- Most Recent | Since 2004
- List View
- Archive
- July 21, 2010
Back Here from There
July 21, 2010Read moreSUMMARY: Ongoing thoughts on accountability, ambition, podcasting, and forming associations with people. These are just things that are on my mind. Plus, a preview of some product reviews I’ll be writing. (more…)
- July 13, 2010
A Temporary Change of Place
July 13, 2010Read moreThis week I’ve traded my basement dwelling ways for the ridiculously sunny skies of Southern California, somewhere around Irvine, to work on-site at Red 5 Studios for some UI-related work. The last time I did any game development work in an environment like this was the year I spent at Electronic Arts Florida in the late 90s, but last year I’d also worked on a museum installation that used video game technology; thankfully this means I’m relatively familiarized with current 3D graphics rendering technologies. What’s most exciting is the chance to be immersed in the game development team environment again, because there are lots of smart, creative people doing intriguingly-difficult creative work. Dropping one’s self into such an environment and being productive is, in my mind, a heady challenge for my toolkit of interpersonal skills.
When I was a lot younger, I would have been preoccupied with fitting-in and demonstrating that I could do the work and have been nervous about it. Being older, my emphasis has shifted into a listening and observation mode with less of an emphasis on hitting immediate home runs; I know now from experience that it takes me a while to get a true handle on what’s going on, and so I’ve learned to wait for the big picture to build over time as I interact and produce things with the people in the team. It’s yet another way to practice do not hurry, do not wait.
I also was reminded by one of my oldest friends that I tend to be on the theoretical side when taking about user interface, and that it’s probably not necessary to communicate an entire theory accurately and completely; instead, it’s enough to IMPLY there’s a theory and then answer questions or provide concrete examples. I’m going to test this today and see how it goes, though the thought is so new to me I’m not sure exactly how I’m going to do this. But we’ll see :-)
- July 7, 2010
Groundhog Day Resolution Review Day 7/7/2010
July 7, 2010Read moreSUMMARY: Setbacks, setbacks. But I’m cool with that. In this month’s Groundhog Day Resolutions update, I postulate that my “productivity engine” is actually a capacitor which stores engine from inspirational sources, and only fires when it’s full and “ready to burst”. Instead of trying to work like an engine or even a battery, maybe I should just embrace it. (more…)
- June 28, 2010
The Lizard, Blogs, and Self-Incentive
June 28, 2010Read moreSUMMARY: Convincing myself to work on long-term projects with no immediate gain is difficult, and I write out some thoughts on why this is. Partly it’s due to the lack of definition, a lack of desire to redefine for the umpteenth time, and the lizard-like part of my brain that is concerned with conserving effort. But perhaps by maintaining focus on the the act of blogging itself, I can resolve all these issues at once. (more…)
- June 25, 2010
Distraction-Free GMail-ing
June 25, 2010Read moreTell me if this has happened to you: you need to email someone about something important, so you hop into your mail program to fire off the email. However, the first thing you see upon firing up Thunderbird/Eudora/Mail is your inbox, and in it you see a few tasty subjects that have you clicking away and laughing. You spend 30 minutes processing the emails, get ready to shut down the computer and head home, and then…oh, I forgot to actually send that email.
This happens to me multiple times a day, and I’d sort of accepted it as the inevitable price that point-and-click has exacted from my brain. In fact, the reason I’m writing this post is because IT JUST HAPPENED AGAIN. But it occurred to me that I have a solution, thanks to my current email setup. (more…)
