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I needed therapy after Write of Passage
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9 min read
“What words come to mind when you think of me?” I asked my partner while lying in bed. “Smart.” I put my hands over my eyes as I started crying. That was the last thing I wanted to be known for. I had spent my whole life wanting to be seen as smart. And now…
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Do you have opportunity insurance?
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4 min read
One afternoon near the end of December, we had given Tracer, our young dog, a new bully stick for him to chew on. In his usual spot, he was strewn out on the couch with the stick between his two front paws. He had been chewing for a few minutes when we heard a crack.…
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Building Digital Experiences with Humans in Mind
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6 min read
Originally written and posted on the Versett blog. “Something must be wrong with the experience.” One of our clients was concerned about a peculiar behaviour pattern we noticed in their ecommerce experience: some customers would visit the page and open chat with a question within seconds. It was as if they didn’t even bother trying…
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The changing face of media
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5 min read
Growing up, I always wanted to be full Asian. As a mixed-race child, I more closely identified with my Chinese side of the family. Living in a primarily white town, I didn’t have many Asian role models or friends. Representation is something where if you don’t ever get exposed to it, it’s hard to feel…
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Venkatesh Rao: Guru of the Yakverse
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7 min read
Venkatesh Rao is a prolific internet blogger, writer, independent consultant, and shitposter. His philosophy embodies a classic idea from Isaiah Berlin: the fox knows many things, the hedgehog knows one big thing. He is a quintessential fox. Ironically, that might be his one big thing. A few years into my career, I came across his…
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What is your worth? Financially speaking.
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5 min read
Is $100,000 a lot of money? I’ve always thought so. As a child, it seemed to be this mythical barrier that represented “a lot of money”, especially when talking about income. My mom would say “You should look at being an engineer, they can make over $100,000.” For similar reasons, I was directed by my…
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Originally posted on the Versett blog If there is a single point that is directly applicable to every business it’s this: the companies best suited for long-term survival are those who learn better than their competitors. The most successful firms operate as learning organizations: it’s part of their DNA and they organize themselves around it.…
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The books you read shape who you are
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5 min read
I can still remember the first book that changed my life: Gumshoe Goose. It was given to me by my teacher after I showed an early interest in reading. Without realizing it, she set me on the path of an avid reader for the rest of my life. I spent my childhood bouncing between Diana…
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Product mindlessness
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3 min read
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 the large title treatment used on iOS? If you’re like me, these are hard to…
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Missing the inflection points in history
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2 min read
Something I’ve learned recently: A commonly missed implication of incremental improvements are inflection points. These are most obviously seen in hindsight and very hard to identify while you’re in them, especially if you’re on the sidelines and not on the ground level building things. At a certain point along the trajectory of technology becoming better,…
Works in progress
