?
write an essay about a kind of behavior that you do not like
Ann Elizaga
English 1B (9:15-10:35)
Mrs. Alexandria White
May 4,2012
Call me by My True Names
Thich Nhat Hanh
In Thich Nhat Hanh’s book “ Call me by My True Names, Hanh shows In his collection of more than 100 poems composed over the last forty years, Thich Nhat Hanh’s clarity shines forth, transforming the pain and difficulty of war and exile into a celebration of awareness and the human spirit. Hanh’s poems have an almost uncanny power to disarm delusion, awaken compassion, and carry the mind into the immediate presence of meditation. Thich Nhat Hanh writes with the voice of the Buddha. (This came from a book review, make sure you cite where this came from! & fix the language, it is unclear.)
The way the author intreprets in his poems of the deep empathy for those we have trouble understanding in one of his works called “ Recommendation”, which Hanh explains that he wrote this poem in 1965 for the young people in the School of Youth for Social Service who risked their lives everday during the war, recommending them to prepare to die without hatred. According to one of Hanh’s works “ Recommendation”, he shows in his poem of how young people are prepared to die without hatred he expresses in a line of his poem “ Even as they strike you down with a mountain of hatred and violence; even as they step on you and crush you like a worm, even as they dismember and disembowel you, remember, brother, remember: man is not our enemy. The only thinng worthy of you is compassion- invincible, limitless, unconditional. hatred wil never let you face the beast in man. “ (Hanh,18). (Please review OWL @ Purdue’s website for guidelines on MLA citation practices for poetry) Hanh explains further in his poem that if you die because of violence, you must mediate on compassion in order to forgive those who kill you. According to Hanh, when you die realizing this state of compassion, you are truly the child of the Awakened One. Even if you are dying in oppression, shame, and violence, if you can smile with forgiveness, you have great power. What do you think about that? Very fascinating perspective.
According to another of Hanh’s works “ Call me by my True Names”, Thich Nhat Hanh explains throughout this poem of understanding. It is about not judging one for their crime but rather seeing what got them to that point. Hanh explains that if raised under certain circumstances, one may end up a certain way. I intrepret this poem as encouraging the practice of deep empathy for those we have trouble understanding. Hanh is urging us to treat everyone kindly and look at all living beings with eyes of compassion.
The way the author explains these ideas throughout his poem is by a line in his poem “ I am the twelve-year-old girl refugee on a small boat, who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate. And i am the the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving. (Hanh,72). Hanh explains in this quote that the pirate doesnt understand what he did wrong to the girl in the boat, because his heart isnt capable of understanding, and not capable of having compassion towards the girl. He also explains further in his poem that if raised in a certain circumstance we would all turn like the pirate, so we cant just judge the pirate for what he done but understand and see what got him to that point.
As you read through Hanh’s works you notice that throughout his works, he shows the influence of western Buddhism. His teaching and practices aim to appeal to people from various religious, spiritual, and political backgrounds intending to offer mindfulness practices for more western sensibilities. make sure you cite this info, where did it come from? Include the citation at the end of the quote. According to Thich Nhat Hanh, his approaches has been a combination of a variety of traditional zen teaching with insights from other Mahayana Buddhist traditions. His methods came from thousand buddhism, and ideas from written psychology to offer a modern light on mediation practices. Hanh shows in his presentation of the Prajnaparamita in terms of “ interbeing” has doctrinal antecedents in the Huayan school of thought, (31) which ” is often said to provide a philosophical foundation “ for Zen.(32). He explains this through various of quotes, and sayings throughout his many works in his book “ Call Me by my True Names”, which has various short poems expressing his religion, and his engaged buddhism teachings.
Nhat Hanh has also been a leader in the Engaged Buddhism movement (he coined the term), promoting the individual’s active role in creating change. He cites the 13th-century Vietnamese King Tr?n Nhân Tông with the origination of the concept. Tr?n Nhân Tông abdicated his throne to become a monk, and founded the Vietnamese Buddhist school in the Bamboo Forest tradition. According to Seaox, Hanh was a A Buddhist monk since the age of sixteen, Tha^y (“teacher,” as he is commonly known to followers) earned a reputation as a respected writer, scholar, and leader. He championed a movement known as “engaged Buddhism,” which intertwined traditional meditative practices with active nonviolent civil disobedience. Seaox Air-Medical explains further that this movement lay behind the establishment of the most influential center of Buddhist studies in Saigon, the An Quang Pagoda. He also set up relief organizations to rebuild destroyed villages, instituted the School of Youth for Social Service (a Peace Corps of sorts for Buddhist peace workers), founded a peace magazine, and urged world leaders to use nonviolence as a tool. Although his struggle for cooperation meant he had to relinquish a homeland, it won him accolades around the world.
