Technology Executive, Designer, Engineer, Writer, Teacher, Jazzman, Connoisseur, Raconteur, Crypto Aficionado. Find me in Phoenix, Flagstaff, or Puerto Peñasco.
Phoenix, Arizona USA
Joined May 2008
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Are you struggling with strategy? My new book is a detailed guide to strategic planning for design, product, and engineering leaders. ‘Advance: How to Move Your Business Forward with Design Strategy' transforms design into measurable business results. amzn.to/4lUmEas
Dean T. Barker retweeted
This sentence from The Odyssey never fails to hit hard:
“What you most want is what you most can’t have. And what you most can’t have is what you already had, and lost.”
Dean T. Barker retweeted
Holy crap.
Rick and Morty just explained Jev AI to me better than any tech demo could.
Dean T. Barker retweeted
Umberto Eco, who owned 50,000 books, had this to say about home libraries:
“It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.
“There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion.
“If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the ‘medicine closet’ and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That’s why you should always have a nutrition choice!
“Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity.”
Dean T. Barker retweeted
Let's fix 3 major brands. Which is your favorite fix? Disney+, 47 Brand or Kind? Which major logo should I fix next?
College boy came home to visit for a cooking weekend. We made “movie meals” for wine pairing Friday and Saturday. Sideways: Pinot Noir pairing for Ostrich with cherry caper peppercorn sauce. Julie and Julia: Bordeaux for Beef Bourguignon.
I’ve published two books and many articles. Use AI as a developmental editor, technical editor, proofreader, thought partner, not writer. I have it critique my writing and give me feedback as a list, never providing re-writes or new text. Writing is thinking, don’t outsource it.
Must-read article for anyone whose job involves *thinking*
nytimes.com/2026/08/04/opini…
"The problem with writing with A.I. is that it’s mentally enfeebling...
What, uniquely, does writing do? ... It compels thinking in ways that silent contemplation or spoken language rarely can."
Dean T. Barker retweeted
Rolling Research—regularly planned opportunities to conduct and discuss results of #UXresearch—can be a useful process in lean and agile development environments. Here are 13 helpful tips for starting or improving a Rolling Research program. measuringu.com/rolling-resea…
If you’re in the Dallas area UX and Design community, please join! I’m speaking on design leadership next Monday night: meetup.com/big-design-meetup…
Dean T. Barker retweeted
The Atlantic’s new cover story about the end of reading is absolutely frightening.
Here are 5 concerning facts from it:
1) 51% of adults read 0 books a year: According to the National Endowment for the Arts, which conducts the most comprehensive survey of the nation’s reading habits, fewer than half of all adults reported having read a book of any kind in 2022.
2) Reading for fun has gone from a mainstream hobby to a niche one: Americans who read for pleasure on any given day fell from 28 percent in 2004 to 16 percent in 2023.
3) Everyone is reading less: The decline in reading cuts across age groups, gender, and education levels. Even the demographics that traditionally read the most—retirees, women, and college graduates—have seen a collapse.
4) Books are getting simpler and shorter: New York Times best sellers today have sentences that are about one-third shorter than they were a century ago.
5) Kids are struggling to read and doing less of it: Fourth- and eighth-grade reading scores have slid for the past decade. From 1984 to 2025, the percentage of 13-year-olds who said they rarely or never read for fun rose from 8 to 29 percent. "Every year older a child gets, the less they like to read."
For most of history, the biggest reading problem was illiteracy. People didn't know how to read books.
But today the biggest problem is post-literacy. People know how to read books, but don't.
A society that doesn't read loses more than just books. People lose the ability to think critically, focus deeply, and see life through multiple perspectives.
The world needs you. Please consider picking up a book today.
theatlantic.com/magazine/202…
Question everything.
🚨 FORMER TESLA PRESIDENT ADMITS ELON USED THE DOMINO’S PIZZA APP TO REINVENT HOW PEOPLE BUY CARS — AND THE STORY IS BLOWING PEOPLE’S MINDS
Former Tesla president Jon McNeill is going viral after revealing the bizarre moment Elon Musk pulled up the Domino’s pizza app during a meeting… because Tesla customers needed 64 CLICKS just to buy a car online.
Elon’s reaction?
“How many taps does it take to get a pizza?”
