Ask HC: Which books on user interface design do you wish your CEO/Cofounders would read?

Post by swombat » Fri, Sep 05, 2008, 8:11 PM UTC

bjclark wrote: post #14

Which of the books say that a CEO shouldn't be meddling in User Interface Design and should worry about running the business instead?

Post by bjclark » Fri, Sep 05, 2008, 9:16 PM UTC

UandIblog wrote: post #17

josefresco wrote: post #12

The LAST thing you want is your CEO and fellow developers doing is reading a book on good UI design. Do yourself a favor and consult an expert in the field (designer) and leave the CEO/developers to do things that they're actually good at (like promote the company and code)

Yes, good point JoseFresco. It's possible I didn't phrase my original question perfectly as I was trying to be concise. In a perfect world there would be a budget to hire proper specialists, but for me, right now, I'm an army of one. And a cash poor army of one at that! So at this stage I've gotta do everything myself. It's tough not knowing how to write code- I'm actually quite interested in learning but I don't hav…

Post by UandIblog » Fri, Sep 05, 2008, 10:31 PM UTC

bjclark wrote: post #34

UandIblog wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, good point JoseFresco. It's possible I didn't phrase my original question perfectly as I was trying to be concise. In a perfect world there would be a budget to hire proper specialists, but for me, right now, I'm an army of one. And a cash poor army of one at that! So at this stage I've gotta do everything myself. It's tough not knowing how to write code- I'm actually quite interested in learning but I don't hav…

So, if you won't do the code cause you don't know how and you never will, why do you think you can also do the design? I've never really understood this. Most of the time this line of thinking leads to even worse design than your code could ever be.

Post by swombat » Fri, Sep 05, 2008, 11:26 PM UTC

bjclark wrote: post #33

swombat wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None that I'd want to read. In the earliest stage, if the CEO's not either technical or the product lead, he's a waste of space. There's nothing to run before you have a business. The early stage CEO should be a product designer (or programmer), and then eventually move to the side to bring in someone who really enjoys "running the business" as a CEO.

Then he's not the CEO. He's the Founder and Product Lead, which still doesn't mean he should be designing user interfaces. Now, if the post said "What should a budding user interface designer read?" then the other answers are all great. But that's not what the post is. Thinking that a "CEO" needs to be the user interface designer is pretty obvious start down a VERY VERY bad path, IMO.

Post by swombat » Sat, Sep 06, 2008, 9:15 AM UTC

wheels wrote: post #39

swombat wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The founder and product lead is the CEO until the company can afford to get someone else to be the CEO. You're just splitting hairs... I believe that it is actually quite important for the product lead to have a strong sense of design - otherwise, where is he leading the product?

That might be true in YC-ish startups, but seems to be the opposite of what I've observed in the rest of the startup world. The CEO writes figures out what the market is and how to reach it; where the buttons are is not his concern.