DPL Reading List – October 7, 2016
Here are some of the articles we’ve been reading around this office this week.
The One Unbreakable Rule in Business Writing – “Yes, this first one is about you, not the reader – but you need to start here to motivate yourself to serve the reader. It might seem obvious that you’re writing for a reason, but how many times have you actually stopped and asked yourself what that reason is? If you aren’t honest with yourself about what results are important to you, your writing will fail.”
No Exit (Thanks to Jarrod Wubbels for recommending this article) – “For true believers placing their faith in the startup dream, a liquidity event is bit like a financial rapture, in which the faithful are finally rewarded for their perseverance through the transmutation of private equity (which employees are generally restricted from selling) into some form of cash or unrestricted public stock. Unfortunately, a number of factors have conspired to make liquidity events more elusive in recent years.”
Melinda Gates Has a New Mission: Women in Tech – “We know when in history [women became less interested in computer science]. When I was growing up, all the games — the palm games, the Atari games, the computer games — they were all gender neutral, right? Then we went through this gamification that became very male. We don’t know for sure, but it looks like the correlation is that when the gaming industry became very male, all of a sudden you had women in computer science [drop off]. That’s changing a little bit, but I want to actually try and figure out if we can figure out some more of these correlations, so we don’t make the same mistakes again.”
Complexion Reduction: A New Trend In Mobile Design (Thanks to Jarrod Wubbels for recommending this article) – “As the lines between UX and UI designer blur in today’s more integrated design process, designers become less worried about their specific responsibilities (like making it pretty) and focus on the ultimate goal of creating the best product for their user.”
You will always want to quit (Thanks to Brian Zimmer for recommending this article) – “I think we have an idea that if we just achieve a certain number of things, or reach one point that we’ve had our sights on, we’ll stop wanting to quit. We’ll be so sold on what we’re doing, and so invested in it, that giving up won’t even enter into our consciousness. I don’t believe that’s true. I believe you always have a little part of you that dreams of quitting and walking away. If you ask people who are honest with themselves, they’ll bear that out.”
On Phone Numbers and Identity (Thanks to Jarrod Wubbels for recommending this article) – “The assumption that control of a phone number is sufficient proof of identity is false. Just as we should no longer trust SMS for two-factor authentication, we shouldn’t trust it for account recovery. Disable this anywhere you can.”
Do you want great resumes or great talent? (Thanks to Jarrod Wubbels for recommending this article) – “Recent, trusted studies show that millennials of all backgrounds (majority and minority) value diversity and look for employment with companies who have diverse and inclusive environments. This means that companies that do not figure out how to diversify their employee base and offer a company culture that embraces diversity in an inclusive manner will become unable to compete for top talent. Diversity and inclusion is a competitive requirement, not a benevolent act.”
