Srikanth's Blog

Book : The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results Authors : Gary Keller, Jay Papasan Epigraph : "If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one.” — Russian proverb This is not your typical self-help book, containing random motivation, all over the place. Rarely you come across a book that has a crystal clear purpose for both authors and the readers. (You'll understand the authors' purpose, when you read the book) For now, let's focus on how this can help you as a reader. The One Thing is one of the few books that can have an immediate effect on your life and work. In this noisy world, we're constantly pulled from our purpose due to distractions, a platter-of-options, internet-as-entertainment, doom scrolling, multitasking, constant media manipulation, and people as well as brands turning your inbox into their to-do lists. The list goes on and it's designed to work against you.  If you're just wandering and directio...

Book : Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World - And Why Things Are Better Than You Think Authors : Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, and Anna Rosling  We're used to the constant media portrayal, about how the world is only getting worse by the day, that there's no hope for us, and several other bad things that are constantly broadcasted across mass media. Nobody reports when things are normal. This is a fantastic book to see the world in a new light. For example, nobody reports when there's no crime, and all is well. There's no need to in the first place, which is the point being made in this book. We're fed by media only when there's bad events. This is negativity bias, as defined by the Author. You can find more detailed examples in the book. The author has given us a new perspective in understanding the changing world and measuring progress, through in-depth research on a range of subjects that impact our world and our image of it.  We don't ne...

Product designers should be in a position to write an essay about every module or component they intend to design. The essay should capture the why, what, and for whom they are designing a solution. A clear response to why only a certain pattern solves a specific problem in a given context needs documentation. What are the benefits and tradeoffs, and most importantly, how does the solution fit into the user experience strategy, product strategy and overall business strategy. The internet is never short of one thing. Templates! Random templates are not design solutions. Every business demands a unique UX strategy. Delivering this strategy is a buildup of taking contextual design decisions by product designers and product owners. Documenting design decisions and backing them with logic and evidence, builds your credibility and influence in the organization. "The Why" is of extreme importance. An essay should highlight how your design decisions can achieve your product metrics ...

For the unversed, with certain videos on YouTube you can mouse hover the video player slider and explore how the "most replayed" feature works. My observations are based on being a YouTube content consumer and a product designer by profession.   1. Impact on Behaviour For starters, do you think this feature is designed to create certain user behaviour or is this reinforcing latent user behaviour? I think, this feature is creating a new digital-video-consumption behaviour by observing peer viewing patterns. Every video seems to be generating a specific viewing behaviour. The system seems to be averaging and highlighting this behaviour for further consumption, more observation and pattern correction. (Data generated by users is presented back to the users by the system) While this might look like a simple feature on the surface, I think this feature can influence users beyond compare and has the potential to create a psychological impact on users and eventually irreversible so...

Filmmaking is a versatile art form encompassing various formats: including feature films, television shows, music videos, commercials, social media videos, and animation. While this article is specifically for film directors who want to make narrative feature films, the fundamental principles of visual grammar are universal and can be applied across mediums. Let's look at the 5 ways you can learn filmmaking and nurture the skills of this highly demanding subject and craft. I don't see one way as better than the others. In fact, combining all these 5 ways in the right proportions is your best bet forward in terms of building creative confidence and competence. Filmmaking might sound and look entertaining for the outside world. However this is a highly serious business, with lots at stake, and one which demands a continuous learning mindset. It's good to respect the masters who have laid the foundational rules and defined the universal visual grammar of film. Equally, one sho...

 Do you have a not-to-do list? Having a not-to-do list is more important than a to-do list. In fact, this works as the premise for all your to-do lists and helps you build relevant and efficient to-do lists. You need to build a framework that caters to your peace of mind and definition of success. Here's my list. Ask permission Seek validation Follow templates Please everyone Fear change Build your not-to-do list. Create the right conditions for your personal and professional success.

In an earlier article, we spoke about the two-pronged approach for UX practitioners . Now, let's deep dive into the first approach and see, how AI assistance can be leveraged to optimize and accelerate an ideal UX design workflow. This article is not about the tools available in the market, rather it's more about the design methods. Tools change! (Tools: Gen AI websites, Figma plugins, etc) I believe that we need to use AI — only if the model can do an above-average job in terms of output, and in circumstances where speed is paramount from a UX delivery standpoint. Else, there's no point in seeking AI assistance. The whole idea of AI assistance should be business-purpose driven or by complementing core-skills of a UX practitioner, and not be any other measure. So, use AI wisely and seek its assistance only when you strongly think and feel that — it can significantly empower you, in your work outcomes. Disclaimer: I haven't tested these ideas. However these ideas are bas...

UX practitioners need to embrace the almost ubiquitous AI with a two-pronged approach. Unlike other departments in an organization, UX practitioners need to take a highly practical approach to achieve both internal and external design objectives. With changing times, we need to change our practices as well.  AI Assistance : Optimise and accelerate design workflow with AI tools   AI Infusion : AI-first user experience for your product, service, and applications. 1. AI Assistance This is a question about how effectively one can leverage AI to optimize, streamline, and accelerate the design workflow, process efficiency, and even enhance overall internal collaboration. Utilizing generative AI at work is almost a no-brainer today, however for design, it's only one piece of the problem. For design teams, it solves the way we do work, not the work itself. Design teams need to audit and deploy AI in areas where it can work better than your average designer output and turnaround time. ...

