Comments on: Twitter’s Creative Director on Why He Left Google http://flowingdata.com/2009/04/25/twitters-creative-director-on-why-he-left-google/ Strength in Numbers Sun, 12 Feb 2012 04:57:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Nathan Yau http://flowingdata.com/2009/04/25/twitters-creative-director-on-why-he-left-google/#comment-28091 Nathan Yau Sat, 25 Apr 2009 23:19:50 +0000 http://flowingdata.com/?p=1518#comment-28091 @David - thanks, i missed that response. I've updated the post to include a link. @David – thanks, i missed that response. I’ve updated the post to include a link.

]]> By: David Ma http://flowingdata.com/2009/04/25/twitters-creative-director-on-why-he-left-google/#comment-28085 David Ma Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:42:23 +0000 http://flowingdata.com/?p=1518#comment-28085 I don't think it's very complete to just post Bowman's immediate response to leaving. Doug posted a link to Kevin Fox's response (http://fury.com/2009/03/google-design-the-kids-are-alright/) and, with what limited information we have to go on, I tend to agree with Fox's assessment. It's not necessarily that analytics and UX can't live together at Google, or in general, but rather Bowman was being placed in a rather poor situation having to fight with engineering instead of work together on designs and those fights it sounds like analytics were being used like cudgels to resolve arguments as opposed to being a useful tool. Kind of reminds me of the situation you got into with some of the commenters over at Gelman's blog -- the specialized technical crowd was misunderstanding the purpose, and hence usefulness, of many the visualizations you've posted. I don’t think it’s very complete to just post Bowman’s immediate response to leaving. Doug posted a link to Kevin Fox’s response (http://fury.com/2009/03/google.....e-alright/) and, with what limited information we have to go on, I tend to agree with Fox’s assessment.

It’s not necessarily that analytics and UX can’t live together at Google, or in general, but rather Bowman was being placed in a rather poor situation having to fight with engineering instead of work together on designs and those fights it sounds like analytics were being used like cudgels to resolve arguments as opposed to being a useful tool.

Kind of reminds me of the situation you got into with some of the commenters over at Gelman’s blog — the specialized technical crowd was misunderstanding the purpose, and hence usefulness, of many the visualizations you’ve posted.

]]> By: grier govorko http://flowingdata.com/2009/04/25/twitters-creative-director-on-why-he-left-google/#comment-28082 grier govorko Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:07:00 +0000 http://flowingdata.com/?p=1518#comment-28082 Been enjoying your site for the last couple of weeks - figured I'd drop a note. It's an interesting debate I guess this quest for data and the possible arguments against it - I've noticed a lot of talk about the aggregation of data in the past few months, and am working with some guys that are gathering data from various sources with the intention of packaging it in a more manageable form. anyway - aside from the debate I've noticed in some of your comments section, I for one enjoy the "graphs" I imagine that people are more likely to react in a positive light when they see something that is personally relevant - I quite like just pondering - which usually leads me to some set of thoughts I may not have had earlier. Been enjoying your site for the last couple of weeks – figured I’d drop a note. It’s an interesting debate I guess this quest for data and the possible arguments against it – I’ve noticed a lot of talk about the aggregation of data in the past few months, and am working with some guys that are gathering data from various sources with the intention of packaging it in a more manageable form.
anyway – aside from the debate I’ve noticed in some of your comments section, I for one enjoy the “graphs” I imagine that people are more likely to react in a positive light when they see something that is personally relevant – I quite like just pondering – which usually leads me to some set of thoughts I may not have had earlier.

]]>