Thank you to Chris Coyier and his team for the impact his work has had on my career and the careers of countless developers around the world. I wouldn’t be who I am today without this incredible resource.

※ Permalink for “Happy Birthday, CSS Tricks” published on date_to_rfc822

If you’re in Uganda, chances are you can’t read this Medium post written by my friend and Ugandan developer, Mwaka Ambrose:

Today morning as i was on my way to work, a friend i was traveling with asked me about yesterdays football scores, as you would imagine, he was holding his phone, and I got baffled and asked, you seem to be online, why don’t you give it a google search? and yes you guessed it, he was using a social pack.

These social packs Mwaka is referring to are described by his friend:

“There is something about the bundles” one of my friends attempted to explain. Its cheap and gives you access to WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram.

Most Ugandans can’t Google to learn that Facebook owns both WhatsApp and Instagram. These social media bundles are about half the price of regular data bundles and are being sold to people who don’t know they’re getting less than half the Internet.

The lack of net neutrality in developing countries is felt immediately by those who, like Mwaka and the team at Ensibuuko, are trying to build technology to educate, entertain, and improve the lives of their friends, families, and communities:

My frustration is, it’s very hard to get any app to succeed when social bundles are still around. No matter how great your idea is. To succeed, you either pivot or build what works with social bundles. It’s the bitter frustrating truth that led me to building my Kanamo app as a facebook bot. I saw some growth there. But who am I kidding, the bot experience is not as nearly nice as the android app.

That last sentence gives me pause when I consider the attitude I and other iOS users have toward Android. But even more importantly, this is having a direct impact on the viability of Ugandan-founded tech startups and the impact they could have on their communities.

I saw the impact of this first hand while traveling throughout Uganda. Microfinancing institutions throughout the country rely on very unreliable electricity and Internet services to manage the finances of their communities. Not to mention the $1k USD we paid at our own office for a 1.5 MBPS connection shared amongst a dozen employees.

The chances that a corporation like Facebook or the Ugandan government will do anything to improve this situation are slim to none.

My hope is that by talking about it here, I can let my friend Mwaka and others know that I am thinking deeply about this problem and hope that together we can find a better solution.

※ Permalink for “Can someone kill social bundles please!” published on date_to_rfc822

I’ve known Allen Pike, co-founder of Vancouver’s Steamclock Software, for several years now and have had the privilege of working side-by-side with him on a number of projects, including an iOS app for Canadian outdoor clothing and sporting goods brand, Arc’teryx.

When it comes to product design and development, interacting with and managing clients, growing and nurturing a team, and giving back to the community, I hold Allen in the highest regard.

Allen and his team just announced they are looking to hire a lead mobile designer and I thought I’d give you a few damn good reasons why you should strongly consider applying:

1. They’re really nice.
2. They have a solid reputation built on quality and integrity.
3. The work they do is interesting, challenging, and (almost) always fun!
4. They host cool events like their annual Open House (happening tonight!)
5. Allen is an excellent writer, which is a very good indicator of how clearly a leader thinks and communicates.
6. They’re really, really nice.
7. Their super cool looking office is in the heart of Gastown which is the best neighbourhood in Vancouver.
8. Allen is likely to blush as soon as he reads this post, proving that he hasn’t let his success get to his head.
9. Other amazing designers have and continue to work with Steamclock.
10. If you don’t, I will.

※ Permalink for “Ten good reasons you should apply to work as a designer at Steamclock” published on date_to_rfc822

This article from Segment’s Jeroen Ransijn was a real gut punch for me. I recently attempted to apply the exact same strategy to a project I’m currently working on, but differs from my experience as I have thus far failed in my execution.

Where I think I went wrong was when I decided against bringing the newly created design system into an older, existing project I was later asked to help with. My reasoning at the time was to avoid conflicts with the multiple other design libraries already in use by developers who had worked on the project before I joined. This decision has prevented me from being able to continue evangelizing the design system I had created to the organization, leaving my poor design system in the dust.

Jeroen’a excellent article is part of a new ongoing project called DesignSystems.com, “a resource for learning, creating, and evangelizing design systems” by Figma¹. Really excited to dig deeper into this resource over the next few days.

※ Permalink for “Hijack a project to convince your company it’s ready for a design system” published on date_to_rfc822

Having worked in Uganda on a project dedicated to improving financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa, I’m incredibly saddened to hear that the Ugandan government is considering a tax increase on mobile money transactions.

If you want to get a sense of the injustice being inflicted on the people of Uganda by the telecom industry and their own government, read this article.

(via Ray Besiga)

※ Permalink for “The Death of Mobile Money and Financial Inclusion in Uganda” published on date_to_rfc822