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A detailed perspective on what you can really learn from history and how to make the process effective.

The answer has more to do with behavioral economics than company finances.

The idea of “strategic delay” is interesting (and maybe comforting).

“The only way some people know you is through your writing.”

“Your reader does not have much time. If you want to hold the attention of busy people, your writing must cut through to the heart of the matter.”

“Good writing speeds things up.”

These 3 excerpts are from my 1981 copy of “Writing that Works” by Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson. I’ve just read it. It’s probably even more relevant now than in 1981.

Reading “How I Teach” by Jon Kolko was like going back to design school from another perspective. A great book for people into design education; but also those learning design, because it helps to understand the teaching practices’ intentions.

If you write, read this: “40 One-Sentence Writing Tips”. The ones I most liked: “11. ‘Wow, that had great grammar,’ said nobody ever.” and “39. The secret to writing is a paradox: Confine your ideas to a box in which anything is possible.”

I’ve read “Demand-side sales 101” by Bob Moesta. His perspective on sales may be very interesting for a lot of product and service designers. The idea of reducing customer anxiety goes well with the “curate essential features” approach we do on our products at Lefty Ventures.

Designers must be good at writing. Interfaces are full of texts; User journeys work better as written narratives then “canvas-like personas”; Diagrams require clear and concise text; Design cases and reports are important artifacts for non-designers stakeholders; Handoffs work better with side notes; and I can keep filling this with arguments… I read “Writing for designers” by Scott Kubie some months ago and it’s a short book with practical advice on avoiding procrastination and starting writing better design artifacts.

Asking the right question makes all the difference. And designing successful bootstrapped products requires one to ask the right questions and avoid false-positive answers as soon as possible. I’ve recently read “The Mom Test” by Rob Fitzpatrick and that’s a book with useful and practical tips on talking to people about your ideas their real, and worth solving, problems.

It remembered me the “Getting Real” approach, which is the first Basecamp’s book. It’s probably easier to get real with simpler and smaller products, with curated features and bootstrapped business models.