Someone recently asked me if I became an entrepreneur because my parents were entrepreneurs themselves? Were they the source of my determination because they nurtured me to be an entrepreneur from young? It’s pretty shocking to tell people my parents never had the chance to go to school. They grew up in a time when Singapore was still a third world country and don’t even have easy access to clean water. Going to school then was a privilege.
My mom is a homemaker and my dad is a car mechanic. In fact, I grew up most of the time without my dad. I think because of that, my mom was an ULTRA tiger mom. By the age of 4, she would send us to music, ballet and swimming lessons. For someone who can’t sit still, music and ballet is just not for me. Obviously I disappointed my mom quitting only after a week in tutu. Swimming was my love, I’m happy when I’m in the water. I spent the next 18 years training and competing as a swimmer, runner and also became the school captain of the netball team.
I’m neither an Olympic athlete nor swimmer but I love this P&G commercial honoring moms of athletes.
As a web developer, I can easily write code and whip up new features. But are they usable? Would my users understand how to use them? I’ve built features that none of my users like or use and I have to painfully demolish my code to remove them! Yes, I have separation issues!
I’ve been coding less now and reading more about design and usability. I’ve come to realize that I can build new features but that doesn’t mean I should. I’ve heard so much about this book “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug and indeed, he shares so many great insights and helpful tips on usability. I highly recommend anyone doing business on the web to read it! Here are the 10 best takeaways for me:
