Power Pal

I just finished a great book on product design called The Inmates are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper . Computers have really reached into every aspect of our daily lives. Whether in the bedroom, kitchen, automobile, office, or on the go in our cell phones, a computer is present behind the scenes. The problem, Cooper argues, is how horrible the interactions are with the vast majority of those devices and software programs. Not just the interfaces, but the entire interaction. And it's these horrible interactions that are generating a digital divide across the world between those that put the time in to accommodate and learn the poor design ( apologists ) and those that just suffer silently ( survivors ). I'm certainly not a stranger to some of the concepts around design. I studied human computer interaction while I was at Berkeley, tasking several classes in user-centered design, UI design, and usability and even did a research project on an alternative handwriting reco...

When I visited FlightCaster over spring break as part of the Duke Week-in-Cities trip, Jason Freedman (founder and CEO) suggested that we all read The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank . FlightCaster went through the YCombinator program in 2009 and from what I gathered the book was required reading. I had never even heard of it and it was required reading! I just finished it and I certainly understand why that's the case now. I have to admit the book wasn't necessarily what I expected. It certainly wasn't product management 101. It turned out to be much more about navigating the start-up process rather than specifics about how to design great products. But I can't believe I almost missed out on this one. The book outlines the Customer Development model, a parallel technique to product development that is meant to guide you in the process of iterating and testing each part of your business model until you find one that is repeatable and scalable. The m...