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

  • 66: Drink Punctuations

    February 28th, 2019  |  28 mins 20 secs

    Jaclyn starts a new Meetup and wonders about ice-breaking activities & community building. Kyle tries his hand at video editing after filming a skill interview, and starts work planning a thoughtbot.com redesign. Also, stress around social media email / notifications and why we should design them more humanely.

  • 65: No Tangents Friday

    February 7th, 2019  |  24 mins 36 secs

    Jaclyn and Kyle discuss remote interview methodology, skillset tracking, Design Sprint 101™️, and Kyle's skills as a Beer Ninja.

  • 64: I Know, That You Know, That I Know What a Progress Bar Is

    January 24th, 2019  |  33 mins 3 secs

    Jaclyn & Kyle wish you a (very belated) Happy New Year, and discuss the shortcomings of video-chat during interviews, using GitHub as a project management tool for company policy, the weirdnesses of user-interviews, and de-jargoning the term "prototype".

  • 63: Solutionland™️

    January 9th, 2019  |  29 mins 33 secs

    Jaclyn sells some art, kicks off a giant design sprint, and prepares a presentation on how to co-facilitate a design sprint. Kyle deals with new-office echoes & internet woes. We share the projects that we worked on for this year's Ralphapalooza; plus, reactions on designing for React Native.

  • 62: Down With Portfolios

    December 13th, 2018  |  31 mins 3 secs

    Jaclyn & Kyle discuss the value of in-person meetings, the philosophy of Trello backgrounds, nostalgia for antiquated recording mediums, refining thoughtbot's designer hiring process, and design implementation.

  • 61: Zebras Drinking Mint Juleps

    November 29th, 2018  |  33 mins 21 secs

    Jaclyn & Kyle chat about the new thoughtbot Austin office, designing for Android, feelings on maintaining Sketch file tidiness, trying to make tabular data exciting to present, and commiserate over call-center software workflows.

  • 60: Mimosas on a Tuesday

    November 8th, 2018  |  32 mins 32 secs

    Jaclyn wraps up a project to hand off to a client's design team, Kyle looses his voice after giving a design sprint presentation, plus personal habits to pursue before speaking engagements or while in Product Design Sprints, design patterns in children's apps, and screen-time controls in iOS.

  • 59: WHAT DO YOU DO ABOUT BEARS, KYLE?!?!

    October 25th, 2018  |  25 mins 26 secs

    Jaclyn & Kyle discuss prototyping with a different tool, providing feedback for teammates, and practice spooky voices for Halloween / team 1-on-1 purposes.

  • 58: I Love Little Notebooks

    October 4th, 2018  |  38 mins 12 secs

    Jaclyn & Kyle discuss disrupting a good flow state, quitting coffee, balancing support & client work, and negotiating a healthy work/life balance.

  • 57: Summit Shenanigans

    September 20th, 2018  |  34 mins 46 secs

    Jaclyn & Kyle record in person (for the first time ever!) as thoughtbot gathers for our annual Summer Summit, and discuss the language around design / development, switch interviews, opinions about post-it notes, and the point of design sprints.

  • 56: From Entomology to Etymology

    September 6th, 2018  |  39 mins 6 secs

    Dawn & Sam take the reigns this week and discuss designing filter systems, World Emoji Day, a11y in Emoji, and how 'design goals' should merge with 'business goals'.

  • 55: Hired to Help (Robert Indries)

    July 26th, 2018  |  35 mins 51 secs

    Jaclyn and Kyle are joined by Robert Indries of DG Studio to discuss applying design principles to other industries, deadlines (and procrastination), as well as the importance and difficulty of communication.

  • 54: Solutionize: Test the App, Not the User

    July 6th, 2018  |  33 mins 26 secs

    Sameera Kapila, a designer from thoughtbot Austin, joins Kyle to talk about prototype user testing, being wary of leading questions, challenging assumptions, and ways to take action on your findings.

  • 53: BAM! Here's Your App!

    May 23rd, 2018  |  25 mins 57 secs

    This week we discuss the importance of keeping a tight feedback loop on communication, and allowing time for experimentation & validation. Also, are retro notes helpful?

  • 52: Kyle's Think Hut™

    May 2nd, 2018  |  31 mins 43 secs

    Dealing with React Native, designing email templates for Outlook, "Designer News", and combating distraction.

  • 51: Batman's Fanny Pack

    April 18th, 2018  |  30 mins 40 secs

    This week, we discuss approaches to prototypes in User Testing, Sharpie preferences, how Batman arrived at the final design of his utility belt, and defining thoughtbot's design values.