Hanh explains further that the government saw him as a threat-ironic, when one considers the subjects of his teachings: respect for life, generosity, responsible sexual behavior, loving communication, and cultivation of a healthful life style. In Nguyen Giang’s article “ Religious tension mounts in Vietnam”, he explains why the government thought Hanh as a threat, because his diplomatic charm offensive worked, the thinking goes, and there are fears that any further relaxation would potentially threaten the party’s monopoly on power.
For example, the government says Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh’s followers were asked to leave by the monastery’s abbot – they describe the standoff as a conflict between two Buddhist factions, but critics say the clampdown began when Thich Nhat Hanh urged the government to stop controlling religion and called for the religious police to be disbanded. Talk more about this controversy, also why are details about his life at the end of the essay? Shouldn’t his background be more near the beginning?
To conclude, Hanh shows In his collection of more than 100 poems composed over the last forty years, Thich Nhat Hanh’s clarity shines forth, transforming the pain and difficulty of war and exile into a celebration of awareness and the human spirit. Hanh’s poems have an almost uncanny power to disarm delusion, awaken compassion, and carry the mind into the immediate presence of meditation. Thich Nhat Hanh writes with the voice of the Buddha, and that he instructment in developing a socially engaged Buddhism in the face of the tremendous upheavels of today’s world’s.
Cited Pages:
Hahn, thich. Call Me by my True Names. 1993.
Air-Medical, S.. Thich nhat hanh. N.p., 2001. Web. 4 May 2012. .
Thich nhat hanh. N.p., 2012. Web. 4 May 2012. .
Giang, Nguyen. “Religious tension mounts in Vietnam.” BBC News. BBC Vietnamese service, 09/3. Web. 4 May 2012. .
Ann Elizaga
English 1B (9:15-10:35)
Mrs. Alexandria White
May 4,2012
Call me by My True Names
Thich Nhat Hanh
In Thich Nhat Hanh’s book “ Call me by My True Names, Hanh shows In his collection of more than 100 poems composed over the last forty years, Thich Nhat Hanh’s clarity shines forth, transforming the pain and difficulty of war and exile into a celebration of awareness and the human spirit. Hanh’s poems have an almost uncanny power to disarm delusion, awaken compassion, and carry the mind into the immediate presence of meditation. Thich Nhat Hanh writes with the voice of the Buddha. (This came from a book review, make sure you cite where this came from! & fix the language, it is unclear.)
The way the author intreprets in his poems of the deep empathy for those we have trouble understanding in one of his works called “ Recommendation”, which Hanh explains that he wrote this poem in 1965 for the young people in the School of Youth for Social Service who risked their lives everday during the war, recommending them to prepare to die without hatred. According to one of Hanh’s works “ Recommendation”, he shows in his poem of how young people are prepared to die without hatred he expresses in a line of his poem “ Even as they strike you down with a mountain of hatred and violence; even as they step on you and crush you like a worm, even as they dismember and disembowel you, remember, brother, remember: man is not our enemy. The only thinng worthy of you is compassion- invincible, limitless, unconditional. hatred wil never let you face the beast in man. “ (Hanh,18). (Please review OWL @ Purdue’s website for guidelines on MLA citation practices for poetry) Hanh explains further in his poem that if you die because of violence, you must mediate on compassion in order to forgive those who kill you. According to Hanh, when you die realizing this state of compassion, you are truly the child of the Awakened One. Even if you are dying in oppression, shame, and violence, if you can smile with forgiveness, you have great power. What do you think about that? Very fascinating perspective.
According to another of Hanh’s works “ Call me by my True Names”, Thich Nhat Hanh explains throughout this poem of understanding. It is about not judging one for their crime but rather seeing what got them to that point. Hanh explains that if raised under certain circumstances, one may end up a certain way. I intrepret this poem as encouraging the practice of deep empathy for those we have trouble understanding. Hanh is urging us to treat everyone kindly and look at all living beings with eyes of compassion.
