Life is in beta

Source: TYPO

Erik Spiekermann goes through his firm’s entire design process. Decades of knowledge in less than an hour.

Writing copy

  1. no ornamental adjectives
  2. no self-praise
  3. hard facts as proof of concept
  4. no words written whens pictures suffice
  5. present tense, active language
  6. subheads as teasers
  7. 800-1200 characters (200 words)
  8. one editor who writes final version

Design ethos

  • speed and deep are not opposites
  • cooperation doesn’t mean consensus
  • idea generation is not idea selection
  • failure is part of the process
  • everything restarts as soon as it is finished

Product roles

  • no project manager
  • Product owner is the CEO, they manage product and deadlines (doesn’t matter who it actually is)
  • Scrum master is the facilitator, coach, and bulldozer, they manage process
  • Team self-manages to the owner for delivering as promised