Technical debt builds up in software over time. It is the summation of all the liabilities built into the technology over time. It impedes the ease of adding new features and increases the cost of keeping the product functioning. For those that do not understand technical debt, it is enraging. Why Technical Debt is Important Assume a software product that solves a problem that a self-referential group of people (a market segment) is willing to pay for that product. Assume that the product has just enough features (m) that results in more customers (n), consumer retention (r) and market penetration (p) that all feed directly into the recovery time of an investment (I). These variables are at the core of[…]
Month: January 2014
The Circa app (As of January 2014) is notable for the choices the designers made. And the choices they made. The color palette is consistent. The leading is consistent and generous. Upcoming information is faded and effectively previews content. The app can be used with gestures from one thumb, making it great for one thumb use. Just the right number of stories are presented on each day. They made quite a few good choices. They chose to hide most social sharing under a button, instead of surfacing all the options directly within the app. They chose to invest in making good recommendations about related content. They chose to invest in designing an elegant right rail breadcrumb that both respects the[…]