Tentative

About the show

Tentative is a podcast about digital product design.
Hosted by thoughtbot's Chief Design Officer Kyle Fiedler & Boston Design Director Jaclyn Perrone.

Tentative on social media

Episodes

  • 107: Pixelated Persons

    March 19th, 2021  |  12 mins 48 secs

    This week Jaclyn & Kyle catch up on streamlining UI, building landing pages in Hubspot CMS, first impressions of Tailwind, and auto-layout in Figma. Also, we reminisce as we say adieu to Kyle and his tenure on Tentative. 👋🥲

  • 106: Note-n-Map 'n Stuff

    March 5th, 2021  |  16 mins 54 secs

    This week Jaclyn & Kyle discuss neglecting your backlog, the emotions around a design sprint, and changes to the design and development team structure at thoughtbot.

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    105: User Focused (Nelsy Hubb)

    February 19th, 2021  |  37 mins 6 secs

    Nelsy Hubb, Product Manager at Neocova, joins Jaclyn to discuss engaging with outside partners, maintaining a design system, customer feedback, trusting your subject matter experts, design debt, and many, many allusions to "The Lord of the Rings".

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    104: The Phone is Back!

    December 23rd, 2020  |  25 mins 33 secs

    To wrap up our year, this week Kyle & Jaclyn run a retro for 2020. So put on those comfy pants and join us while they reflect on their most used tools, new amenities, and favorite hobbies of the year; as well as air some behind the scenes goodness.

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    103: If We Don't, Who Will? (Lloyd Bennett)

    December 11th, 2020  |  34 mins 50 secs

    Lloyd Bennett, designer at thoughtbot London, joins the show to discuss Tones & Shades, his new digital magazine, as well as designing a brand identity, prototyping early in the design process, and animating with intent.

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    102: Automation is the Goal (Adekunle Oduye)

    November 20th, 2020  |  31 mins 21 secs

    Adekunle Oduye, UX Engineer at Mailchimp, discusses working on a design-system team, setting goals for 2021, storing documentation in Figma, and conducting user research for design systems.

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    101: Unconsulting (Ryan Rumsey)

    November 6th, 2020  |  43 mins 56 secs

    Ryan Rumsey, founder & CEO of Second Wave Dive, discusses building programs that solve systems problems through design thinking, and struggling with critique.

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    100: Who We Are as Designers (Senongo Akpem)

    October 23rd, 2020  |  44 mins 48 secs

    Senongo Akpem, author of Cross-Cultural Design, joins the show to discuss design in civic-tech, ways to include cross-cultural design thinking into short engagements, staying dedicated to long-term projects, and memories of Dreamweaver.

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    99: Organic Backlog Gardening (Erin May & JH Forster)

    October 9th, 2020  |  44 mins 34 secs

    From User Interviews, Erin May (VP Growth & Marketing) & JH Forster (VP Product) join the show to discuss hiring during Covid, onboarding remotely, using GitHub for documentation, backlog management, managing team morale while remote, and work on diversity & inclusion initiatives.

  • 98: Think About the Edge Cases (Hannah Yang)

    September 18th, 2020  |  37 mins 52 secs

    Hannah Yang, Product Manager of Provider Experience at Oscar Health Insurance, joins us to discuss feature prioritization during COVID, designing towards a KPI goal, customer relationships at small & large companies, qualitative vs quantitative data in health-tech, and the hurdles of working in a regulated industry.

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    97: Park the Train-Car in Harvard Yard (Elaina Natario & Vendela Larsson)

    September 4th, 2020  |  32 mins 31 secs

    Elaina Natario and Vendela Larsson join us to discuss the research, procedure, and findings, that went into their Glides project for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

  • 96: Updating the UX

    August 21st, 2020  |  12 mins 6 secs

    Hey Tentative listeners, this week we're bringing you an announcement of upcoming changes to the format of Tentative. We'll be exploring more focused topics, bringing in guests from around the design community, and discussing the intersection of design and business; all while bringing our true and silly selves that make Tentative what it is today.

    So come join us on the ride, and tell a friend!

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    95: My Clipboard-History History

    August 7th, 2020  |  17 mins 11 secs

    This week, Kyle updates case studies in our CMS and Jaclyn returns from PTO. Also, tips & tricks for Alfred, working in non-traditional design tools, and a design-team book club.

  • 94: Livin' in Google Docs

    July 24th, 2020  |  32 mins 15 secs

    This week, Jaclyn volunteers on a design sprint and prepares for PTO, while Kyle preps for a website redesign workshop. Also, collaboration vs customization in presentations, preparing a 2 day Pre-MVP workshop, approaches to editing, and balancing experimentation with expertise.

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    93: Janice and the Vampires

    July 10th, 2020  |  16 mins 32 secs

    This week, Kyle works on documentation and updating pages in our CMS, while Jackie hosts an internal trivia game as well as troubleshoots her terminal setup. Also, avoiding burnout, extending Covid protections, and Zoom fatigue.

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    92: Pay Attention to the Shade

    June 26th, 2020  |  28 mins 30 secs

    This week, Jaclyn conducted a remote design sprint and Kyle utilizes "no Slack" communication on a project. Also, cutting scope, the importance of the human element in product validation, and the varied usage of "It depends".