Inspired by O’reilly’s Four Short Links, here are some of the things I’ve seen, read, or watched recently.

Design Patterns for Managing Up

The first time I was introduced to the phrase “Managing Up” I hated it. Why should I be responsible for my boss? They are supposed to be responsible for me. As I’ve grown I have recognized that as with all relationships, the manager-managee relation requires all parties to invest in its success. This article covers four challenges and offers patterns of behavior to help build and improve the relationship. These four situations are:

  1. Someone asks you something you don’t know
  2. There is a problem that is your fault or responsibility
  3. There is a decision that you don’t agree with
  4. Your manager gives you negative feedback

Metropolis II

LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United Stats. On my first visit, Chris Burden’s kinetic sculpture stood out to me. I like art that reminds me of the building and imagination you do when you are young. Metropolis II is a massive sculpture that features cars and trains traveling around a city.

Picasso’s Drawings of Bulls Inspired Apple’s Famously Simple Designs

“Pasadena, Norton Simon Museum, Picasso P. The Bull, 1946” flickr photo by Vahe Martirosyan https://flickr.com/photos/vahemart/31475770070 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-SA) license

Picasso’s lithographic drawings of The Bull start as a full picture of a bull and over the course of the drawings, become more abstract and minimized to only a few lines. But it is still clearly a bull. Apple incorporated this into its design education. The continued minimization and removal of elements is evident. A phone is still a phone without a headphone jack, and a bull is still a bull when it is made with simple lines.

How We Made The Force Report Database

This “how we built this” article explores all the work that went into the Force Report Database from NJ Advanced Media. Awesome to see data reporters sharing not just the outcome (in this case a tool to help the residents of New Jersey understand police use of force) but all the steps and missteps it took to get there. The lessons learned at the bottom could also make it easy for other places to replicate this reporting.

Four Short Things is a series where I post a small collection of links to art, news, articles, videos and other things that are interesteing me. Follow my RSS feed to see Four Short Things whenver it comes out.