rayraegah

“The Design of Everyday Things”. The book that sparked a change in my career (to be honest)

In programming, the analogous problem is API design: taking whatever data structures are used by a software tool internally, and figuring out how to present them to external programmers in a useful, intelligible way. If there’s a mismatch between the internal structure of the system and the structure of what-users-want, then it’s the API designer’s job to translate. A “good” API is one which handles the translation well.

User interface design is a more general version of the same problem: take whatever structures are used by a tool internally, and figure out how to present them to external users in a useful, intelligible way. Conceptually, the only difference from API design is that we no longer assume our users are programmers interacting with the tool via code. We design the interface to fit however people use it - that could mean handles on doors, or buttons and icons in a mobile app, or the temperature knobs on a fridge.

Back in 1993, I took an interest in Wolf 3D a hot new program on DOS which my dad described as “video game”. It was my first time looking at a PC and a video game. I went down that rabbit hole, majored in computer science and started working as a contractor for the military designed and built games used for training soldiers. It went down hill form there, joined EA worked on a few mobile titles and then quit the gaming industry for good.

Restarted as a system engineer, worked on backend systems and databases, then infrastructure management, and then on frontend. Took a break from software development and tried my hand at design. Lead product design at 3 startups all acquired within 2-3 years.

Went back to software engineering, something was off tried engineering management and it still did feel right. Took a engineering role on the growth team of a early stage Chinese startup and hacked a short video app’s growth and put it on the map.

Decided that I love solving problems; and engineering and psychology were my strong points. Wanted to learn how to manage (very large) business and dabble a bit in finance. Now I’m a product manager for a very large business.

“Click +Add a New File button to create a new file”

There is no Add a New File button. I only see the Let’s start page. There’s no way to create a new file and no menu other than the sidebar.

The only way to create a page is by not following the instructions and through some jiggery-pokery with the mouse on the help page.

Am I missing something or just the application malfunctioning?

[Work]: I switched jobs in November 2019 and I've been busy with the transition from SDE to PM. I began working from home in February and I will continue to do so till next year. I had to turn one of the spare bedrooms into an office and discipline myself to stick to a 09:00 to 17:00 work schedule (So far failed 90% of the time. I work till 20:00 everyday).

[Health]: With commute out of the picture, I take long walks at 23:00 every night. Tokyo is a crowded city and the night time walks lets me avoid crowds/people. I escape into the woods and off the beaten path during weekends.

[Finance]: Financially secure for now since my new job is stable. I made the right call at the end of last year. The startup I worked at previously is going through a very rough time right now. The acquisition wasn't favourable, they downsized and pivoted into an entirely different product.

[Play]: Keeping myself busy with gardening and video games.

Overall quality of life hasn't changed. I'm not an extrovert so I'm quite comfortable with the stay home logic.

For slide 12 the correct answer[0] threw an error the first time but couldn't reproduce it.

[0] https://pastebin.com/raw/AivpKE3u

> I was expecting a video streaming CDN so anyone could build a Youtube/Twitch competitor without having to deal with storing, transcoding and (live)streaming video. I vaguely remember AWS offering something like this. Not sure how much money there is in this market but definitely sounds like a great product fit for someone like Cloudflare.

There's Cloudflare-stream[1] and also Mux[2]

[1] https://www.cloudflare.com/products/cloudflare-stream/ [2] https://mux.com/

Tooling around Hasura is starting to mature. People have already mentioned nhost, I’d also like to point out a terraform module [0] to put Hasura on AWS

[0]: https://registry.terraform.io/modules/Rayraegah/hasura/aws

There's a cuss free mode [0] for kids and educators. The default version [1] is live.

[0]: https://ncase.me/anxiety/?c=1

[1]: https://ncase.me/anxiety/

We had two young engineers (who are no longer with us now) discriminate against applicants for software development roles because of their age, religion, or origins. One of them is a google developer expert and he quite openly rejected people by discriminating against their age (anyone 40+) and beliefs. I didn’t want to veto the hiring decisions even though I could have because at the end of the day they’ll have to work with him.

Then we had a 58 year old engineer apply for an open position. Happy to say that we hired him and it was purely on merit (even sponsored his visa). The retirement age is 60 but his ambitions go beyond that. Needless to say he is one of the best on our team right now.

Shared housing is becoming popular in Tokyo now, specially in Setagaya. Thanks to Netflix and Terrace House for the hype and people are starting to realize they can live better in a sharing accommodation that they wouldn't be able to afford alone.

My parents are both residents in Chennai and visited me in Tokyo last month. I overheard phone conversations and their complaints on state of the crisis. The water crisis gets deeper and more sinister.

