Thoughts on the Light and Magic documentary

I spent last night binge watching the new documentary Light & Magic on Disney+. It’s a six-episode series on the story of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), the company filmmaker George Lucas founded. Along with the General Magic documentary, I love hearing stories about creatives and innovators. Light & Magic is a great documentary and I’ll bet you learn something new even if you’re familiar with the story.

*Spoilers..? I’m not sure if you’d consider if you can spoil a documentary, but if you’re not familiar with ILM the a documentary*

Reflections

Proof of concepts are very lean

One of my favorite moments in Episode 6 is when they were talking about how the team was approaching the first Jurassic Park, which was a blend of Computer Generated Images (CGI) and practical effects. For obvious reasons, the team did not have reference photos of how Apatosaurus dinosaurs stampede. The crew decided to set up props in the back of the studio and filmed themselves running to get more references. It also resulted in one of the team members falling and breaking their arm, hence the name of the episode: No More Pretending Your Dinosaurs.

Even when you have incredible technology, ideation starts by storyboarding, body-storming, and conveying the concept. In Star Wars, Lucas put together stunt reals from other films to put together the story (Lucas is not known for originality).

Work with multi-disciplinary people who push you

A studio is one of the most sacred places in the world to me. ILM was comprised of incredibly talented people who push themselves. There was autonomy to go work on other departments: sound, writing, second unit direction, film editing, etc. ILM created an amazing alumni group and people who directed films in their own right. When Joe Johnston was going to quit ILM after burnout, Lucas offered to send him to USC and work part-time so he could go to film school. Johnston ended up being a director in his own right, including titles such as Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Rocketeer, and Captain America: The First Avenger.

Effects serve the storytelling

I loved the details of effects to tell a wonderful story. The effects should serve the storytelling, and not technology for the sake of technology. As much as we make fun of the Star Wars prequels, Lucas was pushing the technology to tell stories at such a higher scale.

Imagination pushes technology

Okay, so the Star Wars prequels weren’t great. I remember seeing The Phantom Menace in high school and was so disappointed. What I did not realize is this movie that introduced Jar Jar Binks was the reason theaters started switching over to Texas Instruments’ DLP projectors. This kicked off the revolution of movie theaters and evolving the industry to digital. As much as I appreciate a movie in film, digital let’s people see movies at a broader scale and more accessible.

It’s incredible to think a company like ILM helped inspire innovations to spin out Pixar as its own animation studio and John Knoll creating Photoshop for The Abyss and Terminator 2.

Industry methods will evolve, and you need to

This one is top of mind for me as we think about how AI and ML is going to exponentially evolve the way Product Design is done. Computer graphics accelerated the industry: from The Abyss, to Terminator 2, to Jurassic Park, and beyond. Inevitably the model shop was shut down in order to move towards a new paradigms.

Notes

Below are some unstructured notes of what resonated with me:

Light & Magic is available on Disney+ and highly recommend watching it!

‍

Individual point of view and collaboration

Originally posted on Proof of Concept

Without question, collaborative document editing for teams building products is here to stay. This shift has to do more with how companies operate than the product development process. When you think of collaborative software like Google Docs, GitHub, and Figma, they took the model of local-first software and make gave more access to people in the org to do work together. 65% of Figma’s users are non-designers, 3x’ing the amount of people using the design tool1.

Collaboration has revolutionized the way work is done. However, what I see get lost in the midst for doing work together real-time is time for people to think and develop a point of view. Frank Bach articulated this well in a tweet.

My hypothesis is by increasing the contrast of developing your personal point of view combined with collaboration can result in better team outcomes. Let’s cover some details of each one and what you (and your team) can do to mature these practices.

Individual point of view (POV)

Having a strong point of view develops conviction what you believe in. Having a strong point of view doesn’t mean you need to act like the former CEO of Bolt. It’s about shining a beacon on what you believe and your point of view. People who have a strong POV can also be very open to collaboration (avoid binary thinking). It’s a way to share your observations on and your ability to pass on what you learn and share your point of view faster while embracing diversity of thought.

Individual POV: You gather your own inputs and share an artifact with others

Pitfalls of individual POV

Though a strong POV is important, being open to integration points and feedback is key. This could be design critique, a pull request on GitHub, or product review. It’s critical to remember to share your POV as you’re working on it to ensure it can be integrated.

