Why software design matters

July 25, 2024

Many areas of software technology are easy to explain to outsiders. And the funny thing is, it’s often the most technical that are the easiest. Say you work...

New year, new take

January 11, 2024

It’s been just over two years (wow!) since the publication of The Essence of Software. In that time, engaging with readers, consulting and teaching to...

A new year of design

January 7, 2024

A very happy 2024 to all my readers! I sent no emails for a while as I was engrossed in other things (mostly organizing a visit of hostage families to...

why AI-based apps need concept design

August 18, 2023

A few weeks ago, we had a birthday bash for CSAIL, my lab at MIT, with short talks from all the investigators in the lab — about 60 of us! My talk was about...

LLMs as coders, concepts and the end of agile

July 19, 2023

[sorry, sending again as formatting got messed up] How LLMs will change programming To celebrate my lab’s 60th birthday, we put on a two-day bash: one day of...

LLMs as coders, concepts & the end of agile

July 19, 2023

How LLMs will change programming To celebrate my lab’s 60th birthday, we put on a two-day bash: one day of talks from alumni and one day or talks from the...

An Experiment in Concept Design at Palantir

July 7, 2023

When I wrote my book about concept design, I hoped that its ideas might nudge practicing software developers to think differently about their work. My...

how Apple, Uber and Spotify break concept integrity

April 4, 2023

Hello friends, It’s been far too long since my last post! Here’s a little analysis of three examples of conceptual design from Apple, Uber and Spotify that...

the siloing of UX design

October 14, 2022

Hello everyone, As I’ve been teaching conceptual design in my class this fall, and articulating for our students what software design is all about (and how...

Why are students (and the software industry) so conservative?

August 26, 2022

As I'm about to start a fresh term, I'm facing a question from students that always astonishes me. Roughly, it's this: are you going to teach me how to do...

For want of a nail... and why Zoom needs a sticky concept

August 23, 2022

Hi Friends, Hope you’re all having a good summer. I’ve been working on a collection of short tutorials about concept design, which I’ll be posting in the...

Smooth Software: A How-To Guide

July 12, 2022

Hello friends, Hope you're all having a wonderful and relaxing summer (or winter if you're down under!). I haven't posted for quite a while, but not because...

design moves for software

April 18, 2022

The secret of great design Watch great designers at work, or study their designs, and you may wonder: what's their secret? Are they preternaturally...

dark patterns and redesigning Facebook

March 25, 2022

Dark patterns are no longer just yucky strategies that companies get away with, tempting you to buy insurance you don't need or sign up for a free-for-a-...

why are basic sysadmin tasks so hard?

March 9, 2022

Basic sys admin tasks can be surprisingly hard. You find some magic incantations online, which you dutifully type into a terminal, but then they don’t have...

who knew simple things could be so hard?

February 20, 2022

I'm always excited to find examples outside software that concept design can be applied to. Here's one I came across this week. As part of a restructuring of...

a concept design move

February 11, 2022

A concept design move Concepts can help you understand the structure of an app and diagnose design flaws, but what I find most exciting is when thinking in...

the very first EOS newsletter!

January 27, 2022

Dear Friends, This is my very first newsletter since I published Essence of Software. So a warm welcome! I've been waiting to send this first newsletter...