Great article on bike design. This is really helpful in thinking about website design, interaction design, problem solving etc. Main message: Slow down, don’t get caught in the "not fastenough-ness" trap, and think through the issues before you start. AKA measure twice, cut once.
A good quote:
"Simple things make people feel smart, or at least competent, and
complication has the opposite effect. If people feel smart and
competent, they’re happy, and happy people are nice to other people,
and it all starts or stops with how hard it is to use something."
And another:
"I don’t like digital cameras with layers of submenus below the surface
that you don’t even know exist, and icons that I have to look up to
understand. It all goes back to making me feel dumb, and in the case of
cameras, it seems like it’s just a consequence of trying to pack too
many features into one widget. Just because a camera is capable of
fantastic things doesn’t mean that I am, with that camera."
Jim Cuene 