Tools I use for individual POV purposes

I use tools that are local-first or physical, and I may share snippets of the content to form an artifact vs. sharing the the entirety as an artifact. Some tools I enjoy:

  • Pen and paper2
  • Excalidraw
  • Muse
  • Obsidian
  • MindNode

Collaboration

Collaboration is the action of working with someone to produce or create something. Whether it’s a sports or product team, teamwork and collaboration is crucial in teamwork and achieve a shared outcome. As the African Proverb goes, ““If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together”. The super power of collaboration is thinking through ideas together, getting inputs, and unstuck.

When you’re stuck or needing a lot of inputs, there is no better way than putting everything on the desktop to work together. I’m a huge believer in pair programming/design, workshopping, and diverging to de-risk.

Collaboration: Bringing people together to generate an artifact together

Pitfalls of collaboration

The biggest challenge in collaboration is what I call “The Convergence Melting Pot.” This phenomenon occurs when individual points of view get lost in collaboration and all inputs blend together. Avoid shipping “yes and…” whenever possible. Over-collaboration can result in unclear next steps or decisions. Who out of the entire group is the decision maker to move the work forward? Who will be held accountable for the outcomes?

Tools I use for collaboration

The properties of great collaboration tools is a shared canvas, the ability to comment, and early visibility. A few collaborative tools I enjoy are:

  • Figma
  • Figjam or Miro
  • Google Docs
  • Eraser
  • Gather

Using both effectively

Developing an independent POV and collaboration are effective tools to use and works better when the contrast between them is clear. Here are two suggestions on how to use the two effectively without blending them.

Inputs over infusion

What occurs frequently in collaboration is what I like to call “the melting pot effect.” Like a fondue, a melting pot infuses and mixes everything as one thing. What results is what were clear inputs are blended in a something less intentional. Don’t build the car Homer Simpsons tried to build.

Instead of a Convergence Melting Pot, keep in inputs clear and work together to make decisions. The power of collaboration occurs when there are inputs and diverse points of view. Without diversity of thought, you’re no considering everything. Instead of a melting pot model, I prefer an input model.

POV + Collaboration
POV + Collaboration: Teams bringing their POV to the desktop and collaborating on possibility and next executable step.

Build your POV doc

On habit I’m forming is building my POV doc on topics to share with people. It’s specific and personal—used for an input for people to consider and make decisions. The nice aspect of a POV doc is often we are verbalizing our point of view without it being memorialized anywhere. I call the POV doc my Credo, the latin word for “I believe.” Your POV/Credo can be an input that influences a decision made and there is a clear correlation to it.

When crafting a POV doc:

  • Your values and philosophy
  • Objective observations captured
  • Your point of view on how to move forward (backed with rationale)
  • How strongly you feel (ex: I’m 90% confident in this direction)
  • Where you’re unsure and open to debate

Your POV doc can be a high level concept, such as “Visual Programming” or can be part of a Design Brief you generate.

Develop a POV, share before collaborating, and decide

In a world of easy access to multiplayer and real time collaboration, it’s easy to forget to establish your point of view. Developing your point of view and collaboration are both important. Make time to balance both and use them when they are most valuable.

I highly recommend reading the book Design at Work by Joan Greenbaum and Morten Kyng. Warning, it’s a great ready but heavy—making Thinking Fast and Slow seem breezy like a one-sitting read of a Goosebumps book.

Collaboration isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s essential. That said, get the right inputs, ensure perspectives are heard, and make the decision.Maximize it by developing your own POV to understand your perspective and those of your colleagues.

I loved the new Predator movie, “Prey.” Hope they continue funding this as a series at a higher budget. I would absolutely watch an Anthology of Predator period pieces where they hunt and wreck colonizers from world history.

Treat Life Like a Video Game

I recently had a conversation with my friend Leslie about a professional decision that had to be made. One thing in question was that I would have to live in two cities. Leslie is a talented art director from Toronto, and she also lives in New York City part time. I asked her to share her experiences. She said she loves it because there is “always has a deadline”, whether it is personal or professional. She constantly has a friend to see, a project to finish, or a plane to catch. It is exhilarating to her to always have something to accomplish like this. She then gave me some wonderful advice:”Treat life like a video game.”I initially was a bit confused about what she meant, but after pondering about it more, that saying made total sense. In a book or movie (I like books and movies, so this isn’t to bring them down), you are being told the narrative in a very linear fashion and the result is already determined for you. You are consuming vs. interacting. In a video game, you have to make decisions and figure out ways to achieve your goals in the game.As an avid video game player, I understood it. Surely Leslie didn’t mean treat life like Call of Duty or a third person shooter, but any game with an open world environment.Definition of an open world game on Wikipedia:

“An open world is a type of video game level design where a player can roam freely through a virtual world and is given considerable freedom in choosing how or when to approach objectives. The term “free roam” is also used, as is “sandbox” and “free-roaming”.