Today I have set myself some goals. Create 50 YouTube videos and 50 blog posts. Right now, I am at 10% on YouTube and around 25% on the blog front. The idea is to focus only on creating and not spend time worrying about the outcomes. Let's see where this goes and what kind of creative possibilities this opens up. I just posted on LinkedIn about the same and I'm looking forward to revisit these LinkedIn posts once I achieve these targets. Here is the screenshot for reference. BTW do connect on LinkedIn . I'm quite active on the platform. LinkedIn Post The whole idea of content creation is taking initiative, creating, and also creating the right conditions that can open up new possibilities. Hence the name: Creator. What's the point of calling yourself a creator, if you can't commit your time and energy to the creative process? Building something new is a marathon, not a sprint. I'm off to a good start, bolstered by encouraging data from both my YouTube channel an...

Right from the opening, we're immediately drawn into the mind of the assassin and his lonely and dark world. His entire world is his body and mind, and a soul if there's one — as quoted by the killer. The movie is one long inner monologue, with scarce dialogue between characters, plenty of silence, and all we experience is the isolated, silent, patient, and persistent world of the killer. He lives by certain self-defined principles of morality and does not believe in anything else. His self-talk is what keeps the narrative moving forward. This film is a great example for film students who might want to learn in depth about a subjective point-of-view. The audience is deeply drawn into the killer's head and you constantly see, hear, and feel his experience. The intercuts between the objective point-of-view and subjective point-of-view shots replicate the character's visual and aural experience for the audience. You can hear the diegetic sound of music playing on his earph...

By and large, the user experience of your organization, product, service, or system depends on how effectively can a UX practitioner collaborate within the organization. Design is a function of organization-wide collaboration, shared vision, and coherent action towards business objectives. Ideally a UX practitioner should operate away from the desk (mostly); and that's how one can differentiate between a seasoned UX practitioner from the novice — those who are mostly staring at a screen to solve a problem, that is actually beyond screens. UX is beyond screens — it's an understanding of your ecosystem and all related systems. Having said that, here's 10 ways to improve your UX, right now. All it takes is passionate collaboration, keen observation, and extensive documentation in this approach. After all, UX design is understanding the user, brand, and business objectives and solving problems collaboratively. Most of your user-research opportunities are available right before ...

Saul gone? No, it's not all gone. We have Pluribus, now. Pluribus is turning out to be an extraordinary show due to the trademark slow burn narrative style of creator Vince Gilligan. The world experienced this with BB and even more with BCS, however Pluribus seems to be on a hyper slow burn mode. It's literally taking forever to reveal things and I think that's the whole point of watching a TV series. I love the way Rhea Seehorn put it one of her interviews, when asked about what kind of show is Pluribus? She said "It's lean-forward television and not lean-backward television". That's exactly what Pluribus is. Set in Albuquerque, New Mexico the series centers on author Carol Sturka, who is one of only 13 people in the world immune to the effects of "the Joining". This event, caused by an extraterrestrial virus, has transformed the rest of humanity into a peaceful and content hive mind known as "the Others", who consistently accommodate ...

Always timebox your work. However the first question should be is this worth your time, and the immediate follow-up question should be how much time would this activity consume. Timeboxing is the ultimate answer to our limited time. If you make it a practice to ask these two questions for every activity you do, you'll achieve more and start to experience a feeling of accomplishment even with the smallest of things. Small things can help you complete bigger goals. For example, I timeboxed to complete this post to 20 minutes, which includes writing, editing, selecting an image (which is such a waste of time, due to the current theme limitations. I'm exploring text-only blog themes and hope to find one at the earliest. Until then I'll reuse a repository of images) and posting it on my blog. For me, writing often matters and this perspective addresses the other question, of whether it's important in the first place. First pick the right problems, the right activities to do,...

Here are three reasons why I started a YouTube Channel 1) Global Reach 2) Personal Growth 3) Positive Societal Contribution Global Reach The sheer reach of the platform is mind boggling. Looks like there's nothing as powerful as Youtube. You can reach 2.7 billion users through your content. Unlike other social media platforms, Youtube does not force you to register to access its content. Also being on TV is the differentiating factor when it comes to reach and impact. I should have started way back in 2015, when I started creating content on LinkedIn. Well, better late than never. YouTube is literally a digital archive and the closest thing we have to a time machine. Personal Growth A channel is a great way to build camera confidence, and general confidence as well in terms of presenting your ideas to the world. The best part is gaining a new set of transferable skills that can help you in your work and life. Also a great way to open up new possibilities and inbound opportunities. ...

If you want to be a writer, you have to write. Don't wait for the so-called best idea to begin writing. If you wait, you'll be thinking perpetually about writing, but you won't be writing. Start small. First, write a thought in 10-words. Write a few more thoughts. Next, structure your thoughts and ideas and write a short article, then a long-form article, and then a few more articles that can get you in the groove. It can be an essay, a blog post, article, poem, screenplay, or whatever. The format doesn't matter. Focus on taking the first step and eventually you'll figure out the formats. Focus on the expression. Eventually, you'll build the momentum to outline and structure your ideas into a short book. Next, you'll gain the confidence and the muscle to write a full-fledged book, and even a series of books. Well, the end goal of writing is not necessarily always a book, however all forms of writing are a way to think, structure and express our ideas. You sh...

The fundamental challenge with ubiquitous AI is: the impact on our ability to think deeply in the near future. It's changing the way human beings think and conduct day-to-day activities like communication, collaboration, search, research, thinking, writing, and even problem-solving. We are experiencing a paradigm shift by gravitating from thinking to prompting and that's a tremendous change in how we approach work and life. Prompting is a surface level activity, critical thinking isn't. This prompting can disturb our thinking abilities, that we have learnt and amassed over years of our work experience, both collective and individualistic. Now, generative AI is deeply being ingrained into most software applications and it's making our lives more easier than ever. AI is not just eating software, it's eating human abilities to think and in fact most AI models are already showing tremendous results. Our behaviour is changing, just like — how people started using calcula...