Season 7 of Chats with Kent is out: Become a Product Engineer.
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The goal of the Call Kent Podcast is to get my answers to your questions. You record your brief question (120 seconds or less) right from your browser. Then I listen to it later and give my response, and through the magic of technology (ffmpeg), our question and answer are stitched together and published to the podcast feed.
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I look forward to hearing from you!
Kent talks with Don Norman about why the core work of product engineering has not changed: watch people work, treat so-called user error as a design problem, and fix root causes instead of blaming symptoms.
Don walks through a remarkable arc from electrical engineering and cognitive psychology to Three Mile Island, Xerox PARC, Apple, and the first use of user experience in a job title. They talk about timing and failed products, cross-functional product teams, what AI changes for software builders, and why Don now cares most about designing for humanity, not only usability.
0:00 Introduction to Product Engineering and Design 1:13 Don Norman's Journey in Engineering and Psychology 5:53 The Intersection of Human Error and Design 10:39 The Evolution of Technology and User Experience 16:53 Lessons from Apple and Product Development 22:59 The Importance of Failure and Learning 24:23 Cognitive Science and Its Impact on Design 26:17 The Evolution of Neural Networks 30:09 Challenges of Change and Innovation 34:10 The Role of Early Adopters 37:05 Learning from Failure 40:19 Vision and Long-Term Impact 47:34 Empowering Engineers for Societal Good 49:41 Navigating Technological Change and Advocacy 51:30 Understanding the Role of Advisors and Consultants 54:41 The Impact of AI on Software Development 59:47 The Future of Programming in an AI-Driven World 1:06:35 Designing for Humanity and Sustainability
Don's career makes this episode unusually wide-ranging: early computing, human error, aviation safety, Unix, Apple product decisions, digital cameras, color TV, and the long arc from usable products to systems that shape society. The through-line is straightforward but demanding: if you want better products, watch what people actually do, notice the workarounds they no longer complain about, and treat clusters of small usability problems like real product debt.
The second half brings that thinking into the present. Don and Kent talk about AI coding tools as force multipliers that still need direction, architecture, and supervision, then zoom out to Design for a Better World and the Don Norman Design Award. The result is a conversation about product sense that spans decades without feeling dated: the tools change, but the responsibility to understand people, systems, and consequences does not.
Kent talks with Don Norman about why the core work of product engineering has not changed: watch people work, treat so-called user error as a design problem, and fix root causes instead of blaming symptoms.
Don walks through a remarkable arc from electrical engineering and cognitive psychology to Three Mile Island, Xerox PARC, Apple, and the first use of user experience in a job title. They talk about timing and failed products, cross-functional product teams, what AI changes for software builders, and why Don now cares most about designing for humanity, not only usability.
0:00 Introduction to Product Engineering and Design 1:13 Don Norman's Journey in Engineering and Psychology 5:53 The Intersection of Human Error and Design 10:39 The Evolution of Technology and User Experience 16:53 Lessons from Apple and Product Development 22:59 The Importance of Failure and Learning 24:23 Cognitive Science and Its Impact on Design 26:17 The Evolution of Neural Networks 30:09 Challenges of Change and Innovation 34:10 The Role of Early Adopters 37:05 Learning from Failure 40:19 Vision and Long-Term Impact 47:34 Empowering Engineers for Societal Good 49:41 Navigating Technological Change and Advocacy 51:30 Understanding the Role of Advisors and Consultants 54:41 The Impact of AI on Software Development 59:47 The Future of Programming in an AI-Driven World 1:06:35 Designing for Humanity and Sustainability
Don's career makes this episode unusually wide-ranging: early computing, human error, aviation safety, Unix, Apple product decisions, digital cameras, color TV, and the long arc from usable products to systems that shape society. The through-line is straightforward but demanding: if you want better products, watch what people actually do, notice the workarounds they no longer complain about, and treat clusters of small usability problems like real product debt.
The second half brings that thinking into the present. Don and Kent talk about AI coding tools as force multipliers that still need direction, architecture, and supervision, then zoom out to Design for a Better World and the Don Norman Design Award. The result is a conversation about product sense that spans decades without feeling dated: the tools change, but the responsibility to understand people, systems, and consequences does not.
Kent talks with Don Norman about why the core work of product engineering has not changed: watch people work, treat so-called user error as a design problem, and fix root causes instead of blaming symptoms.
Don walks through a remarkable arc from electrical engineering and cognitive psychology to Three Mile Island, Xerox PARC, Apple, and the first use of user experience in a job title. They talk about timing and failed products, cross-functional product teams, what AI changes for software builders, and why Don now cares most about designing for humanity, not only usability.