Some of my favorite open world games: Far Cry, Fallout 3, Saints Row, Grand Theft Auto, Wing Commander: Privateer, and Borderlands. Note that Skyrim isn’t on there because I have not played it yet. (I know, I know)Here are some aspects of video games (particularly open world games) that translate well into life:

Persistent Effort After Failure

I don’t think there is anything I fail more constantly in and continue to try to achieve a goal than in a video game. If you play games, you have been through that part of the game where you are stuck and fail 100 times. Yet, for some reason, you keep trying, even sometimes almost peeing your pants because you won’t go run to the bathroom until you beat this part.(Number of times I’ve actually peed my pants while playing video games: zero)Why is this? It is because a challenge has been set and it is something you have to do in order to beat the game. In contrast, people often seem to give up on dating or looking for a new job after a few failures, or sometimes, one. Why don’t we put that same effort in life that we do in video games? We should.The way we learn how to beat that aspect of the game is to remember what we did before that did not work and adjust accordingly. That, or we just use sheer will to overcome it.

Level Up

In a lot of open world games, your character (which you often customize) starts with a limited skill set. After achieving a set amount of goals and gaining experience points (XP), a player will be able to level up their character, usually with improvements on certain skills, unlocking new skills, or the ability to access more areas on the map.This is life. You don’t start playing Diablo and go straight to the boss when you’re a Level 1 Warrior. You have to gain the skills and prove your ability to accomplish such a thing before. Take this to the workplace. You’re a junior designer and have the goal of being a creative director someday. What you have to do is figure out what skills you’ll need to level up in and how to go about getting those experience points.Let me take a moment to remember how traumatized I was from that Speeder Bike level from Battle Toads.

Interact And Get Invested With Characters

I often feel I am more invested in video game characters than in a movie. For me, it’s the direct experience the character (you) and others around him or her. I can’t tell you how many times it has made me truly sad when a character dies in a game. Hopefully without giving anything away, Metal Gear Solid is a prime example of that.In a lot of open world video games, there are characters that you interact with that help you or stop you from beating the game. You quickly find out who is a positive experience for you and negative experience for you.Yet, in real life, we often hear people complain about having toxic people in their life. In a video game, these people would appear as a red dot on the map and you are told to avoid them.

Explore The Open World

When I moved to New York City two years ago, I did not know the area at all. However, I actually recalled certain general areas because of playing Grand Theft Auto, which takes place in the fictional version of New York—Liberty City.Remember that exploring can lead to achievement points or new characters in the game.In fact, that is how I met Leslie. She was visiting a friend at the co-working space I was at and we started talking and exchanged contact information. We have kept in touch since. I would never have guessed she would inspire me to make a significant decision in my life a year later upon meeting. I walked up to her and pushed the X button to interact.

Conclusion

The key to life is participation. You can engage and interact with it as much or as little as you want. Treat life like a video game. You can either treat it like a movie where someone is telling the story for you or you can grab that controller that’s called Life and start playing! Remember, there is no reset button though so live life like it is Nightmare Mode on Diablo.P.S. Don’t cheat.P.P.S. I wish money worked the same way in video games as it did in real life.

Lessons learned from writing 100 newsletter issues

This month, I hit an unexpected milestone—100 issues of my newsletter, Proof of Concept, celebrating with 100 – The 100th issue. Like many things in my life, it was serendipitous and unplanned.

How it started

I started my newsletter in December of 2019, and after eight months, I only wrote three issues. I did not have the discipline to be consistent. I was frustrated with myself not following through with all the projects I’ve wanted to do. Serendipitously, a friend of mine shared with me a writing fellowship called On Deck.

I enrolled in On Deck’s Writing fellowship, a spark that led me to become a program partner several months later. On Deck Writing (ODW) was exactly what I needed. There are a lot of great writing courses out there (some very expensive) and what I was seeking—community accountability and a place to learn and grow. In addition to peer group writing sessions, some of the best writers joined for fireside chats to share their wisdom. One of the guests was Polina Marinova, author and founder of The Profile—one of my favorite newsletters.

Marinova dropped some knowledge bombs in her fireside chat. She said these words that I’ll never forget: “consistency builds trust.” Those three words were exactly what I needed to hear with my writing habits. The main piece I wrote during the 8-week fellowship at ODW was Jodorowsky’s product roadmap, I wrote issues of my newsletter weekly as a way to practice. Fast forward to today, and I have not missed a Sunday writing the newsletter. I’m not sure if I’m planning to have a Cal Ripken-type iron man streak. If  the streak breaks, it breaks. However, writing has become a passion accompanied by discipline. 100 issues celebrates consistency.

