Top issues from 2024
Issue 226: Looking back at the most resonating topics
As 2024 comes to a close, I looked back at the 51 Proof of Concept issues to reflect on the themes and what resonated. In this final issue of the calendar year, I curated the top issues with a simple process: qualitative (metrics from Substack), qualitative (reader feedback sent to me/comments), and my personal curation (trust your gut). To ensure everyone has access to the full issues, I converted them to blog posts so all subscribers can read.
Honorable mentions
Before discussing the top five greater detail, here are five honorable mentions considered along with the free links:
The minestrone of talent: Why you should look at where top talent is converging at high potential startups.
My product prioritization framework: A simple framework I use when triaging product strategy.
Bring your own abstraction: Reflecting on how our tools in the future won’t be rigid abstractions, but contextual and editable.
Web experiences during the age of LLMs: What the web looks like with Generative AI.
The oil and water problem: Tensions you encounter with an old and new guard during crucial company phases, and how you can address it.
With the honorable mentions out of the way, let’s look at the top five.
Top five
5. The IDDE
The concept of an IDDE (Integrated Design and Development Environment) started appearing in my sketch books as early as 2015 (during my Black Pixel days). I despise the concept of “Design Handoff” as I prefer working directly with engineering from the beginning.
Going from Webflow to Replit made me realize the IDDE is on a collision course, especially with LLMs acting as the new data sets apps interact with.
4. The fog of war of company onboarding
Onboarding to a new company can make or break your tenure at a company. When I joined Atlassian, I wanted to make sure I had a fast start to be valuable. It was no small task to onboard to a company that’s been around as long as my entire career.
In this issue, I looked at the concept invented in Real-Time Strategy games such as Warcraft, Command & Conquer, and many other favorites: the fog of war.
3. Operator mode
Inspired by Paul Graham’s Founder Mode and the discourse that followed it, I wrote about what it means to be in Operator Mode. I hold the belief for tech startups to succeed, we need more operators of their craft to support founders and investors. Not everyone needs to be a founder or investor, and I wrote about how I think about being the best craft lead that both founders and investors rely on.
2. Building your designs
It's nearly 2025 and the question, "Should designers learn to code?" is back. If you're making software, understanding the material is crucial. A great interior designer understand how architects and engineers implement and build, even if they don't bring it to production.
This post explored the importance of understanding the materials used and how there are multiple ways to build asides from writing code manually. I believe we are getting closer than ever to having an IDDE and the way to build will continue being more accessible and approachable.
1. Design Engineering
It's no surprise that number one is Design Engineering. Similar to the rise of the Data Scientist in the 2010s, Design Engineering is a craft and practice that’s existed for some time. However, with the technological capabilities of our tools (especially with AI) is compelling every company to find these unicorns. They exist, you just have to work really hard to find them.
Looking towards 2025
I’m not here to make a Nostradamus-esque prediction of the future, rather share what I'm looking forward to most in 2025:
Contextual abstractions: on demand editor interfaces paired with natural language for authoring tools (think Bring Your Own Abstraction and Dynamic Interfaces combined).
LLMs on device/local and personalized.
Re-skilling designers to align with the modern software development process. Things are changing, and they are changing fast.
Collaboration with sentient tooling (AI). What will it look like working with AI teammates?
The return of design guilds. Be on the lookout for programs like Silicon Valley School of Design be the anti-bootcamp and selling courses.
2025 may be the biggest year for software making and design. While the job market thaws and hiring is picking back up, new seed stage companies are going for broke, and our make tools keep getting better. I close the year with much gratitude for the bright future. Thank you for reading and Happy New Year.
Hyperlinks + notes
A collection of references for this post, updates, and weekly reads.
Pranathi Peri - Designing a top AI product on Dive Club: Loved this episode. Definitely going to steal the concept of Onboarding Roulette (IFYYK)
Bloomberg Beta is hiring an Venture Capital Associate: A career-defining opportunity to work with James Cham directly
bathrobes by
David, congrats on an excellent year of writing! Your consistency is an inspiration.
In particular, I very much resonated with your Operator Mode essay recently. It’ll be interesting to see how pieces like that stand the test of time after the viral phase of Founder Mode discourse subsides.
Thankful to you and the amazing insights you shared every week, David. They definitely helped me grow as a creative and a leader. More importantly pushed me to write and start my publication. Can’t wait to learn and share more in 2025 ✨