Ideas become the new currency

The AI revolution in video creation has me excited. It’s wild to think how storyboarding will evolve.

Directors sitting at their desks saying “I want a moody scene. Start with a low angle shot that slowly pans up to reveal a cityscape at dawn.” And then uses AI powered tools to create it.

Sharing vision becomes easier. Instead of struggling to explain what’s in your head you can show it. “Here’s the vibe I want” becomes a starting point not hours of back and forth.

Creating becomes less about technical skills and more about creativity. We’ll spend less time figuring out how to make something and more time deciding what stories need to be told.

Think of Harvey Pekar before he met R. Crumb. Amazing comic ideas trapped in his head because he couldn’t draw. Soon that barrier between imagination and creation disappears.

The tools are becoming easier. The ideas will become everything.

Path of most comfortable

Alternative to estimates: do the most important thing until either it ships or it is no longer the most important thing. - Kent Beck

The challenge comes in knowing which thing is the most important thing. Similar to path of least resistance where water naturally flows downhill taking the easiest route. We tend to pick the things that are easier or use less time.

Most often we pick the path of most comfortable.

The Internet Never Forgets

There is one rule you should never forget: Everything is saved on the internet.

Let me share a recent example. A company decided to use a shared ChatGPT account to save money. One day. the owner started a new chat with the topic “How to fire people”. This was visible to everyone using that account.

Even though you think a service is secure. moving data anywhere online means it can end up in the wrong hands. Your “deleted” content lives on in endless iterations as backups. archives. and screenshots.

And when you’re using shared accounts? The risks multiply. Your private information becomes accessible to everyone with access.

Always remember: Nothing is truly private online.

Questions for your robots

Want to write powerful questions for ChatGPT and its counterpart, the humans?

Focus on four things: construct, scope, assumptions, and reduction.

Construct “What”, “How”, and “Tell” are excellent question starters that can help with reflective thinking. “Why”, “Who”, “When” limit our responses.

Scope Ask from the point of view that you must take, be it a stakeholder or your own.

Assumptions In many great questions, there are inherent assumptions, make sure that you know yours and how to use them for benefit.

Reduction Do you want to reduce the output or response that you get? Example: “Tell me about yourself” vs “Tell me your three favourite movies, growing up”

Friendly reminder: answers can be strange, odd, and bad.

Every answer is someone’s interpretation of the truth. A question is a desire to understand that truth. - Darko Vukovic

One of the dozen problems

I really like Richard Feynman’s idea of having a dozen problems that you actively search for answers to. Then whenever you learn something new, you can test it against these problems.

One of my problems is “What can you focus on as engineering manager if you can no longer scale? Is it only faster, cheaper, reduction of complexity? Or perhaps quality improvements, developer experience, system reliability, or team capabilities?”

Sunset Perspective

Do you recall the last time you took a picture of a sunset? Unless you are a professional photographer it probably looked terrible on your phone.

Building your own products can feel the same way. We judge their external polished front with how our messy process, discussions or iterations feel.

Generative AI is the Late Night Think Tanks

It’s for all those people that have nowhere or no one to talk to about their deep thinking. To test their ideas. While it can’t replace human creativity, it stands ready as a patient analytical partner whenever inspiration strikes.

Understand the complete picture

Good decisions come from understanding the whole business. Learn your operations. Study your finances. Know your culture. This knowledge shapes better choices.

Start with a spark

The first idea is just a spark.

Through iteration. Through persistence. Through pure stubbornness.

That’s how you turn a tiny spark into a fire.

Vocabulary and taste

We need to master languages for the future. Not just any language. The language to be clear with machines and humans.

Think about making an app. You need words to explain views. Canvas. Navigation. When you talk to AI you can’t just say “make me a game”. You need to say “I want a browser game for phones. With a high score list that works like this”.

That is vocabulary. But soon everyone will know these words. Everyone will generate apps and games. That is when taste becomes important.

Anyone can make a game today. But making something that feels good. That is different. That takes taste.

Vocabulary lets you tell the machine what to build. Taste lets you make it worth building.