My Philosophy

Simple
Being in the computer field, I value the capabilities computing brings to our lives. However, one of the great dangers in computing is that the complexity that comes with computers overwhelms the benefits to be gained. Therefore, in all that I do, I try to make computing simpler for you.

“The farmer is endeavoring to solve the problem of a livelihood by a formula more complicated than the problem itself. To get his shoestrings he speculates in herds of cattle. With consummate skill he has set his trap with a hair springe to catch comfort and independence, and then, as he turned away, got his own leg into it.”
- Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)

Proactive
While the idea of interactivity has some merit, I feel that it has superceded the most important asset of a computer…its ability to do a lot of work very fast. Instead of pushing a single button, computer users are all too often expected to guide the computer through every step of the work.

Instead of the game-like feel of many interactive solutions, I try to implement proactive solutions in which you need only press a button to get the desired results, leaving all of the mundane tasks to the computer and enhancing your productivity.

Twenty five or so years ago The New Yorker published a cartoon that described the impact of the computer on society. It showed a manager coming home from work and falling onto his sofa in utter exhaustion and explaining that:
“Today I did the work of one million men”
Of course, the point is that he probably only pressed a single button.

Intuitive
One of the driving motivations behind my solutions is to avoid the pitfalls of common software products and make products which are easy to use. Software must not be a barrier to accomplishing work.

“Saying that someone is ‘computer literate’ is really a euphemism meaning that he has been indoctrinated and trained in the irrational and counter-intuitive way that [computers] work”
- Alan Cooper, About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design (IDG Books Worldwide, 1995)