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Designing in the Open, Remotely

Mapk
June 22, 2019

Designing in the Open, Remotely

A juxtaposition between how no one ever sees me, but everyone sees the work I do. In regards to Open Design and Remote Work, I talk about the benefits of each and how to start doing them. Afterward, I dig into giving back to the WordPress community.

Mapk

June 22, 2019
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  1. Designing in the Open,
    Remotely

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  2. Mark Uraine // @mapk
    I’m a creative technologist at Automattic
    contributing to the open source project,
    WordPress.
    My focus is Gutenberg Phase 2.

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  3. Juxtaposition
    No one ever sees me,

    but everyone sees what I do.
    // Remote work
    // Open design

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  4. Remote work
    No one ever sees me.

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  5. Remote Distributed work
    No one ever sees me.

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  8. Rita Alvez
    I just saw the change you made for the tooltip in the PR
    14361. You might be able to optimize the code on line 37.
    After that, we should be good to go.

    @mapk
    8:07 AM

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  11. Benefits

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  12. Cultural diversity.

    Brings together people from diverse cultures and countries.

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  14. Categories

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  15. Relationships

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  16. Categories

    Broad groupings of content based on shared characteristics.


    WordPress 0.7 (May 2003)

    Source: https://wordpress.org/news/2003/05/wordpress-now-available/
    Tags

    More specific topics that associate related content.


    WordPress 2.3 (Sep. 2007)

    Source: https://wordpress.org/news/2007/09/wordpress-23/
    Western
    Eastern

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  17. […] diverse views should be helpful for
    problem solving. […] We expect that for most
    problems one would be better off having a
    mix of people from different cultures than
    having people all from one culture.
    Source: The Geography of Thought, Richard Nisbett

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  18. Cultural diversity.

    Brings together people from diverse cultures and countries.
    Increased productivity.

    When people are happy, their productivity increases.

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  19. A 2-year Stanford study shows that remote
    workers are more productive.
    Remote workers did 13% more work in the
    same amount of time as their peers.
    Source: Inc., Scott Mautz

    https://www.inc.com/scott-mautz/a-2-year-stanford-study-shows-astonishing-productivity-
    boost-of-working-from-home.html

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  20. How to start

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  21. Document everything.

    If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen.

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  22. Over 1600 slack channels

    Over 500 internal blogs

    Large number of Field Guides
    // ~86 on Making WP
    // ~19 on w.org
    // Several handbooks

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  23. Document everything.

    If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen.
    Collaborate and experiment with tools.

    Find the tools that work well for you.

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  25. Remote work
    No one ever sees me.

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  26. Open design
    Everyone sees what I do.

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  27. Open design is about sharing one’s work and
    process with the public.

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  31. Well have you tried ?
    making the logo bigger
    putting the sidebar on the left
    a different font
    another color
    adding more space
    what Facebook does
    what my friend’s site does
    moving that thing over there
    this other thing
    testing this with anyone
    making it round

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  33. We’re upset at all this
    feedback about things
    we’ve already tried.

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  34. We’re super excited that
    people seem to be
    interested in our work.

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  35. How to start

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  36. Designers can learn from math.

    ∀∈ℕ,∃1,2∈ℙ:1+2=2(+2)

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  38. How did you come up with
    that solution?

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  39. SHOW

    YOUR

    WORK

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  40. Fall in love with the problem, 

    not the solution.
    Source: John Boudreau and Steven Rice

    https://hbr.org/2015/07/bright-shiny-objects-and-the-future-of-hr

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  41. The maturity of a designer is reflected 

    in the confidence of their process.

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  42. Let me work on this and get back to you.

    We design and experiment with our process in secret.
    I built some wireframes.

    We might share specific steps when we feel good about them.
    Let’s build it together, right now.

    We sit down and share our process and iterate.

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  43. Be inclusive.

    Make sure you’re aware of who’s involved and gather feedback.
    Be accessible.

    Make sure your designs are accessible to everyone.
    Design in steps.

    Make sure your steps are apparent, purposeful, and accessible.
    Recognize others.

    Give props to others who have contributed to the work.

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  44. Benefits

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  45. The enemy of all bad ideas is 

    someone to talk to.
    Source: How to create a culture of open design, Tanner Christensen

    https://tannerchristensen.com/blog/2019/4/1/how-to-create-a-culture-of-open-design

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  46. Community involvement.

    Diversity of ideas and user insight.
    Early feedback.

    Early feedback means quicker iterations. Help spotting mistakes.
    Less pressure.

    No BIG REVEAL relieves stress. A confidence in launch.
    Become a leader.

    Sharing your process and work allows others to learn from you.

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  47. Giving back

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  49. https://github.com/WordPress/
    https://make.wordpress.org/chat/
    https://core.trac.wordpress.org/
    https://make.wordpress.org/

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  50. Mobile Support
    Accessibility
    Polyglots
    Plugins
    Documentation Community
    Themes
    Core
    Meta
    Design
    Get involved
    Training
    Test TV
    Marketing
    Hosting
    CLI
    Tide

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  52. Abschließend möchte
    ich sagen

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  53. Embrace your fear.
    Be kind.
    Share your knowledge.
    Encourage others.
    Be constructive.
    Recognize the efforts of others.
    Have fun.

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  54. Thank you.
    Twitter: @mapk
    WordPress.org: mapk
    markuraine.com

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