Thoughts on design, development, and building better products https://www.tedgoas.com en Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Design management is harder (and better) than I thought https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/management-values/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/management-values/ Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000 And that’s a good thing! https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/we-ll-be-design-engineers/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/we-ll-be-design-engineers/ Wed, 09 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Defining what "good design” actually looks like. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/how-i-review-designs/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/how-i-review-designs/ Tue, 18 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Relax, it’s only computers. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/move-fast-break-things-that-can-be-fixed/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/move-fast-break-things-that-can-be-fixed/ Thu, 14 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000 It’s your secret weapon for performance reviews and job interviews https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/brag-document/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/brag-document/ Mon, 22 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000 I’ve been part of the interviewing teams before, but this is my first time being the hiring manager. It’s been quite a learning experience. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/interviewing-product-designers/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/interviewing-product-designers/ Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 An empty calendar is a competitive advantage. The person who fills their calendar with average opportunities has no time for exceptional ones. Farnam Street It’s January and my head is clear. But not... https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/downtime-at-work/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/downtime-at-work/ Mon, 08 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 How sustainable email design can help the planet. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/sustainable-email-design/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/sustainable-email-design/ Tue, 03 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 Business and strategy are not taught in design school and it’s not something every designer is drawn to, but senior designers should know the basics and be able to communicate the value of design from a business POV. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/design-strategy/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/design-strategy/ Wed, 19 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000 My talk from Parcel Unpacked. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/parcel-unpacked/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/parcel-unpacked/ Tue, 24 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000 If not just a pixel-pusher, then what else? https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/designer-leadership/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/designer-leadership/ Mon, 16 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000 Questions I ask candidates in product design interviews that give me the strongest signal about what they'd bring to our team and what it’d be like to work with them. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/product-design-hiring/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/product-design-hiring/ Wed, 24 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000 The product design playbook I use to break down and execute on design projects. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/product-design-process/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/product-design-process/ Sun, 08 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000 A short guide I wrote for my neighbor who's interested in getting into the tech field. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/getting-into-tech/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/getting-into-tech/ Thu, 04 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 Most designers jump into their UI tools too quickly. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/design-in-google-docs/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/design-in-google-docs/ Wed, 19 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000 It’s rare for a researcher to manage a product designer. This is how it played out for us. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/unusual-design-teams/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/unusual-design-teams/ Fri, 08 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000 I recently coded my first interactive email using punched card coding. I wrote about what I did and how it works. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/my-first-interactive-email/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/my-first-interactive-email/ Thu, 02 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000 A small collection of articles that stuck out in my mind this year. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/best-design-articles-2019/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/best-design-articles-2019/ Tue, 17 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000 Good design is good business! Makes a nice sound bite, but how does design actually contribute to the bottom line? https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/business-of-design/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/business-of-design/ Tue, 08 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000 Design is not just about pixels. It’s also about sharing, coaching, and giving back to the community from which you’ve learned so much. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/design-mentor/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/design-mentor/ Tue, 01 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000 Earlier this year, I wrote an internal guide for my co-workers explaining some of the common gotchas that make coding HTML emails for Outlook so tedious. This is a lightly edited version that that article. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/outlook-email-rendering/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/outlook-email-rendering/ Mon, 16 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000 A lightly edited transcript of an AMA (Ask Me Anything) I did in the Remotive Slack community. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/remotive-ama/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/remotive-ama/ Mon, 12 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000 Today is my 40th birthday. Wow. 40. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/40-for-40/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/40-for-40/ Mon, 08 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000 My writeup from Front Utah in June 2019. I was drawn to Front's mix of user experience and product management, as well as the case study format. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/front-utah-conference/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/front-utah-conference/ Fri, 07 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000 When I went remote in 2016, I set up my first proper home office. I’ve since moved and upgraded my workspace. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/my-remote-home-office/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/my-remote-home-office/ Thu, 04 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000 A small collection of articles that stuck out in my mind this year. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/best-design-articles-2018/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/best-design-articles-2018/ Tue, 18 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000 How we started, what we built, and what we learned building our first email design system at Stack Overflow. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/email-design-systems/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/email-design-systems/ Tue, 11 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000 The loose script from a talk I gave at Asbury Agile 2018. