Building Products Archives | Steven Ritchie

2021
Product mindlessness
22 jan

Let’s start with some product trivia.
- Without looking at your phone, how many items do you typically see in a bottom bar in a mobile app?
- How many icons do you usually see in a top navigation bar?
- When is
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2020
The power of decomposition in design
19 jan

I get excited when I come across a book that attempts to apply rigour to an existing field, especially in an area I work. I recently indulged in Notes on the Synthesis of Form by Christopher Alexander, and that’s what …

2019
Corporate Survival Strategy: Winning with Mediocrity
1 sep

“I’m not here to be number one in the market. I’m here to make money.”

It used to bother me working with clients who were unwilling to commit to winning. They thought they wanted to be the best in their …
What is a product?
30 jun

We ended the last essay with ‘The next time someone asks you what you do, or what digital products are, tell them you build digital tools to help make people’s lives better. Because if a product isn’t offering value and …
What is it you do exactly?
31 may

Working in the digital product space, especially in an agency setting, requires you to concoct several descriptions of your job & industry to keep on-hand for conversations with family and friends. Depending on their technical sophistication, how you describe your …
Writing An MVP Product Sentence
5 may

When starting a new project, Robert Caro distills the essence of his new book into as little as a single paragraph. “I can’t start writing a book until I’ve thought it through and can see it whole in my mind…I …

2018
Building Stumble
15 aug

For the past few months I have been working on building a couple photo-based apps. Each came about differently and I thought it would be helpful, mostly for myself, to try to articulate my own intention behind each of them. …
A missing factor in the Ideas × Execution equation
27 jul

This post originally appeared on the Versett Medium.

Has the following ever happened to you?

You are working on a new project with a client to build a new product for their customers. You come up with this great idea
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Building Snapshot
25 jul

For the past few months I have been working on building a couple photo-based apps. Each came about differently and I thought it would be helpful, mostly for myself, to try to articulate my own intention behind each of them. …