I remember plumbing being done years ago around the house to harvest rainwater, to store it in underground tanks and excess drained into the well. Nearly every household was forced to do this by the government. Few households built a sump and others bought plastic water storage tanks (it is the cheaper option) to store water. These are being re-purposed to store water delivered by water tankers. (a family 4 approximately uses upto 4000 L of water every month, in Chennai, around my parents neighbourhood)

With the water crisis now, these plastic storage devices are under attack. Near my parent's neighbourhood a few households had the water drained from the tanks and the tanks themselves stolen or sabotage to prevent further storage. Sumps are not risk free either, as malicious actors drop pipes into them and use a pump to drain the water out. (some pollute the sump after draining it and later charge to clean them up as innocent service providers)

Furthermore, water bodies around the greater metro have dried up. These so called "water tankers" are siphoning water from bodies which were designated unsafe for drinking, from agricultural wells, and through other illegal means. The water being delivered is neither certified for quality or acceptable for drinking. Some neighbourhoods that were recipient of such water have seen a rise in the number of sick children.

Edit:

----

The well in our house was 8ft deep, there are also two borewells one at 400 ft and the other at 1000 ft deep. All three of the waterholes are now dry. There's literally no underground water left in certain areas in Chennai. It also costs several thousand dollars to drill a new one now.

There is hope yet. People have banded together to clean up nearby water bodies, like the Chitlapakkam Rising [0] and Velachery Rising [1] NGOs who have raised funds and put their children and old to work on cleaning nearby lakes removing garbage and making the lake bed deeper. They hope to have the monsoon rain fill them this year and restore the underground water supply.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt29MvgX01I

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozhwWzuPNAw

Right now your internal stakeholders are your customers (the best kind of customers). I would say you have the chance to build great tools your customers want (ask them).

I can break my efforts at work into 30% (BAU), 45% (Improvements), 15% (Org contrib), and 10% (Personal growth).

I have a BAU cycle that spans a week. Every week I take on something to do (either by stakeholder priority or from backlog) and try to complete it before the release train departs. This is 30% of my work and I get 100% of it done by mid-week and put it up for review, feedback, and corrections.

The next 45% of my effort changes weekly and I try to get 90~100% of this done on time; it has its own backlog. Towards the end of each quarter this is spent in strategic planning. Towards the end of each month its spent on a mix of management work and clearing technical debt. The default state however is a focus on helping other teams and stakeholders improve. I maintain a lot of the statistical and quantitative models for other teams (segmentation, propensity, etc.), this I update in light of new data or when they become stale. I also try to automate their process continuously. I make improvements to tools, processes, and frameworks (seldom) to keep us up-to-date and get rid of things slowing us down. If there's a new tool or project, 100% effort is poured into that instead.

I usually have on-going initiatives and duties that affects our entire company and this is usually 10%-15% of my total efforts. I can't compromise here so I try to get this done 100% with highest priority.

The last 10% is personal growth, either its optimizing the way I do things, learning a new language or picking up an entirely new discipline to add to my domain/skill set (I have a comb-shaped skill structure). A good portion of it is spend on reading, writing, and practise. I slack a little here and I get 80-100% of my goals completed. This part is chaotic sometimes and I leave chaos as is but cause it to evolve.

I used to turn my pi into low power consumption devices and donate them to the solar berry project [0]. Side loaded with rachelpi [1] software that brings the better part of the internet to kids in dark regions of Africa.

[0]: https://turingtrust.co.uk/home/our_work/solarberry/

[1]: http://rachelfriends.org/

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell had an excellent research report as video summarizing loneliness, published earlier this year [0] with sources linking to the facts in the video [1].

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Xv_g3g-mA

[1]: https://sites.google.com/view/sourcesloneliness/startseite

Generalist here went from engineering to design and psychology [0] to psychology and anthropology [1]. Lately been eyeballing economics and political science.

When I started, I just couldn't see myself doing the same thing for the rest of my life and I branched out. I took opportunities that presented itself and the ones where I was thrown into (thank you mentors). I did try to specialize in engineering but I went from embedded systems to GUI to front-end to back-end to data (mining/analysis/visualization) to systems design to (developer) operations then ML and technical management. I just can't help but be attracted to the next thing but I don't stick around long enough to be absorbed by it.

I usually start the 'next' thing as a side project or side gig. If it becomes interesting enough I change my main role to it. In a way I've become a specialist at being a generalist.

Fear of the unknown doesn't frighten me, it excites me. Somehow I've come to love chaos and making sense of it. Few people and companies bet on this behaviour of mine and we both walked away with satisfaction and wealth. But life as a generalist hasn't been easy. I've had to deal with imposter syndrome often. Always ended up learning on the job.

It wasn't just jobs/career though... I find myself relocating to new country or continent once every two years. Financially it's a nightmare but its a price I'm willing to pay.

[0] https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/13276/rayraegah

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19712234

The article was okay to read but calling people out for not being able to use an editor you know how to use is low.

;not advise

Don't focus on a number but focus on giving yourself some room to breathe. Slowly build a habit of saving money by snowballing money into a savings account to start. Don't measure your worth by money.

I didn't consider saving until I bought the engagement ring (which left me at a bank balance close to 0 and it wasn't the first time). I was 27 years old.

I started setting aside some money as a cash reserve (bucket #1) and I made sure there was enough money to:

    - get me through two months on rent (3,000 GBP)
    - feed myself for two months (400 GBP)
    - buy one flight ticket home (to parents basement)(700 GBP)

Once bucket #1 was full, I started tossing money into bucket #2 which was disposable income stashed in a decent interest paying savings account. This was for rainy days and the future.

