Useful Software Comes First

The author still cares about how people design good software. But news about digital design and new tools now feels less interesting. The author connects this change to a personal goal. They always wanted to make software that people could use. For a long time, they could not write the code themselves.

Design was one part of software where the author could help. They put time into learning it and getting better at it. Now they can make software themselves and often work differently. They make it easy enough for people to use first. Then they can spend more time making it useful.

The author also looks back at how software work has changed. When writing code was very hard, design often came later. Later, it became harder to get people to find the software. Design could help one product stand out from many similar ones. The author thinks that writing code has now become much easier. For them, design again feels less central to making the product.

These are the author's views about what matters while making software. The author still sees value in taking care with design. But that care cannot make people need a product they do not need. Being able to build more things does not answer that question. The author wants to spend more time making something people need.