It’s OK to be a perfectionist. But it’s not OK to not share your work until it’s perfect. The point to sharing in-progress work early is to obtain input, inspiration, and innovation that will make […]
Author: Peter Sheerin
Peter Sheerin is best known for the decade he spent as the Technical Editor of CADENCE magazine, where he was the acknowledged expert in Computer-Aided Design hardware and software. He has a long-standing passion for improving usability of software, hardware, and everyday objects that is always interwoven in his articles.
Peter is available for freelance technical writing and product reviews, and is exploring career opportunities in interaction design. His pet personal project is exploring the best ways to harmonize visual, tactile, and audible symbols for improving the effectiveness of alerting systems.
Innovation Inspiration #004—Ask Questions
Ask questions. Ask lots of questions. Ask stupid questions. Keep asking until you find and understand the answer. This is how we learn. If you want to ask a question, it’s because you don’t know the […]
Innovation Inspiration #003—Organize Your Toolbox
You heard me. You’ve hit the wall, writer’s block, or whatever, and need some inspiration. You’re not going to find it by working harder, so work smarter. And you need to take a break from […]
Innovation Inspiration #002—Sleep
Sleep. Early and often. Make a habit of it. Discard the habit of pulling all-nighters (an occasional one is OK). Unless you’re doing something where lives will be lost if you sleep, you are doing more […]
Keep the Focus on the Input
Software should learn to settle down and keep the focus on one thing at a time. Literally. I have a consistent problem with two applications—Evernote and Safari. Both will initially put the focus in one […]
Innovation Inspiration #001—Experiment
This isn’t the first gem of advice on how to find the inspiration needed to innovate, but since I just decided to start numbering them, this is the first to get a number. Whenever you […]
Seeking Innovation from Copying
I set out to write a post about stagnant design and innovation, tying my post about the shocking lightswitch and dumb outlet tester and the digital caliper design unchanged from 1982 to speculation and some insight on […]
Stealth Trade Shows
Whateverwhenever. (This was going to be the title for this post, but then I realized that topic deserves its own story. Maybe later this weekend…) How much do you care about your customers’ or prospective […]
Inspiration Really Does Come From Bright Sparks
One never sets out to touch live AC wiring on purpose (well, there are a few exceptions), but it does happen accidentally, and when you survive, you’re supposed to learn something. But I didn’t realize […]
How to make scheduling an appointment confusing
I needed to make an appointment with a government agency that gives me a choice of three different days and locations. The process seemed more straight-forward and much simpler than I expected, until I realized […]