The way the author explains these ideas throughout his poem is by a line in his poem “ I am the twelve-year-old girl refugee on a small boat, who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate. And i am the the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving. (Hanh,72). Hanh explains in this quote that the pirate doesnt understand what he did wrong to the girl in the boat, because his heart isnt capable of understanding, and not capable of having compassion towards the girl. He also explains further in his poem that if raised in a certain circumstance we would all turn like the pirate, so we cant just judge the pirate for what he done but understand and see what got him to that point.
As you read through Hanh’s works you notice that throughout his works, he shows the influence of western Buddhism. His teaching and practices aim to appeal to people from various religious, spiritual, and political backgrounds intending to offer mindfulness practices for more western sensibilities. make sure you cite this info, where did it come from? Include the citation at the end of the quote. According to Thich Nhat Hanh, his approaches has been a combination of a variety of traditional zen teaching with insights from other Mahayana Buddhist traditions. His methods came from thousand buddhism, and ideas from written psychology to offer a modern light on mediation practices. Hanh shows in his presentation of the Prajnaparamita in terms of “ interbeing” has doctrinal antecedents in the Huayan school of thought, (31) which ” is often said to provide a philosophical foundation “ for Zen.(32). He explains this through various of quotes, and sayings throughout his many works in his book “ Call Me by my True Names”, which has various short poems expressing his religion, and his engaged buddhism teachings.
Nhat Hanh has also been a leader in the Engaged Buddhism movement (he coined the term), promoting the individual’s active role in creating change. He cites the 13th-century Vietnamese King Tr?n Nhân Tông with the origination of the concept. Tr?n Nhân Tông abdicated his throne to become a monk, and founded the Vietnamese Buddhist school in the Bamboo Forest tradition. According to Seaox, Hanh was a A Buddhist monk since the age of sixteen, Tha^y (“teacher,” as he is commonly known to followers) earned a reputation as a respected writer, scholar, and leader. He championed a movement known as “engaged Buddhism,” which intertwined traditional meditative practices with active nonviolent civil disobedience. Seaox Air-Medical explains further that this movement lay behind the establishment of the most influential center of Buddhist studies in Saigon, the An Quang Pagoda. He also set up relief organizations to rebuild destroyed villages, instituted the School of Youth for Social Service (a Peace Corps of sorts for Buddhist peace workers), founded a peace magazine, and urged world leaders to use nonviolence as a tool. Although his struggle for cooperation meant he had to relinquish a homeland, it won him accolades around the world.
Hanh explains further that the government saw him as a threat-ironic, when one considers the subjects of his teachings: respect for life, generosity, responsible sexual behavior, loving communication, and cultivation of a healthful life style. In Nguyen Giang’s article “ Religious tension mounts in Vietnam”, he explains why the government thought Hanh as a threat, because his diplomatic charm offensive worked, the thinking goes, and there are fears that any further relaxation would potentially threaten the party’s monopoly on power.
For example, the government says Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh’s followers were asked to leave by the monastery’s abbot – they describe the standoff as a conflict between two Buddhist factions, but critics say the clampdown began when Thich Nhat Hanh urged the government to stop controlling religion and called for the religious police to be disbanded. Talk more about this controversy, also why are details about his life at the end of the essay? Shouldn’t his background be more near the beginning?
To conclude, Hanh shows In his collection of more than 100 poems composed over the last forty years, Thich Nhat Hanh’s clarity shines forth, transforming the pain and difficulty of war and exile into a celebration of awareness and the human spirit. Hanh’s poems have an almost uncanny power to disarm delusion, awaken compassion, and carry the mind into the immediate presence of meditation. Thich Nhat Hanh writes with the voice of the Buddha, and that he instructment in developing a socially engaged Buddhism in the face of the tremendous upheavels of today’s world’s.
Cited Pages:
Hahn, thich. Call Me by my True Names. 1993.
Air-Medical, S.. Thich nhat hanh. N.p., 2001. Web. 4 May 2012. .
Thich nhat hanh. N.p., 2012. Web. 4 May 2012. .
Giang, Nguyen. “Religious tension mounts in Vietnam.” BBC News. BBC Vietnamese service, 09/3. Web. 4 May 2012. .
Great information :)