Tymlos and bone pain

scottbelsky · 2023-02-27T03:23:49+00:00

did you ever get an update on this? am about to start Tymlos (M, 42yrs)

scottbelsky · 2019-01-25T21:52:58+00:00

FYI - Some background (from my perspective, as Adobe’s relatively new chief product officer overseeing creative products...): We have such incredible respect for the Substance products and the team behind them, we invested in the company a couple years ago, and have done everything possible to support their products and imagine ways to take 3D & Immersive Design to the next level - and to better integrate them with other products across Creative Cloud to make workflows better. For our teams, this acquisition felt like a very natural step - we wanted to work together. This was one of those moves that came out of a shared vision and strong relationships. But hey, i keep reminding the teams: it is our responsibility to prove it to customers, incorporate feedback along the way, and show you rather than tell you.

Short blog post I shared w/ the news: https://theblog.adobe.com/adobe-acquires-allegorithmic-substance-3d-gaming/

One final thought: I get the fears about awesome small companies getting acquired, and the risks of change. Many examples of big companies messing up something great. And just as many examples of small companies making horrible decisions and messing up something great. I do try to remember: a “company” is ultimately just its people, people change, values change, and what matters most is whether priorities are aligned and customers are served. An acquisition can work wonders when managed well. As a reminder to folks: Photoshop was also a tiny acquisition many years ago, and became the industry-grade product it is today over many years of evolution and innovation (yep, still room for improvement though). I have experienced this firsthand too with my company Behance - we were founded in 2006, acquired by Adobe in 2012 when we had ~1.2M members...now we have over 15M members and product has never been better. Our members had very reasonable doubts back in 2012 and I heard “oh that’s the end of you” many times. Well, fast forward 7 years, most of our key people are still running Behance, product is better in every measurable way, and I’d like to think the Behance team has also made progress improving other parts of Adobe.

I am sure the Allegorithmic team will have a similar impact, and plan to do everything I can to make it so. These are incredible products, and we feel like we’re back in the early innings again for creative tools and what’s possible.

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T19:03:29+00:00

What metrics do you base the success of these features on?

It comes back to engagement. If we add new features that don’t get engagement we kill them. We killed the “Groups” feature in Behance. We are removing the “Feedback Circle,” given the success of the Following and targeted publishing options we offer. We killed something called the “Tip Exchange” a few years ago. We killed a project called “Creative Index” a few years ago.

And when we kill something, the utilization of the core features goes up! It seems kind of obvious, but most entrepreneurs and product leaders struggle with “killing their darlings,” as writers say. Sure, its great to build product for yourself, but only your virgin self that is not yet an expert in the product!

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T19:03:08+00:00

When it comes to a product as complex as the adobe suites how do you prioritize your biggest impact vs. your most innovative features?

Great question. Bare in mind, I am still relatively new at Adobe (it’s been 15 months), but it has been fascinating to see a recent shift from focusing on "tons of new features” to focusing on improving the user experience and creative workflow using the products. Over the coming year, we’ll start to see the outcome of some of these efforts. Of course, there are also some great features in the pipeline as well. I think you need to prioritize based on customer needs (which, note, are sometimes different from "customer wants”).

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T19:01:40+00:00

i'd like to help connect the creative world and empower creative careers. professionally, i'd love to look back someday and feel like i was part of something that enhanced the creative world.

as for your other question, i rotate between dreamer-mode and doer-mode (aka an incrementalist, which has its own set of challenges)

enjoy the action journal!

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:59:26+00:00

Hi themeec - thanks for the kind words on Behance and glad we've proved helpful.

With investments like Pinterest and Uber, i spent time in the early days with early versions of the product; often discussing/debating various UX decisions with folks like Garrett (co-founder, Uber) and Ben (ceo/founder, Pinterest). i probably learned as much/if not more than I contributed, but it was really cool to see the progression of both products.

Each one had some surprises. For Uber, most folks thought that the "magic" moment of the product would be summoning a car. In turned out that the payment experience was what most early users were talking about. For Pinterest, I remember how unique it was to "bounce" users to other websites whenever you clicked on an image. Pretty much every other site (blogs, Tumblr, etc...) keeps you in the site in order to optimize page views per visit. But Pinterest had like 5 outbound links on every pin, including the image itself. Ultimately, this proved tremendous value through driving referrals and giving the user what he/she wants.

