Overheard in product: Non-goals, coding advice, email culture, and project predictions

In this article
TL;DR

We’re back with part 16 of Overheard in Product—a series where we round up all of the tantalizing conversations from product folks that you may have missed on the web last week.

This week, we talk about non-goals, advice for new coders, email as culture, and why your software project is scoped wrong.

Let’s get to it.

That’s always been a non-goal of mine

Gwen Betts, Director UX & Product Design at Rapid7, added to Sunhail’s tweet about the importance of non-goals.  

this is tweet from gwen betts about scope creep, biggerism, and non-goals—and the importance of defining what you're not going to do

Food for thought: The term biggerism was coined by the late visionary designer Charles Thacker, who often argued against it and preferred to keep his designs simple. How can you rail against biggerism in your work?

Guide and seek

Glitch said asked the world for some guidance to pass along to new coders.

this is a tweet from glitch that asks: what's one piece of advice you'd give to new coders

Our favorite pieces of advice include being kind to folks—yourself included, to share your ideas, and that depth is more important than breadth.

Attachment issues

Trevor McKendrick, Chief of Staff at Lambda School, made an observation about email.

this is a tweet from trevor mckendrik that says: email is its own language, culture, and value system

Food for thought: What language and value system are you participating in when emailing?

Bonus: Ship it real good

Erik Bernhardsson, CTO at Better.com, wrote an incredible article (and statistical model) about why we’re so bad at predicting how long software projects will take.

this is a tweet with a graph that says: why software projects take longer than you think — a statistical model

Erik’s thesis is that developers are actually pretty good at identifying the median time a project will take—it’s the mean that’s a more accurate predictor.


Read his full article.

Facts & Questions

Appcues logo

If retention is the goal, multi-channel messaging is the key

Retention starts with a connected user experience—both in and out of your product. Appcues helps SaaS teams engage users seamlessly with in-app messaging, email, and push notifications, guiding them to value and turning them into champions.