DPL Reading List – February 12, 2016
Here are some of the articles we’ve been reading around this office this week.
Always Believe You’re Good Enough (Thanks to Brian Zimmer for recommending this article) – “I tell every entrepreneur that I advise the same thing. I tell them to always believe they’re good enough, because the alternative will prevent them from ever accomplishing anything. And that, to me, is a life wasted.”
The Reading Brain In The Digital Age: The Science Of Paper Versus Screens – “When reading on screens, people seem less inclined to engage in what psychologists call metacognitive learning regulation—strategies such as setting specific goals, rereading difficult sections and checking how much one has understood along the way.”
The Fidelity Curve: How To Weigh The Costs And Benefits Of Creating UI Mockups (Thanks to Jarrod Wubbels for recommending this article) – “The purpose of making sketches and mockups before coding is to gain confidence in what we plan to do. I’m trying to remove risk from the decision to build something by somehow “previewing” it in a cheaper form. There’s a trade-off here. The higher the fidelity of the mockup, the more confidence it gives me. But the longer it takes to create that mockup, the more time I’ve wasted on an intermediate step before building the real thing.”
Advice For Companies With Less Than 1 Year Of Runway (Thanks to Shawn Baden for recommending this article) – “The hardest part of dealing with a low runway situation is managing your own psychology. You have to simultaneously manage your own anxiety to not be overly negative about your prospects, but also not be irrationally positive. It’s a delicate balance.”
AI Is Transforming Google Search. The Rest Of The Web Is Next – “What happens when it’s really the machines making these decisions, and their rationale is indecipherable? Humans will still guide these machines, but not in the same way they were guided in the past. In any event, deep learning has arrived on Google Search. And the company may have used other forms of machine learning in recent years, as well. Though these technologies sacrifice some control, Google believes, the benefits outweigh that sacrifice.”
The Futility of Pleasing All Users (Thanks to Jarrod Wubbels for recommending this article) – “As with any software, as the number of use cases grows, it becomes harder and harder to reconcile them with a single coherent interface. That’s the unfortunate truth of creating great experiences; not all of your users are going to be happy all of the time.”
Passion, Fun, Priorities: How I Have Avoided Work-Life Balance Burnout – “I don’t look at work as work and play as play; to me they are the same thing. If a new business opportunity or project doesn’t excite me and if it’s not something with which I can have a lot of seriously creative fun, then I’d rather pass on it and move right along. Life’s too short to waste your time doing things that don’t light your fire.”