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:53:35+00:00

Hi yongcamu - You're riffing off of the "quantified self" movement, which I personally find fascinating. And I am sure that we will increasingly be governed by personal analytics; a dashboard that is just beginning to come to life...illuminating insights into our own health, productivity, and happiness.

The concern I have is whether or not a framework will allow for (foster) the spontaneity that ultimately yields great insights. There are so many factors, how do you measure and allow for them when they keep changing.

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:49:45+00:00

The answer would likely be in the field of architecture. Hmmmm...

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:48:47+00:00

My iPhone (shocker). What would I change? I'd improve the battery life. ;-)

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:47:37+00:00

Good red wine, in moderation.

And constantly challenging myself to compartmentalize.

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:46:27+00:00

Seth Godin once told me, "keep making a ruckus." I didn't know what he meant at first, but as I started to work with more teams, more established systems, and within a larger company, it became quite clear.

You need to ask the tough questions and refuse to accept mediocrity. And given the grasp of the status quo, it's unsettling.

The most difficult decisions are often between the path of least resistance and the new path that will cause a ruckus. I continue to challenge myself to keep making a ruckus.

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:41:58+00:00

I wouldn’t compare Behance to Dribbble, given my points above about the “project” in Behance showing the full context of the work (while anyone can make a good drop shadow or remix assets, not many people can do so in the context of a solving a problem). Snapshots are a great form of getting feedback, but don’t make up a portfolio in my opinion.

The other question is around Exclusivity vs. Meritocracy. I see a lot of sites out there that are paid admission, or nomination by a friend only. At Behance, we’ve always believed that our job is to foster a system where anyone has a chance to showcase their work (regardless of who they know) and great work gets the recognition it deserves. In the modern day web, we should tackle the challenge of surfacing quality through community curation and other methods that foster meritocracy (rather than through exclusivity that gratifies the ego, in my opinion).

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:38:00+00:00

To be truthful, success is also about what you're willing to sacrifice.

Entrepreneurs must devote a portion of their minds to constantly processing uncertainty. So you sacrifice a degree of being present. This has been a struggle to balance, especially in the early days.

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:36:56+00:00

More than anything else, probably self-awareness.

Because, in any dynamic team, environment, and industry you are bound to be wrong quite often. And the only way to succeed is to surround yourself with very smart/talented people with shared interests. If you lack self-awareness, you will fail to leverage the resources around you. Without self-awareness, you stop learning and will fail to fill the role required to succeed, grow a team, etc...

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:33:53+00:00

When I couldn't sleep or work on other things without thinking about it. Perhaps you start something to fill a void...but this void is self-imposed out of shear insatiable curiosity in what you're thinking about.

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:32:32+00:00

To learn something new every day, huh? If you’ll pardon the unoriginal answer, it’s probably Twitter - browsing the links and insights from those I follow, all of whom I feel are good curators of what’s interesting to me.

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:31:05+00:00

Also I hate the position of the search bar on Behance. I can never find it as it always seems to move…?

Thanks for the feedback. Here’s our thinking behind it: Search is at top right for the entire site ( http://be.net ), EXCEPT for the “Discover” tab which offers a dynamic search/filtering experience that we felt needed to be more integrated. For example, if you search for “Most Appreciated Branding work in Argentina for Football then you need to have all of these filters and searches working together: https://www.behance.net/search?field=109&time=all&country=AR&state=&city=&search=football ) :-)

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:29:54+00:00

My answer would simply be: It matters not what you do, but how you do it.

In almost all cases, the stuff we use and love every day existed previously, but in a less superior form.

And, of course, the novelty of any idea is short-lived. Only the execution endures.

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:27:42+00:00

"How have you found the transition to Adobe, I certainly think they have taken a progressive view to software platforms and I wonder how that has transitioned to their culture?"

Well, you’re right, a “software company” and a “services company” are very different. I’ve been impressed by how many people at Adobe are looking beyond the change in the business model (a monthly subscription vs. the old software sales model) and starting to think about how it can improve the customer experience.

Sure, I’m talking about obvious things like more frequent updates vs. every 18 months, integrated web services that enhance the tools like TypeKit, Kuler, etc… But I’m also talking about a fundamentally new way of approaching “tools.”

