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2 months ago | 
jarango.com | Ethan Mollick |Jorge Arango
Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick Portfolio, 2024Over the weekend, I caught up with a friend I hadn’t seen in years. When I explained that most of my work these days is focused on AI, he asked if there was one book he could read to understand how to better use AI. This is the book I recommended. Why?
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2 months ago | 
jarango.com | Jorge Arango
Disruptive technologies call for rethinking product design. We must question assumptions about underlying infrastructure and mental models while acknowledging neither change overnight. For example, self-driving cars don’t need steering wheels. Users direct AI-driven vehicles by giving them a destination address. Keyboards and microphones are better controls for this use case than steering wheels and pedals. But people expect cars to have steering wheels and pedals.
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2 months ago | 
jarango.com | Jorge Arango
Nikki Anderson interviewed me for her User Research Strategist podcast. Our focus was AI’s impact on research and informaton architecture – and how practitioners can take advantage of this new technology. See the [episode page]https://userresearchacademy.substack.com/p/unpacking-ais-role-in-user-research), which includes show notes. If you want to learn more about my experiments in AI, check out this page.
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2 months ago | 
jarango.com | Jorge Arango
In episode 2 of the Traction Heroes podcast, Harry shared an extreme personal experience in service to exploring the question: How can we act skillfully in unfamiliar circumstances? I considered adding a trigger warning – Harry’s story made me wince. That said, we landed in a practical place. I’m excited about Traction Heroes. These conversations are more personal than those in my previous show, while providing lots of value. IMO of course – I’d love to hear your thoughts. Traction Heroes ep.
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2 months ago | 
jarango.com | Jorge Arango
I’m undertaking a year-long crash course in the humanities. These are my notes for week 4. Following Ted Gioia’s curriculum, this week I read the Analects of Confucius. As I did last week, ChatGPT helped me select a movie to complement this reading – albeit indirectly. ReadingsI’d heard of Confucius and occasionally seen some of his sayings, but hadn’t read the Analects. It wasn’t easy. The text consists of pithy statements attributed to Confucius or his disciples. It’s fragmentary and non-linear.
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Jan 19, 2025 | 
jarango.com | Jorge Arango
I’m undertaking a year-long crash course in the humanities. These are my notes for week 3. Following Ted Gioia’s curriculum, this week I read the remainder of the Odyssey. On the audiovisual front, I watched a movie that made me think differently about the poem’s subject. ReadingsLast week included books 1-10 of the Odyssey. This week I “read” through the remainder of the poem. “Read” is in quotes because I mostly listened to the audiobook I mentioned last week.
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Jan 17, 2025 | 
jarango.com | Jorge Arango
LLMs are a general-purpose technology with seemingly endless use cases. Among my favorite is unlocking the potential of other technologies. For example, all modern “desktop” OSs come with shell environments. If you know a bit of scripting, you can automate tasks in ways that go beyond what you can do in the default WIMP UI. But “know a bit of scripting” is a tall ask. Command line shells harken to an earlier era of computing when the usability/power balance skewed toward power.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
jarango.com | Jorge Arango
Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is out, felled by last year’s disastrous app launch. I have no inside track on what happened, but from what I’ve read, Sonos’s leaders made some terrible decisions. They’re worth looking at so we can avoid making similar mistakes. Before I elaborate, a few disclaimers. I’m not a Sonos customer. I’ve heard good things about their products and bad things about their business practices.
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Jan 13, 2025 | 
jarango.com | Jorge Arango
I’m excited to share with you a new podcast: Traction Heroes. The first episode is now up on the major podcasting platforms. You can also see show notes and get the RSS feed at www.tractionheroes.com. Here’s the backstory. My previous podcast, The Informed Life, originated as a way to do research for my book Duly Noted. That book launched a year ago. After the initial marketing wave played out, the show had served its purpose. I enjoy podcasting, but my consulting work focuses on more strategic issues.
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Jan 12, 2025 | 
jarango.com | Jorge Arango
I’m embarking on a year-long crash course in the humanities. These are my notes for week 2. Following Ted Gioia’s curriculum, I tackled a small volume of early Greek poetry and the first ten books of the Odyssey. I also heard music from recent descendents of these ancient bards and saw a classic (and disturbing!) film. ReadingsI was apprehensive going in. I’ve read poems in four languages (English, Spanish, French, and Italian) and always struggled. Not this time.