Answer:
• 10 taps
Buying a Tesla at the time?
• 64 clicks
• endless loan documents
• nonstop forms
• massive friction
Elon became obsessed with stripping the process down after realizing most of the paperwork wasn’t even legally required.
So Tesla started going bank-to-bank asking:
Why does buying a car need to feel harder than ordering dinner?
Most banks reportedly refused to cooperate.
Then one Midwest bank CEO finally agreed to test a radically simplified system… and Tesla allegedly eliminated around 40 clicks from the process almost overnight.
Now people online are saying this perfectly explains why Tesla disrupted the entire auto industry while traditional dealerships kept drowning customers in paperwork, waiting rooms, and sales tactics.
Did Tesla accidentally expose how outdated the entire car dealership model really was?
📹: kencoleman
A legitimate business case for a lack of usability. Go figure…
Dean T. Barker retweeted
“I tell the rogues to read, read, read, read, read. Those who read own the world; those who immerse themselves in the internet or watch too much television lose it... Our civilization is suffering profound wounds because of the wholesale abandonment of reading by contemporary society.”
— Werner Herzog
Design strategy should be driven by the type of economic thinking taught in business schools. #UX
linkedin.com/posts/deanbarke…
Dean T. Barker retweeted
A Adobe acabou de se ajoelhar.
Integrou 50+ ferramentas do Creative Cloud dentro do Claude. Photoshop, Premiere, Illustrator, Lightroom, Express.
O arsenal inteiro entregue para rodar dentro da interface de outra empresa.
A empresa que dominou criação digital por três décadas admitiu que perdeu o controle do ponto de entrada do usuário.
Os números já vinham sangrando:
→ Ação a $240. Máxima histórica foi $688. Queda de 65%
→ 2026 YTD: -31%. Bateu mínima de 8 anos em 9 de abril
→ ARR novo no Q1: $400M vs consenso de $450M
→ Ontem, Mizuho rebaixou para Neutral citando competição por IA
David Wadhwani, presidente de Criatividade e Produtividade da Adobe, disse no earnings call que o negócio legado de stock images "sofreu um declínio mais acentuado do que esperávamos" e que a migração para IA generativa está "acontecendo mais rápido do que planejávamos".
O cara responsável pelo produto admitiu, em call público, que a empresa foi pega de surpresa pela velocidade com que a IA está comendo o negócio dele.
E agora olha o que a integração com o Claude faz na prática:
Antes: você abria o Photoshop, trabalhava dentro do ecossistema Adobe, a Adobe controlava a experiência e a cobrança.
Agora: você abre o Claude, digita o que quer, e o Claude decide quais ferramentas Adobe usar nos bastidores.
A Adobe virou backend. Fornecedora de API criativa para o produto de outra empresa.
Quem controla a conversa, controla a monetização. Quem executa por trás, vira peça substituível.
E o timing: a Anthropic anunciou o conector no mesmo dia em que a Adobe opera próxima da mínima da década, um dia depois de mais um downgrade.
Receita projetada de $26B, margem bruta de 89%. Quase $3B de fluxo de caixa no trimestre.
A Adobe não está quebrada. Mas quando você entrega suas ferramentas para viver dentro do produto de outro, você não está fazendo parceria. Está cedendo o volante.
A era em que abrir o Photoshop era o primeiro passo de qualquer projeto criativo acabou.
Adobe for creativity + Claude 🤝
Now, Claude users can power their content with more than 50 Creative Cloud tools. Simply describe the outcome you want and let the assistant orchestrate workflows behind the scenes: adobe.ly/4cTkJjF
What do Harry Potter, design strategy, and an infinite stack of turtles have in common? Listen to the Human Tech podcast to find out!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
Reading is fundamental.
In this 2015 interview, the host — a Tsinghua University professor — expressed genuine curiosity about how Elon Musk was able to found SpaceX without prior experience and knowledge in aerospace, especially given that rocket science is one of the most demanding hard sciences — and that Musk was serving as both CEO and CTO.
Musk explained that deep expertise can be built outside formal academic programs — by reading extensively, conducting experiments, and speaking directly with experts in the field.
My thoughts on AI and the “process slop” of vibe coding. linkedin.com/posts/deanbarke…