Why a newsletter? To focus on community. The word “community” is used as a catch-all these days. I don’t see writing a newsletter as a replacement for blogging, and I plan to blog more frequently now that I have a rhythm with the newsletter. The newsletter isn’t a replacement for Twitter or other channels. When I started building Proof of Concept, I wanted something unique delivered to people’s inbox or RSS. I was looking for a smaller connection.

Sharing lessons learned

I’ve learned a lot throughout the past three years maintaining the newsletter. It’s not only writing. You have to think about content generation, making visuals, and running it like a product. There are hundreds of lessons and I’ll focus on the first five that come to mind.

1. Write drafts, lots of them

When creating a newsletter, you’re on the hook with a certain cadence, so that means deadlines. There is no worst feeling for me to sit in front of a computer and have no idea what to write about. Art school taught me to fill the canvas quickly to allow refinement. In the beginning of Proof of Concept, I was frantically spending nearly an entire day going through the entire content creation process: ideation, writing, editing, creative, and publishing.

The most helpful tool I added was writing Morning Pages and using 750words.com as a morning practice. Instead of waiting until Saturday, I spend every morning during my morning coffee to write. To be honest, most of what I write is horrible, but that’s the point. The idea is to get a high volume of writing done so you can be and editor and curate. There are certainly some days when I’m writing on Saturday, though those are rare. My Saturday mornings is more focused on editing, refining, and publishing from a backlog of ideas. Don’t get stuck in front of a blank screen.

2. Ship it,  avoid perfectionism

On Saturdays, I schedule the newsletter regardless if I’m finished with it or not. It’s a forcing function for me to have a sense of urgency to get it done and out there. Yes, it’s backfired, and there have been a few instances where I sent a newsletter with grammatical errors. Would I prefer catching that? Of course. Is it the end of the world? No.

I stumbled upon this tweet and it’s too real.

One of the main reasons that prevent people from writing is not because nobody will read it. It’s because you made something tangible to the world for people to see and react to. It’s a scary thing to do, and takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there. The fortunate part is digital work has the luxury of making quick fixes and improvements.

3. Solicit feedback early and often

Early readers have been my largest source of inspiration. Get feedback and ideas from them. The earlier you receive feedback, the faster you can refine the trajectory of your desired outcomes. In the first 10 issues, I renamed the newsletter to, “The Creative Odyssey.” People hated it, and honestly, I realized I did too. Proof of Concept resonated more and was relevant to the theme of the content. I’m thick-skinned when it comes to feedback. I studied studio art and built mobile apps for the App Store—you’re used to criticism.

Share the early drafts with people who will be critical. I recommend avoiding sharing with friends and family because most of them will tell you its great. Naturally, they want to support you, and people broader in your network will give more critical feedback.

4. Storytelling with words and visuals is my preference

Don’t expect to smash that like button or support me on Patreon any time soon. I have no desire to become a creator and want to focus on building tools for creators. This newsletter is a way for me to dog food the workflow. I’ve learned writing and making visuals is my preferred way of storytelling. I have heaps of respect for YouTubers, Podcasters, and various creators. However, I don’t have the time to spend on high production content like that. The production cycle in writing is more rapid.

5. Keep a physical notebook

I love software and truly believe it can change the world. I also believe in making computation humane and using it as a tool. The irony of a digital publication is I spend 80% of my time writing and drawing on pen and paper.

The computer is my assembly line. When I sit down in front of my purple iMac, it’s processing. Pen and paper is the ultimate tools for thought. My LEUCHTTURM1917 dot grid A5 notebook has been my notebook of choice for the past decade.

What’s next

It’s been a wild ride, and I’m going to keep it going. I am a huge advocate of side projects as the learnings are applied to your daily work. Proof of Concept has been a tiny corner of the internet I get to spend to express ideas, thoughts, and strive to improve. I enjoy the intimacy of a newsletter instead of blasting threads on Twitter. I’m excited to see what the next hundred issues might look like. But first, I’ll focus on issue 101.

Mastery for generalists

Originally posted on Proof of Concept

When I was the Product team at One Medical, our clinical and Ops teams were critical partners in how we shipped work. It was common to visit the offices to observe (going to gemba). During my four years at the health tech company, I learned about the various roles on clinical teams: primary care providers, registered nurses, care navigators, specialists, phlebotomists, and many more. In my research work, I spent the majority of the time with primary care providers (generalists).

