Dialectic with Jackson Dahl

Dialectic Ep. 21: Geoffrey Litt - Software You Can Shape

I talked to Geoffrey Litt about a world where everyone can enjoy software that is customized to them.

Geoffrey has spent his career working to give people more agency in their digital lives by way of the tools they use every day.

That starts with his belief that people actually understand their own specific needs.

He leads the malleable software track at independent research group Ink & Switch, and writes, prototypes, and explores new ways for software to feel more like spreadsheets: where using and editing a document, app, tool, or environment are one and the same.

As more and more of the world is trending toward passive consumption, Geoffrey makes a case for participation in the details of our lives: "popping open the hood" and tinkering with them in service of creating wonderful things.

Highlights:

- how digital environments could feel more home kitchens or legos

- why you should learn to use a chef knife instead of settling for one-job tools like the "avocado slicer"

- The "Nightmare Bicycle" and trusting users to learn a system rather than over-designing it

- why he's obsessed with spreadsheets and how they embody the "smooth slope" design philosophy

- what happens when we have the equivalent of a personal home chef or butler to create software for us (AI)

- why we should trust local participants to design for their communities rather than just designers in SF

- a case for care, agency, and embracing the details of our lives

Transcript & links: https://dialectic.fm/geoffrey-litt

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5B8B6At0i7RWpiToYwFFas?si=cKtu\_-6LR\_ysBfFfj4yXWQ

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/21-geoffrey-litt-software-you-can-shape/id1780282402?i=1000713518703

YouTube: https://youtu.be/RromJIXfYyI?si=eA7RVa3wBNdGi5Es

Great tools can be shaped by their user, creating a flywheel of agency and creativity. 

Geoffrey Litt on /dialectic Ep. 21

"The fact that until now you've needed to learn to program to shape your digital environment is one of the biggest problems in our software world."

Great tools can be shaped by their user, creating a flywheel of agency and creativity. 

Geoffrey Litt on /dialectic Ep. 21

"The fact that until now you've needed to learn to program to shape your digital environment is one of the biggest problems in our software world."

https://dialectic.fm/geoffrey-litt