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I'm always impressed by people who are top dogs at self-promotion. These are small projects, small changes, but presented as best as they could, with as much fa

I'm always impressed by people who are top dogs at self-promotion. These are small projects, small changes, but presented as best as they could, with as much fanfare and congratulations as can be achieved. I mean, an arrow for data flow direction? It sure is better than a non-descript triple dots, but was it that non-obvious? The mileage he gets from this small change in this blog post is remarkable. I constantly fail at this game.

tailspin2019 5y ago
> The mileage he gets from this small change in this blog post is remarkable. I think that's entirely the point he's making! :-) > I constantly fail at this game. Me too.
HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
It becomes much easier if you can see things through the user's eyes. Then you realize that the tiny change you made is worth talking about because it substantially improves the users' lives.
EricE 5y ago
It's called the curse of knowledge :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_knowledge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_knowledge The best way to get better at the game is to know you have a blind spot. Once you do, then you can come with strategies to work around it. It takes quite a bit of work, especially at first - but like most skills, the more you make the effort to practice them, the less effort and easier they get to accomplish over time. Whenever I am writing anything explanatory out now, I force myself to step back, and re-read it out loud as if I was reading it to a family member with zero familiarity of the subject. It's pretty effective :) Feels very weird at first, but actually physically reading it out loud is key - forces your brain to process it and not take mental short cuts.
jodrellblank 5y ago
To me your comment reads as scornful rather than impressed; that you think he is milking something undeservingly and self-servingly. The mindset and writing style "I'm humbled that such a small change could help so many :)" is far more engaging than the writing style "so much fanfare for THAT, that was obvious I saw that ages ago because I'm not dumb".

tailspin2019 5y ago

> The mileage he gets from this small change in this blog post is remarkable. I think that's entirely the point he's making! :-) > I constantly fail at this game. Me too.

HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago

It becomes much easier if you can see things through the user's eyes. Then you realize that the tiny change you made is worth talking about because it substantially improves the users' lives.

EricE 5y ago

It's called the curse of knowledge :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_knowledge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_knowledge The best way to get better at the game is to know you have a blind spot. Once you do, then you can come with strategies to work around it. It takes quite a bit of work, especially at first - but like most skills, the more you make the effort to practice them, the less effort and easier they get to accomplish over time. Whenever I am writing anything explanatory out now, I force myself to step back, and re-read it out loud as if I was reading it to a family member with zero familiarity of the subject. It's pretty effective :) Feels very weird at first, but actually physically reading it out loud is key - forces your brain to process it and not take mental short cuts.

jodrellblank 5y ago

To me your comment reads as scornful rather than impressed; that you think he is milking something undeservingly and self-servingly. The mindset and writing style "I'm humbled that such a small change could help so many :)" is far more engaging than the writing style "so much fanfare for THAT, that was obvious I saw that ages ago because I'm not dumb".