“Why did you decide to be a generalist instead of a specialist?”, I’d ask each provider. What compelled them to general care vs. being a specialist. Primary care physicians experience more burnout and specialists make more money. The truth is you make more money as a specialists, so what would compel someone to general care. The answer was consistent: to have a broader range to care for their patients’ health.

The path for specialists is more clear than generalists. If one chooses the generalist path, what does mastery look like? The notion of mastery as a generalist sounds oxymoronic. Let’s challenge that and identify how to grow in your craft in a generalist role. In order to master being a generalist, let’s reflect on how to know if you are a generalist, the impact they make, and leveling up as generalist practitioners.

You might be a generalist…

If you grew up in the 90s and experiencing lower back pain, you may remember comedian Jeff Foxworthy’s “You might be a redneck” routine: “If you’ve been on the television more than five times describing what the tornado sounds like, you might be a redneck.” We can remix that and play it back with being a generalist:

  • If you can’t decide if you want to be a product manager, designer, or engineer, you might be a generalist
  • If you find yourself always wanting to learn new things outside of what you do, you might be a generalist
  • If you highly enjoy collaborating with every department, you might be a generalist
  • If you get excited about trying out emerging technology and tools, you might be a generalist
  • If you get bored by doing one thing, you might be a generalist
  • If you’re comfortable hiring people better than you at everything, you might be a generalist

Generalists are people who love variety, connecting the dots, and curious. In contrast, specialists usually focus and go deeper on a certain practice. I use the clinical metaphor above a lot when describing generalists and specialists. A brain surgeon could conduct a physical if needed the same way a primary care provider could do certain operations in the case of an emergency. However, based on the level of skill and precision, a specialist is more effective. Every designer can contribute to a design system and having a specialist in design systems will merit in more effective outcomes.

Why be a generalist?

“Jack of all trades, master of none” can sound negative—almost implying one isn’t good at anything. Do you ever feel like you don’t fit into a specialty? Being a generalist allows flexibility and have broader range in what you can do. This is a great skill for early stage startups when wearing multiple hats is common. As the company grows, it’ll specialize at scale, and it makes sense. You don’t want your generalist co-founder to continue being responsible for people experience or finance and bring in the specialists. What happens to people who when they relinquish the said hats? You’re able to freelance and move around more. There might be a new initiative that needs to get spun up. If you’re interested in management, many people managers are generalists.

Generalists spark alchemy

In the article “Generalists CEOs Not Specialists Spur Innovation,” there is a great excerpt on how generalist spark innovation:

“Under generalist CEOs, companies tend to engage in more ‘exploitative’ innovation, which involves improving or refining something that already exists, and also more ‘exploratory’ innovation — that is, engaging in a risky search for radical and transformative innovation. However, the difference between specialist CEOs and generalists is especially pronounced in exploratory innovation.”

You don’t see many specialist CEOs unless the business does something specific to it. A generalist can start an important initiative and collaborate with specialists to drastically improve it.

Building mastery as a generalist

“Mastery as a generalist” is an oxymoron, but let’s embrace the duality. How does one become a better generalist? Great teams need a blend of generalists and specialists.

Be an expert at learning

If there’s one specialty a generalist has, it’s learning to learn. Build familiarity in a discipline enough to understand the mechanics, develop experience, and when it scales, find a specialist. If you’ve ever had a manager who understands what you do because they’ve done it before, they can build more advocacy for the effort of your work. A designer understanding how the software development cycle works can anticipate questions that come up.

Understand every role

I’ve worked in so many aspects of design: UI Designer, Information Architect, Marketing Designer, Motion Designer, Researcher, or Product Designer, I’ve worked in dozens of roles. Understanding everyone’s roles and responsibilities helps you influence at a higher scale since you have a sense of what everyone is doing. It allows you to give better input and direction.

Build connective skills

Understand how every org works and connecting the dots across them. One of the services I was most passionate at while at One Medical was pediatrics and family practice. Whenever I had a coffee break or free time, I’d make time to connect with people who were passionate about that program and ways to support it. Learn how to synthesize, story tell, and connect to the big picture.

Mastering the generalist path means everyone will be better than you at something, but you’re better than everyone at every little thing.

Being a generalist does not mean the work is shallow. It’s right sizing the amount of up skill needed to get the job done. If the path of a generalist resonates with you, continue diversifying your skill portfolio and extend your range.

Blonde rival in Top Gun – I don’t like you because you’re unsafe.

Blonde rival in Top Gun: Maverick – I don’t like you because you’re too safe.