MEMO

Issue #246

Mar 14

Designing the Hybrid Office

The natural experiment forced on the world by the coronavirus demonstrates that the academics and tech visionaries who have been talking since the 1980s about the possibilities of remote work were not exaggerating. After months of working remotely, we have all learned that most tasks are accomplished and most meetings go just fine without the office.

That is not how your brain works

Forget these scientific myths to better understand your brain and yourself.

The downsides of leadership

We tend to be pretty clear why it might be nice to be in a leadership role. There’s more status, you get to decide how things should be and – very often – you get paid more too. But there are some dark aspects too.

This is not good design

Much has been written about what makes for good design. All of it is fiercely debated by designers, who would rather find ways to exclude one another than celebrate commonality. Rather than write yet another forgettable entry into the insufferable oeuvre of This-Not-That, I thought I’d just cut to the chase and focus on the Not-That. Here are seven kinds of bad design. There are certainly more.