Dragon Drop #1

Welcome to the inaugural Dragon Drop post. I’ll be recapping some of the items I’ve shared on social media during the week. I’ll be testing the waters with this kind of post this month, during #vDM30in30. If all goes well, it may become a more regular feature. Let’s begin.

The Goods

Common VCDX Mistakes: R01: Customer Requires N+1

by Simon Long

Simon hits the nail on the head. Understanding and identifying actual requirements versus assumed requirements makes for the ideal design. I would love to see Simon follow-up this piece with some advice on how to achieve this from a practical standpoint. In my experience that’s often the toughest part of the requirements gathering exercise. The availability example lends itself to a specific and deterministic approach to validate the requirement, so something that’s more general in terms of approach would likely benefit the design community greatly.

Here’s a Customized Smartphone to Help You Cheat at Poker

from The New Stack

Moral, ethical and legal issues aside, I found this story a fascinating tale of problem solving. The “problem”, if you will, of how to cheat at poker. You can read between the lines and see the amount of analysis that has gone into understanding the issue, the environment the issue occurs in, the users (and their stories) within the environment, and how to exploit user tolerance to items within the cheater’s control (that being the placement on the table of a personal smartphone). Oh, and there’s some ingenuous hardware engineering involved, too.

Liminal Thinking

from A List Apart

This article by guest author Dave Gray was probably my favourite of the week. Based on his book of the same name, Gray suggests that everyone should test their theories and assumptions before acting on them. You know you’ve read a good article when you’re compelled to pick up the book it’s based on. If, after reading the article, you’re interested in the book as well, check out the bottom of the article for a discount code.

Burnout and Vacation Time

by Rob Nelson

A topic that’s unfortunately familiar to many in tech-related careers, among others. Rob suggests some approaches to dealing with burnout, including the time-tested, get-away-from-your-career-and-take-a-vacation method. Good idea, Rob!

The Wrap

A bit of self consideration, and some problem solving head scratchers. How are you going to deal with burnout and subjective theories? If you too are going to build a chicken coop, or have some other ideas, let me know in the comments.

Featured image photo by LADY KATYA