Four short links: 2 August 2018
Problem Recognition, Evolving Floorplans, Google in China, and The Bullshit Web
- Clues and Signals — a product manager’s pattern library for when things are going to go wrong. So on-point it burns. Samples: Might as well [do some extra thing] while we [do the original thing]. It’s too early to [some interaction with users/customers]. We need some quick wins because [normal wins take too long].
- Evolving Floorplans — The rooms and expected flow of people are given to a genetic algorithm which attempts to optimize the layout to minimize walking time, the use of hallways, etc.
- Google Returning to China, with Censorship (The Intercept) — “I’m against large companies and governments collaborating in the oppression of their people, and feel like transparency around what’s being done is in the public interest,” the source said, adding that they feared “what is done in China will become a template for many other nations.” Nicely said. “Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” with a few key caveats.
- The Bullshit Web — An honest web is one in which the overwhelming majority of the code and assets downloaded to a user’s computer are used in a page’s visual presentation, with nearly all the remainder used to define the semantic structure and associated metadata on the page. Bullshit — in the form of CPU-sucking surveillance, unnecessarily-interruptive elements, and behaviours that nobody responsible for a website would themselves find appealing as a visitor — is unwelcome and intolerable.
