Nov03
Written in 2011 by Ryan O'Rourke
Two weeks ago my friend and I shipped our first app. We call it Timecop. It was a learning experience, so here is what I learned.
The beginning was easy, just a lot of ideas and excitement. Progress got made quickly (mapping the model, proof of concept, design explorations). It was fun. I remember sketching ideas endlessly during a 14-hour flight to Tokyo and only wanting to do more upon landing. We were less burdened with the minutia of execution (or at least I tried to be) and the ideas flowed fast. Fantasizing about what something could become is intoxicating.
Then began the march toward making it real. It took a lot longer than it should have. A lot of ideas got left behind as we started to define our minimal viable product. (In retrospect, our MVP had way too much functionality.) Implementing is a different kind of fun. But it was still fun. The idea becomes more real every day. The scaffolding was up and there was sawdust in the air.
After months of slowly moving on implementing, we got it to the point where we just needed to add the finishing touches. The last 10%. Shipping. It sucks. QA testing, designing corner case views, endless emails with Nick, slicing and then reslicing assets to fix minuscule alignment issues, designing and building a marketing website, setting up support email accounts, waiting on app store approval. It’s not sexy.
Yet that last 10% was the most important piece to this puzzle. If we hadn’t shipped it, it was never more than an idea. Nothing was more satisfying then putting it out in the world… As of writing this, we’ve sold well over 1000 copies and the response from users has been awesome.
Now the process starts again.
My lesson is this, you learn more from shipping a less-than-perfect product than you ever will from hoarding an unfinished idea.
Jun06
Written in 2011 by Ryan O'Rourke
That title isn’t my own wisdom; it’s a quote from Malcom Gladwell. I resonate with it. So often I observe others lament over their situation for one reason on another. It often boils down to “I wish I could do [whatever].”
Well, you know what wimp? You can. Just fucking practice. Do tutorials, sleep less, read on it, repeat. We are all so quick to make excuses for ourselves, try not to be. Practice.
May15
Written in 2011 by Ryan O'Rourke
I remember, when I was 8 or 9 years old, my Dad telling me what a fantastic film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was. We watched it together sometime shortly after that. I hated it. But to be fair, I was 9 years old. Not really a movie for a 9 year old. I recall thinking that my Dad and I must be very different people (“How could he LOVE that?!”).
Well, I’m 26 now and it’s easily my all-time favorite film. It is truly a masterpiece on every level. The characters and the story just suck you in and it’s totally rewatchable, which is probably the most rare cinema quality of all. One of only two films to ever win the Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Picture (not to mention Best Screenplay), the other was “It Happened One Night”. Was also filmed sequentially, which is, like, unheard of on modern film productions.
Just interesting for me that even 8 years removed from interacting with my parents on the day-to-day… I’m still turning out like my father.
May05
Written in 2011 by Ryan O'Rourke
I moved to Arizona from Minnesota in fall of 2005. I was an undeclared college junior with visions of royal palms, sunshine, pool parties, road trips to Mexico and, well, some actual knowledge transfer—you know—college and all that. With that as my measuring stick, I’m happy to report I’ve found success (with a few other, more meaningful feathers in the cap to boot). I love so much about the life I’ve made for myself here in Phoenix. Deciding to leave was not an easy decision, but the time was ripe for change. The catalyst for that change came by way of an amazing opportunity: Groupon—a company with a product and concept I not only believe in, but use regularly. They’ve offered me a spot on a very small team of product designers helping to shape the things to come. As a friend advised me, I’d be a fool to let it pass.
And so I will not. Come June I will be headed back to the Midwest to live and work in downtown Chicago at Groupon’s headquarters. I couldn’t be more excited about the prospect of a full-size city to learn and explore. You know, the kind with a skyline, museums, aquariums, history, relevance, oh, and bars open past 2 a.m. I don’t mean to belittle Phoenix too badly; it has a lot to offer (one shouldn’t discount sunshine as a cultural export too quickly) and a lot of amazing people working to make it better. Yet it seems that most people my age living here think of it as a transition location: something between what was and what will be. I know I always felt that way. Now was just the right time to make my move. So, I’m renting my condo, leaving an amazing job, all my friends, and driving north. It’s going to be hard to be alone in a new town, but I have assurances that those Groupon folks have plenty to keep my mind occupied and I welcome the challenge. Can’t wait for the next chapter.
Cheers, Arizona.
Apr22
Written in 2011 by Ryan O'Rourke
Like some in my industry, I have a tendency to get a bit over ambitious on my personal projects. I have to resist the urge to redo everything whenever a new idea strikes. However the last design just didn’t excite me in the slightest any longer. It had to go and I had enough motivation to do so this past month. I wanted it to do a few things better:
1.) Improved responsive viewport interaction
2.) Less volume of work but more detail
3.) Easily themeable
4.) Less busy
I’m trying to temper my desire to tackle more, and even this list hasn’t been fully crossed off. I’m going to try something here by releasing early, iterating, and re-releasing. Perpetually. Hopefully I’ve done enough to accommodate what future me might come up with.
Apr18
Written in 2011 by Ryan O'Rourke
Designers as a group have, perhaps, larger than average egos. Which is probably a good thing more often than not. As a profession we have to defend our choices in the court of personal subjectivity. We’ve learned to act as though we know best (which, my ego is now telling me to say, is often the truth).
Yet sometimes as a designer you come across a very successful product that has seemingly done the impossible, and been made so in spite of bad design. When I get the urge to think my own taste superior to that of the designer who has successfully crafted an immensely popular product… I tell myself to shut up. Even if they have a visual aesthetic that I think would get laughed off of the popular page on Dribbble, the real point of what we are doing is ease of use. As they say, “Good design is obvious, great design is transparent.”
Then again, maybe the concept is just so useful that it’s become successful in spite of design. Have you used an airline booking websites?
Apr14
Written in 2011 by Ryan O'Rourke
Although perhaps not a great rule to apply to everything, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” as a loosely adhered-too philosophy works for me. The upper limits of your character, your abilities… those are things worth knowing. They are only known by pushing for them. The mental high of accomplishing something you truly believed beyond your personal capabilities leaves you with benefits greater than the pain of the attempt. Assuming you don’t go so far that you’re later crippled by PTSD.
The body can do far more than most people think. You could probably stop reading this and run a marathon right now. Not advisable perhaps, but if you had the mental fortitude to keep your legs moving they’d take you 26.2 miles pretty quickly. Elite physical shape isn’t needed. It would suck, but you’d live. Force of will is a force of nature.
I can make no claim to have lived this philosophy. Certainly not to the levels I’d like. Yet in small ways, it’s something I try to experience daily. “Run this mile in 6 minutes”, “Stay up an extra 3 hours and code this concept”. As a general rule if accomplishing a goal is going to really suck, that’s the goal I’m going after.
I made a little list of things, the prospect of which I don’t find appealing, but the personal rewards of completing make them all seem worth the effort. Nothing awe inspiring. Just challenging for me. A challenge is good. I don’t avoid hard.
• Climb Kilimanjaro with Dad (and summit).
• Live on 60% of current income for 6 months and save the rest
• Travel somewhere uncomfortable and live on only what you need
• Dive with white sharks (cage included on this one)
• Speak at a web conference
• Never have another cigarette, not even one, ever.
