Ian Daniel Stewart

That's me. This is my blog.

  • Home
  • AboutThis is the somewhat bookish blog of Ian Stewart. Not the famous mathematician, rock musician, or playwright, but the husband, father, designer, and reader of way too many books. Here you will find his musings on the whole range of his interests; from the highest of edifying heights to the basest vanities. You may find something funny in all of this.
  • ContactBoy, I don’t know about you but I love getting emails. Use the form below to send me one! If you need support for your WordPress.com blog, please contact WordPress Support. One of our awesome Happiness Engineers will get back to you super-quick. If you have a theme question it might even be me that gets back to you. 🙂

  • What I read (and what I didn’t read) in 2018

    This is a long one! In this post we’ve got all my short reviews of the books I read in 2018, some very brief notes on the books I put down in 2018 without completing, notes on coming back to Twitter, and finally some notes on leaving Facebook. (The last one made my life much […]

    Ian Stewart

    December 30, 2018
  • It’s Dangerous to Go Alone

    Some thoughts on how to push back against the gravity of “going it alone” when working remote or in an all-distributed company. I have several friends at work who love the Zelda game series from Nintendo. And I played the first few games growing up so the video-game-famous quote from the first game, “It’s dangerous […]

    Ian Stewart

    December 2, 2018
  • We’re nominating Design for Best Supporting Actor and Actress

    We’ve started using Design as “best supporting actor/actress” as a metaphorical goal for our centralized Design teams at Automattic. It’s an interesting metaphor, right? It’s got to feel good to be up on stage clutching a golden trophy. But why not nominate Design for the starring role? Here’s how I’ve started to think about it. […]

    Ian Stewart

    November 24, 2018
  • Self-Inflicted Chaos

    An interesting analysis from John Cutler on Self-inflicted Chaos in organizations. What’s self-inflicted chaos? Self-inflicted chaos – Trying to do too much at once, and ending up doing nothing particularly well. – Misjudging the blast radius of task or project, and the non-linear impacts that misjudgment will have on the whole organization. Versus – When a […]

    Ian Stewart

    November 13, 2018
  • The wisdom of duplication

    I love this passage from Arnie Lund’s tome on User Experience Management. I think it’s really important to consider. Especially if you lead in a distributed organization. We perceive information via three channels: – Visual (60%) – Audio (30%) – and Semantic (10%). When we share information via e-mail or any other sharing tool, it […]

    Ian Stewart

    October 30, 2018
  • Closing the gap

    I like to think we all know of someone we admire. Someone who possesses a character or set of skills we’d like to see in ourselves. It’s certainly true of me and has been my whole life. What to do about it? We can’t go back in time and relive our lives and I’m sure […]

    Ian Stewart

    October 26, 2018
  • Worse is Better

    I came across the software design philosophy of “Worse is Better” via a post from John Maeda titled Perfection vs Just Ship It. The idea is that software which follows the “worse-is-better” approach has “better survival characteristics than the-right-thing.” You can read all about it in the original essay —  The Rise of “Worse is Better” — but […]

    Ian Stewart

    September 16, 2018
  • The Wave

    For a while now I’ve been using my iPhone wallpaper and lock screen to get some more art in my life. (I do the same thing on my Desktop with a rotating custom gallery in Momentum.) The current iPhone art is The Wave by 19th Century Russian artist, Ivan Aivazovsky. It’s apparently one of his most […]

    Ian Stewart

    August 21, 2018
  • Ray Dalio and Bob Dylan on challenging the unconcious mind

    What does Ray Dalio, super-investor and author of Principles for Life and Work think your greatest challenge is? It’s mastering the part of you that won’t be mastered. Your greatest challenge will be having your thoughtful higher-level you manage your emotional lower-level you. The best way to do that is to consciously develop habits that […]

    Ian Stewart

    January 6, 2018
  • Improving focus by removing the web browser from my phone

    Five days ago I used the restrictions settings on my iPhone to block access to my web browser. I did it on a whim wondering what it would be like and since that time I’ve turned it on once for only a few minutes. I was in Home Depot and wanted to know what kind […]

    Ian Stewart

    January 5, 2018
1 2 3 … 50
Next Page→

Blog at WordPress.com.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
 

Loading Comments...