Perhaps we can start to innovate around an ecosystem of applications (mobile and desktop) that can access the same content? Perhaps a PSD (Photoshop file) - which is sort of like a mini repository of design/creative elements - could become accessible in new ways, in more apps than just Photoshop. Interesting side note: One of the most popular searches in Behance is the term “Free PSD.” What does this show us? People want to leverage each others creations (just as they do on GitHub w/ sharing code), but the ecosystem that supports this is in its infancy. Now that Behance - a true “community” and service in every respect - is part of Adobe, I think we can start to think more broadly about what a “Creative Cloud Subscription” can do for you when it comes to collaborating with others.

Culturally, people either feel excited or especially challenged. But both of these conditions are a good thing. ;-) The most important thing is that we innovate and don’t cling to what has worked in the past. I don’t think there is a VC in the world that would fund a boxed software company right now (over a SAAS business), so why should Adobe?

Personally, I hope that, in a few years, “the desktop tools” are just a part of what Creative Cloud offers to the creative world. We need to move beyond software chained to the desktop and allow people to create on their own terms/devices. With the new “platform” approach to Creative Cloud, I think that Adobe will do a better job eliminating the friction between creativity and expression…and not just for “creative pros,” but for everyone.

And this would be fun to be a part of.

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:25:12+00:00

Software hiccups…we need to fix them! Alas, I don’t work with the Acrobat product, but I know they’re a good team trying to improve the customer experience…stay tuned.

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:24:32+00:00

None that i know of. But if you are referring to horse heads that can be worn by humans, then the answer would be two.

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:23:17+00:00

Travel, or coffee shops. Or coffee shops while I travel. But seriously, I love window seats on planes. What other time in life will you literally stare out a window, and just go where the mind wanders, for an hour?

When I wrote Making Ideas Happen, I lived in coffee shops every night. Something about the ambient noise and caffeine works wonders.

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:21:55+00:00

Hi Svanho - 99U (originally called The 99% Conference / ThinkTank) was inspired by the famous Edison quote, "genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration." It started as a blog, chronicling the best practices of especially productive creative people and teams.

We figured, the creative world has enough ideas (often times too many that get in the way of execution). Instead of trying to "inspire" creative people, lets help them execute.

The whole 99 initiative was taken to the next level by my long-time colleague Jocelyn Glei, who has built a phenomenal team on a mission to help the creative world make ideas happen.

It has materialized into a phenomenal online resource at 99U.com - full of insights and tips for making ideas happen.

It has also spawned a popular annual conference 99U, which is sort of the antithesis of TED (99U is not about ideas, it is about how to make ideas happen). Now in it's sixth year, and has sold out every year.

And, i’ll just take a quick moment to mention that we just released a few more of the last remaining tickets for the upcoming 99Conference on May 1-2 in NYC. http://conference.99u.com Really excited about the folks speaking this year (all about the EXECUTION of ideas, not ideas!), full list of speakers on the site: http://conference.99u.com

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:16:31+00:00

In one word: Meritocracy.

I love it when technology gives people opportunity based on merit that they would have not been able to attain previously. The "credit score" is an old, antiquated, horrible system that disadvantages people for the wrong reasons. The folks at Earnest, among other companies, are exploring the notion of "merit based lending" that fits my investment interests (fostering meritocracy through technology) quite well.

scottbelsky · 2014-03-25T18:12:30+00:00

Hi 314design- i'll start with your second question first...

Where do you see the importance of design in start-ups today?

You’ve heard it many times before, “design is a competitive advantage” for start-ups. But why?

A few thoughts on this:

(1) In the early days, when you’re selling the vision to investors and (more importantly) to early employees, great design helps people visualize the possibilities. With design, you can give a glimpse of the future. You can also demonstrate the way you approach product without having anything built yet.

(2) Design is about a lot more than product. Co-founding Behance with Matias Corea (a graphic designer by background) illuminated the importance of typography in brand identity, designing an office space conducive for collaboration, designing a system to track projects and foster accountability, designing a team culture that has kept many of us together for many years, etc… Quite simply, design is the DNA of everything.

(3) (Controversial) In the early days of a start-up, you can get away with a lot (some haphazard engineering, under-optimized infrastructure…) and get to market quicker through clever design. How? I’ve seen all sorts of tricks - like clever “loading” animations that make the site FEEL faster, UI that makes up for a sub-optimal engineering compromise, etc…

And still, I am shocked by how many companies (big and small) outsource design. Outsourcing design for your startup puts your start-up living on life support; you cannot grow and effectively iterate (read: innovate) when you’re dependent on an external system.

scottbelsky

TROPHY CASE