Doctor's Note

A mix of essays and commentary about design, innovation, technology, society, coaching, personal and leadership development. Since 1996.

Understanding services as games with janky controls

Understanding services as games with janky controls

This post was originally part of my newsletter Doctor’s Note. I recently tweeted a Games Studies article by M. D. Schmalzer called Janky Controls and …

Antirom reunited apart

Antirom reunited apart

Much of my thinking about the relationship between playfulness and interactivity was formed during my time as a member of Antirom. Nikola Tosic managed to …

Finding the Shape of You

Finding the Shape of You

My leaving This is Doing and This is HCD wasn’t a pleasant experience, despite my desire for conscious uncoupling instead of painful divorce. Asking …

Boiling the Ocean: Complexity, Service Design, & Systems Thinking

Boiling the Ocean: Complexity, Service Design, & Systems Thinking

I recently gave a talk for Dan Levy’s Future of Now series called Boiling the Ocean: Complexity, Service Design, & Systems Thinking. The session was …

A new home for Power of Ten

A new home for Power of Ten

After a couple of years of being on the This is HCD network, Power of Ten is going solo with the episodes at their [new home here on polaine.com](/podcasts/), …

Design Leadership as Slow-Motion Facilitation

Design Leadership as Slow-Motion Facilitation

A lot of traditional models of leadership, especially in the corporate and political worlds, take on military language. There has been a lot of it recently. …

Design Politics Online, On Sale

Design Politics Online, On Sale

After a lot of behind the scenes work switching from the live event and working out how we make the virtual one engaging, we are delighted to announce Design …