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/distributed-design/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/distributed-design/ Fri, 05 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000 A small collection of articles that stuck out in my mind this year. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/best-design-articles-2017/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/best-design-articles-2017/ Wed, 13 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0000 Lessons and insights from redesigning Stack Overflow’s email preferences. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/email-preferences-design/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/email-preferences-design/ Fri, 20 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000 Notes from Design Matters conference in Copenhagen. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/design-matters-copenhagen/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/design-matters-copenhagen/ Mon, 02 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000 Lessons learned from working on a modestly successful open source project. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/open-source/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/open-source/ Wed, 02 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000 Thoughts on design leadership and career paths in tech. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/silent-leadership/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/silent-leadership/ Thu, 08 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000 Email clients use rendering engines appropriate for displaying emails. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/why-dont-email-clients-use-modern-rendering-engines/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/why-dont-email-clients-use-modern-rendering-engines/ Fri, 10 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000 I attended Go Digital 2016 and visited Reykjavik, Iceland for the first time. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/go-digital-2016-reykjavik-iceland/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/go-digital-2016-reykjavik-iceland/ Sat, 19 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000 My experience with repetitive strain injury at work. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/rsi/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/rsi/ Thu, 29 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000 Adapting to the Stack Overflow culture. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/stack-overflow-design/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/stack-overflow-design/ Tue, 02 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000 How I get by as the sole designer working in an engineering led company. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/design-in-a-sea-of-engineering/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/design-in-a-sea-of-engineering/ Fri, 04 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0000 Keep doing what you’re doing. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/an-open-letter-to-designers-of-unsolicited-redesigns-and-unbuildable-apps/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/an-open-letter-to-designers-of-unsolicited-redesigns-and-unbuildable-apps/ Wed, 20 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000 A small collection of articles that stuck out in my mind this year. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/best-design-articles-2015/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/best-design-articles-2015/ Sun, 13 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000 I released a third version of Cerberus, including a hybrid template. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/cerberus-hybrid-email-templates/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/cerberus-hybrid-email-templates/ Sun, 15 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Notes on my experience attending Litmus's Email Design Conference 2015. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/litmus-email-design-conference-2015/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/litmus-email-design-conference-2015/ Mon, 31 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Thirty six things for thirty six years. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/36-for-36/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/36-for-36/ Wed, 08 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000 An open letter to designers and developers who’d rather not work on email. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/email-design/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/email-design/ Tue, 28 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000 How my team works and my experience in designing for medical. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/designing-for-medical/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/designing-for-medical/ Mon, 09 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Notes on my experience attending Litmus's Email Design Conference in Boston. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/litmus-email-design-conference-2014/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/litmus-email-design-conference-2014/ Wed, 20 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Notes on my talk about responsive email from jerseyscript. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/jerseyscript/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/jerseyscript/ Tue, 13 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000 If you have the creative urge, it isn’t going to go away. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/hardest-part-of-being-creative-is-getting-used-to-it/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/hardest-part-of-being-creative-is-getting-used-to-it/ Wed, 15 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000 I made a few simple, but solid patterns for responsive HTML emails. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/cerberus-responsive-email-templates/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/cerberus-responsive-email-templates/ Tue, 03 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000 Giving feedback at the appropriate stage of design. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/feedback-fidelity-and-edge-cases/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/feedback-fidelity-and-edge-cases/ Sun, 10 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000 I'm a designer and spend most of my time on Windows. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/think-different-designed-with-windows/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/think-different-designed-with-windows/ Tue, 06 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000 Thirty four things I’ve learned in thirty four years. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/34-for34/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/34-for34/ Mon, 08 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000 There are some diamonds in the rough out there. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/hiring-and-the-black-box/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/hiring-and-the-black-box/ Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000 No review is complete without citing areas to improve. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/performance-review/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/performance-review/ Sat, 09 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000 When design is not considered at the start of a project. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/design-as-a-resource/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/design-as-a-resource/ Fri, 28 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000 When I take on freelance projects, I work for free or at my full rate. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/i-work-for-free-or-at-my-full-rate/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/i-work-for-free-or-at-my-full-rate/ Fri, 02 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000 The first blog post in the new site. https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/is-this-thing-on/ https://www.tedgoas.com/blog/is-this-thing-on/ Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000