0:00 Introduction to Product Engineering and Design 1:13 Don Norman's Journey in Engineering and Psychology 5:53 The Intersection of Human Error and Design 10:39 The Evolution of Technology and User Experience 16:53 Lessons from Apple and Product Development 22:59 The Importance of Failure and Learning 24:23 Cognitive Science and Its Impact on Design 26:17 The Evolution of Neural Networks 30:09 Challenges of Change and Innovation 34:10 The Role of Early Adopters 37:05 Learning from Failure 40:19 Vision and Long-Term Impact 47:34 Empowering Engineers for Societal Good 49:41 Navigating Technological Change and Advocacy 51:30 Understanding the Role of Advisors and Consultants 54:41 The Impact of AI on Software Development 59:47 The Future of Programming in an AI-Driven World 1:06:35 Designing for Humanity and Sustainability
Don's career makes this episode unusually wide-ranging: early computing, human error, aviation safety, Unix, Apple product decisions, digital cameras, color TV, and the long arc from usable products to systems that shape society. The through-line is straightforward but demanding: if you want better products, watch what people actually do, notice the workarounds they no longer complain about, and treat clusters of small usability problems like real product debt.
The second half brings that thinking into the present. Don and Kent talk about AI coding tools as force multipliers that still need direction, architecture, and supervision, then zoom out to Design for a Better World and the Don Norman Design Award. The result is a conversation about product sense that spans decades without feeling dated: the tools change, but the responsibility to understand people, systems, and consequences does not.
Kent talks with Don Norman about why the core work of product engineering has not changed: watch people work, treat so-called user error as a design problem, and fix root causes instead of blaming symptoms.
Don walks through a remarkable arc from electrical engineering and cognitive psychology to Three Mile Island, Xerox PARC, Apple, and the first use of user experience in a job title. They talk about timing and failed products, cross-functional product teams, what AI changes for software builders, and why Don now cares most about designing for humanity, not only usability.
0:00 Introduction to Product Engineering and Design 1:13 Don Norman's Journey in Engineering and Psychology 5:53 The Intersection of Human Error and Design 10:39 The Evolution of Technology and User Experience 16:53 Lessons from Apple and Product Development 22:59 The Importance of Failure and Learning 24:23 Cognitive Science and Its Impact on Design 26:17 The Evolution of Neural Networks 30:09 Challenges of Change and Innovation 34:10 The Role of Early Adopters 37:05 Learning from Failure 40:19 Vision and Long-Term Impact 47:34 Empowering Engineers for Societal Good 49:41 Navigating Technological Change and Advocacy 51:30 Understanding the Role of Advisors and Consultants 54:41 The Impact of AI on Software Development 59:47 The Future of Programming in an AI-Driven World 1:06:35 Designing for Humanity and Sustainability
Don's career makes this episode unusually wide-ranging: early computing, human error, aviation safety, Unix, Apple product decisions, digital cameras, color TV, and the long arc from usable products to systems that shape society. The through-line is straightforward but demanding: if you want better products, watch what people actually do, notice the workarounds they no longer complain about, and treat clusters of small usability problems like real product debt.
The second half brings that thinking into the present. Don and Kent talk about AI coding tools as force multipliers that still need direction, architecture, and supervision, then zoom out to Design for a Better World and the Don Norman Design Award. The result is a conversation about product sense that spans decades without feeling dated: the tools change, but the responsibility to understand people, systems, and consequences does not.
Kent talks with Don Norman about why the core work of product engineering has not changed: watch people work, treat so-called user error as a design problem, and fix root causes instead of blaming symptoms.
Don walks through a remarkable arc from electrical engineering and cognitive psychology to Three Mile Island, Xerox PARC, Apple, and the first use of user experience in a job title. They talk about timing and failed products, cross-functional product teams, what AI changes for software builders, and why Don now cares most about designing for humanity, not only usability.
0:00 Introduction to Product Engineering and Design 1:13 Don Norman's Journey in Engineering and Psychology 5:53 The Intersection of Human Error and Design 10:39 The Evolution of Technology and User Experience 16:53 Lessons from Apple and Product Development 22:59 The Importance of Failure and Learning 24:23 Cognitive Science and Its Impact on Design 26:17 The Evolution of Neural Networks 30:09 Challenges of Change and Innovation 34:10 The Role of Early Adopters 37:05 Learning from Failure 40:19 Vision and Long-Term Impact 47:34 Empowering Engineers for Societal Good 49:41 Navigating Technological Change and Advocacy 51:30 Understanding the Role of Advisors and Consultants 54:41 The Impact of AI on Software Development 59:47 The Future of Programming in an AI-Driven World 1:06:35 Designing for Humanity and Sustainability
Don's career makes this episode unusually wide-ranging: early computing, human error, aviation safety, Unix, Apple product decisions, digital cameras, color TV, and the long arc from usable products to systems that shape society. The through-line is straightforward but demanding: if you want better products, watch what people actually do, notice the workarounds they no longer complain about, and treat clusters of small usability problems like real product debt.
The second half brings that thinking into the present. Don and Kent talk about AI coding tools as force multipliers that still need direction, architecture, and supervision, then zoom out to Design for a Better World and the Don Norman Design Award. The result is a conversation about product sense that spans decades without feeling dated: the tools change, but the responsibility to understand people, systems, and consequences does not.
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