Stefan’s blog

I adore a great food. And by great I do not mean expensive posh dishes. It can be simple and great. Now I made simple sandwich for my late dinner. Whole grain bread with lettuce and cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is blended with spring chives which gives it a slightly spicy taste. It’s just simple and delicious.

If I would not be a web developer I would be a cook. I think it is amazing to be a cook and have possibility to design and create different meals. I would apply all the principles from web development to cooking. Starting with my favorite - KISS :). Even Gordon Ramsay would be jealous. Bon appetite :).

There is a huge difference between IT person a developer and a business person a developer. A developer (IT educated, computer science etc…) lives in models, math, algorithms, develops and writes a lot of “perfect” code, right to the specification! He uses first, second, third framework on top of one another. He does things because they are supposed to be done that way…

A business person, a developer educated on a business school has completely different approach, he is lazy to write a lot of code. He uses just one framework. He plans, he analyses and than he writes 80% less of the code than computer science person. Instead of doing things “the supposed way” he challenges dogmas and finds different approach.

I know some IT people, they talk bullshit. I can not stand some of them. You meet such a geek and he will tell you how exciting that piece of code is. I know some business people, they are right to the core. How to do it the most efficient and easiest way, how to do less. Well it saves money doesn’t it? They will tell you how exiting is that they manage to set-up e-shop in a few days, how exciting is the outcome and how much they saved that way.

What is the fundamental difference? Business people even though they may not know the Pareto principle they employ it and behave by it naturally. That is that 20% of causes results in 80% of effects roughly.  So business educated developers focus on those 20% of functionality to develop which provides the highest 80% value. Computer science educated developers focus on 100% and they waste 80% of their attention to unimportant bullshit providing just 20% of value.

The drawback? You never get 100% from a business educated developer. The benefit? You get what will fulfill most of your needs, costs less and it is highly manageable in the future.

Did you get it? Big advice to all computer science developers: Your work will suck unless you focus on those 20% providing 80% of outcome. And advice for you? Why do you need 100% anyway. I am sure you will be much better off with a business educated web developer than with a computer science developer, because they can provide that cumulative magic.

Now when I told you golden rule of business educated developers, I am going to kill you :).

I am happy business minded web developer and if you need agile web development you can still hire me.

John Maeda is blurring the lines between programming and design. At the end of the talk he mentions one interesting problem as it is not about how to make the world more technological, but how to make it more human again. I very much share his view.

Volvo in their S40/V50 campaign speak about design principles which are applied in web design almost daily…

• less is more
• treat everything like a piece of art
• form follows function
• redefine luxury
• never stop learning

These are scopes very similar to mine applied in web design. However Volvo is speaking about cars. Less is more. In fact less is less and that is good about it. It enables you to focus on what is really important and make it as best as possible, treat every little piece as a piece of art. Off course form follows function, we make web sites both nice looking, functional and easy to use. We do not design creative sites for creative designers. We design nice looking and usable sites and application to perform concrete functions, present, provide information and sell.

I never stop learning, that’s why “embrace the unknown” is my motto.

You can apply these principles for any design, either web, car, furniture or even property development. I would very much like to live in a house developed according to these principles.

Check it out, it is well done.

Philippe Starck is a french designer, whose scope ranges from deluxe objects to posh condos and hotels all around the world. I especially admire him for his believes and views on design and religion, which are very close to mine. Design should be done for the result. People, are going to use the product, so we should spent time thinking about how are they going to use it and make it the bast way, to create awesome user experience. This implies also on web design. I focus on usability while designing web sites and applications, because there are people going to use them.

“God is the answer when we don’t know the answer. God is a trap. When you do not know the answer, there is a God, that is ridiculous.”

As a web designer, I may see design in everything. But really, good design can drive sustainable development and reduce humanity’s ecological footprint. Watch Alex Steffen’s talk, who is the founder of worldchanging.com. He shares his thoughts about design of our cities, buildings and every day things.