Catalyst

Keep it simple: There are a million different to-do apps, what makes one stand out? This week on Track Changes Paul and Rich chat with Doist founder Amir Salihefendic. He tells us about how he grew Todoist from a side project he would work on in his dorm room to an app that now reaches 20 million people. He also tells us about his struggle with venture capitalists and about the importance of persistence and simplicity.  Links:  Hello, World! - Wikipedia  Todoist  Amir Salihefendic - Twitter  Wunderlist  Any.do  Lifehacker  Digg  Plurk  Subtraction Blog  Doist  Twist  Instagram  Vim Bear  Slack  Dropbox  Zoom  Superhuman  Dash for SlackSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Action Items: On this week’s episode of Track Changes Paul and Rich sit down and share their top 5 tools that keep them productive. We chat about our favorite to-do apps, calorie counting apps and about apps that will make your meetings more productive. From simple tools to complex tools, we share our secrets for staying sane and productive at work.  Whimsical  OmniGraffle  Visio  Navigator  Bloomberg - What is Code? by Paul Ford  Basecamp  Emacs Org mode  FatSecret  CalorieKing  Google Fit  Todoist  Tinysheet by Postlight Python 4  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Control your data: This week on Track Changes Paul and Rich sit down to chat about storage and subscriptions. We talk about Paul’s new network attached storage setup and why we consider it to be the third wave of computing. We also talk about ongoing and annoying online software subscriptions and Rich gives us some good tips on how to remember to cancel those subscriptions before your free months run out. Links:  Basecamp  SeaGate Ironwolf Pro  QNap Thunderbolt 4 drive Nas  CommonCrawl  Flickr  Google Take-out  OneDrive  SiteCore  Pi-hole  Spotify  Typing Club  Stripe  Truebill  Trim  SubscriptMe  Bobby Subby  TrackMySubs  Mint Plaid  Yodlee  Abacus See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tools to manage your tools: This week on Track Changes Paul and Rich discuss the best way to keep track of company communications and tools. Our verdict, an Intranet. We lay out what an Intranet actually is, what it should and could look like and why it’s so important in an age of using too many apps at once. We also make a pact to build a functional intranet in the next six months. Wish us luck!    Trello  Basecamp  Github  TriNet  Pingboard  Slack  Abacus  Airtable  Dropbox Paper  Whimsical  Jira  Pipedrive  Greenhouse  Dash for Slack  Google Drive  Zapier  Chartbeat  Adobe After Effects  Sketch  Apple Numbers  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Still in reactive mode: On this week’s episode of Track Changes we continue off from last week to talk about broad trends in information technology in 2020. This week we dig into the more unsettling trends, like foreign interference in elections, a need for better and more proactive laws that govern internet use and cloud service confusion. We also chat about the return of bundled content creation and break down an unprecedented year in information technology.  Ivanka Trump’s Appearance at CES Tech Show Draws Criticism - Time  CES 2020 The Libertarian Logic of Peter Thiel - Wired  Google Cloud  HP Cloud - Wikipedia  Tata Communications - Cloud Solutions  Hulu  Netflix  Disney+  Roku  Apple TVSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The year to come: On this week’s episode of Track Changes, Paul and Rich sit down to discuss some of the top trends to look for in 2020. From codeless platforms to Product Led Growth we chat about some of the biggest trends in tech right now. We share our thoughts on new products and discuss whether some of these trends should actually be trends. We also talk about the craziness that could be 2020.  Gina Trepani  Lifehacker  Jobs to be Done  Hasura  GraphQL  PostGraphile  MySQL PostgreSQL Elixir  Erlang Ruby  Yap.Chat  Firefox Pi-hole  Gatsby  AWS  Netlify  Notion  Airtable  Filemaker Glitch  Salesforce See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Friction is introspection: How did the iPhone come to feel like an intuitive thing to use? This week on Track Changes Paul and Rich sit down with UX designer Cliff Kuang and co-founder of Dalberg Design Robert Fabricant to talk about their new book User Friendly: How the hidden rules of design are changing the way we live, work and play. We discuss the history of the concept and how it’s become something that we demand yet often take for granted. We also chat about the greater paradigm shift that led to the popularity of user experience design and about why we should maybe start to question the view that ease equals progress.  Links: User Friendly - Penguin Books  Dalberg Design  Frog Design Paul Rand - Wikipedia  Carbon Design System  Plex - Google Fonts  Three Mile Island  Raymond Loewy - Wikipedia   Ideo  Marvin Minski - Wikipedia Doug Englebart - Wikipedia  Health Kit - Apple  The Softbank Effect: How 100 Billion Left Workers in a Hole - New York Times  SoftbankSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Catering to the masses: On this week’s episode of Track Changes, Paul and Rich sit down to discuss the mess that is app stores. We chat about how the race to produce more and more content and why trying to cater to as wide an audience as possible is making for frustrating user experience. We also discuss our dreams of getting rid of in-app micro-purchases and the need for better app reviews.  Links:  Apple Arcade  Google Play Pass Monument Valley  Cut the Rope  Netflix  The Verge  iCloud  Apple TV  Pages  Numbers  The Morning Show  Candy Crush  Nintendo Life  Death Stranding  The Wirecutter  Sago Mini  Khan Academy KidsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Answer the question: On this week's episode of Track Changes, Paul and Rich share some interview advice they've learned after conducting hundreds of job interviews. We give some straight-forward tips on what to do in job interviews. We chat about the importance of listening, keeping your answers concise and being able to have a conversation with your interviewer. We also talk about what you shouldn’t do. For starters, don’t act like you don’t want the job. Links:  Careers at PostlightSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Facilitating a digital mindset: On this week’s episode of Track Changes, Paul and Rich sit down to chat about the current job description for the Chief Digital Officer at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. We go over the demands of the job and talk about the many complexities that come with being a CDO at such a large and political organization. We also talk about why it can be difficult joining a new organization and why you might have to accept that people will hate you for a while. Sadly it’s part of the job sometimes. Links:  The Metropolitan Museum of Art  Job Posting for Met CDO - LinkedIn Met Gala 2020 - Vogue  Ralph Lauren Documentary - HBO   See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.