Catalyst Podcast

Friction is introspection: How did the iPhone come to feel like an intuitive thing to use? This week on Track Changes Paul and Rich sit down with UX designer Cliff Kuang and co-founder of Dalberg Design Robert Fabricant to talk about their new book User Friendly: How the hidden rules of design are changing the way we live, work and play. We discuss the history of the concept and how it’s become something that we demand yet often take for granted. We also chat about the greater paradigm shift that led to the popularity of user experience design and about why we should maybe start to question the view that ease equals progress.  Links: User Friendly - Penguin Books  Dalberg Design  Frog Design Paul Rand - Wikipedia  Carbon Design System  Plex - Google Fonts  Three Mile Island  Raymond Loewy - Wikipedia   Ideo  Marvin Minski - Wikipedia Doug Englebart - Wikipedia  Health Kit - Apple  The Softbank Effect: How 100 Billion Left Workers in a Hole - New York Times  SoftbankSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Catering to the masses: On this week’s episode of Track Changes, Paul and Rich sit down to discuss the mess that is app stores. We chat about how the race to produce more and more content and why trying to cater to as wide an audience as possible is making for frustrating user experience. We also discuss our dreams of getting rid of in-app micro-purchases and the need for better app reviews.  Links:  Apple Arcade  Google Play Pass Monument Valley  Cut the Rope  Netflix  The Verge  iCloud  Apple TV  Pages  Numbers  The Morning Show  Candy Crush  Nintendo Life  Death Stranding  The Wirecutter  Sago Mini  Khan Academy KidsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Answer the question: On this week's episode of Track Changes, Paul and Rich share some interview advice they've learned after conducting hundreds of job interviews. We give some straight-forward tips on what to do in job interviews. We chat about the importance of listening, keeping your answers concise and being able to have a conversation with your interviewer. We also talk about what you shouldn’t do. For starters, don’t act like you don’t want the job. Links:  Careers at PostlightSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Facilitating a digital mindset: On this week’s episode of Track Changes, Paul and Rich sit down to chat about the current job description for the Chief Digital Officer at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. We go over the demands of the job and talk about the many complexities that come with being a CDO at such a large and political organization. We also talk about why it can be difficult joining a new organization and why you might have to accept that people will hate you for a while. Sadly it’s part of the job sometimes. Links:  The Metropolitan Museum of Art  Job Posting for Met CDO - LinkedIn Met Gala 2020 - Vogue  Ralph Lauren Documentary - HBO   See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Accountability is friction: On this week’s episode of Track Changes Paul and Rich sit down to chat about different types of accountability software. Whether it’s a CRM, a to-do list or an app, we discuss what works best for staying on track and getting things done. We talk about the importance of empathy and support and why tactics based on fear never work in the long run. We also discuss why some software is moving away from adding accountability into its workflows despite it’s importance.    Links:  Sony Aibo  Clippy  Pipedrive  Dash for Slack  Postlight Labs  Mirror  Peloton  Mother by The Police  Sydney Cummings - YoutubeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The new entertainment system: On this week’s episode of Track Changes Paul is flying solo without Rich. He is joined by New York Times writer Taylor Lorenz. Taylor answers all of Paul’s questions about influencers, including how they actually monetize their brand in such a crowded online market. Taylor addresses stereotypes about influencers being vapid and shallow and shows us just how hard influencers work.  LINKS New York Times - Taylor Lorenz  Tumblr  Tyler Oakley - Youtube  Hannah Hart - Youtube  Vine  Instagram  Lilly Singh - Wikipedia  Noah Centineo - Wikipedia  Tik Tok  Patreon  Rosanna Pansino - Youtube  United Talent Agency  WME  Community  Forget DMs. Celebrities Want You To Text Them - New York Times  Discord  The Rise and Fall of the Jeremy Renner App, Which Was a Real Thing - New York Times  Kim Kardashian: Hollywood  Taylor Swift’s mobile app, The Swift Life, is the latest celebrity app to shutter - TechCrunch  The Instagram Aesthetic is Over - The Atlantic  Teens Are Being Bullied ‘Constantly’ on Instagram - The Atlantic  Pewdiepie - Youtube  Taylor Lorenz - Twitter Taylor Lorenz - Instagram See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Software is like people: On this week’s episode of Track Changes, Paul and Rich sit down to discuss software baggage. We chat about how a simple software idea can morph into layers and layers of product features and about how implementing use-cases can lead to confusing and bloated software. We also share our many HR software gripes.      Links:  Recruitment Software Market Size, Share and Industry Analysis - Fortune Business Insights  Scala  JQuery Jira  SAP  Basecamp  Slack  Dash for Slack - Postlight  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Removing Friction: On this week’s episode of Track Changes, Paul and Rich sit down with Noah Brier and James Gross ahead of a Postlight event to talk about the new trend that is taking enterprise software by storm, product-led growth. We discuss why the shift to PLG is as big as a transition for enterprise as the switch from on-premise to cloud software and how this move to more user-centric products removes friction from all levels of product implementation.  Links:    Salesforce Lattice  Pingboard  Google Sheets  Google Docs  Abacus  Dropbox  Google drive Invision  Figma  Sketch  SAP Slack  Percolate  Variance  Zoom Datadog  Oracle  Concur   Mailchimp Notion  Product Led Growth Index - OpenView Partners Amplitude Pendo   Atlasian  Jira  ZohoSuite   See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Listen, don’t tell: Having trouble convincing your boss to invest in new software? On this week’s episode of Track Changes, Paul and Rich teach you everything you need to know about selling software services. We chat about changing the narrative to be about selling growth instead of products, and give some great sales tactics. Paul also shares some interesting car purchasing tips he learned from his brother.  Links:  Sarbanes Oxley - Wikipedia  Chevy Blazer  CarMax  Google Analytics  J.P. Morgan  Amnesty International  NodeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Adjust the quirks: On this week’s episode of Track Changes we ask the question, “is programming becoming obsolete?”. As user-friendly visual interfaces continue to get more and more popular, we discuss why programming remains so important to tackle complex tasks and long-term software challenges. Paul and Rich also come up with a new, nicer, way to talk about bugs. In this week’s Hello Postlight segment, we hear from product manager Jorge Mir Alvarez, who tells us how he went from a Track Changes listener to a Postlight employee.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.