By the time I was 29, I had about 10,000 GBP in savings between the two buckets. A good portion of it was spent on our wedding and honeymoon (from #2). By 30 I had 15,000 GBP in savings. Most of that was spent when I moved to Tokyo (damn moving costs). I had $1,000 USD left; it was a fresh start.

I'm 32 now and I have about one year worth of living expenses in savings and then some. I make monthly contributions towards a pension, life-insurance, and a retirement fund (bonds).

I live in Japan and presently focus on the Japanese market.

I do provide remote services to a few startups in california but their audience is usually online and has ties to Japan.

I'm happy to listen to you. You can fill this form [0] out and I'll react out to you by the end of the week.

[0]: https://forms.gle/fafgq2kBTEQiMjsm7

I did not market or sell this service. Back when I did this free, I worked closely with my mentor who had a startup (which later was acquired by a publicly listed company). I helped his company a lot. They were building an BI platform for big data.

That success gave me wings for a while. Word of mouth referring helped and I only took on clients who were recommended to me (i.e. they were aware of it)

Sometimes I meet business owners and founders at meetups or for lunch and we organically start talking about what we do (with no intention to sell). I always try to make the other person curious and then feed their curiosity. Also, I do an initial consultation for free.

The motivation is not money and my rates are pretty compelling (low) for the ROI I promise. Not every small business takes the opportunity but some did.

This is absolutely true. I also ask my clients for customer contact information and reach out to them until I have enough subjects.

Do not be discouraged by the no’s. Starting with friends and network is an option.

It also helps if you have a code of conduct/governance documentation for them to read and understand how their data is gathered and used.

I usually send a copy of all data to my subjects with a thank you letter and how it helped (with a gift card).

If you fill out this short form, I’ll reach out to you. If you just want to chat casually I’m on Twitter, same username as HN.

https://forms.gle/ehuzNXmtdjCBgsjP8

Right now it is referral only but you can start here [0]. I'll reach out to you for a preliminary hearing/meeting.

[0] https://forms.gle/ehuzNXmtdjCBgsjP8

Clients come to me with major and fundamental business issues, characterized by a high degree of uncertainty. Most of my work is focused on helping my clients get a view of their business from outside.

The philosophy behind my approach to research is based on the phenomenon, the science of how things are experienced. I start by working with my clients to identify a human phenomenon at the heart of their business.

I use psychographics to define customer values, opinions, and life-style.

MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue). Sorry about the typo. To clarify its from retainers.

I negotiated with my current employer, sacrifice salary for time. I get a few extra hours each week. My full-time job doesn't demand a lot. I manage it quite well and get things done during business hours.

I manage my time quite well, I get eight hours of sleep everyday and the rest I try to be productive. I have a wife who understands what I'm trying to do and helps me out. Needless to say I work on weekends and holidays and gave up all hobbies.

It's not easy but it's a choice. This has helped me build habits and a discipline. I am mindful and try not to bite off more than I can chew i.e. understand my limits.

My side project has also changed the way I think about engineering problems and solutions. Since I work on the growth team its complementary rather than diverging.

I've been reading books on philosophy, cognitive science and behavioural psychology for half a decade.

For ethnography I don't have any recommendations. I've read books largely to complement my thinking, phenomenology and existentialism. Here's what I've read (notable ones):

Being and Time – Martin Heidegger

The Principle of Reason – Martin Heidegger

Phenomenology of Perception – Maurice Merleau-Ponty

New Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time – Ernesto Laclau

Introduction to Metaphysics – Martin Heidegger

The Basic Problems of Phenomenology (Studies in Phenomenology & Existential Philosophy) – Martin Heidegger

History of Western Philosophy – Bertrand Russell

I used to be in technology consultancy and I built relationships and kept in touch. I sent out a newsletter, some reached back and asked for more information, others made introductions and got me connected. Most of the business I get is through referrals / word of mouth.

My base of operations is in Tokyo right now and there's a lot of demand for these services once people hear about it. Often people approach it for curiosity and then I work my leads to turn them into clients.

Not all companies were forward thinking but they have a common traits: empathy, more concerned on providing value to their customers, and emphasize long-term problem solving over quick fixes.

The goal of my side project is to use human science to put people back at the center of business decision-making. I work specifically with the founders of business and not their sales or marketing personal.

Studying consumers on their own isn’t enough to be successful. I look at all the data I can regarding technology, marginal practices, client and industry data, and speak to many experts with knowledge on the topic. I analyze the assumptions underlying what I observe happening and identify the gaps (e.g. between the client’s assumptions about their customers and what I observe in the real world, or between the industry’s assumptions about the future and consumers’ marginal practices).

Analyzing these gaps helps me see white spaces that have impact in the market, which allows me to advise my clients on where the market is likely to be years out and ensure that my recommendations are actionable. Since these are new perspectives they often make it actionable. Execution is something they handle and all of my clients have seen a change. Most are repeat customers.