Workshop Schedule
| Date | Title | Topics | Links | Recording |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 10 | Concepts | how this project began; conceptual models and beyond; the need for granularity in conceptual models; concept structure; concepts as atoms, apps as molecules | slides | recording |
| June 12 | Behavior | details matter; state machines; concepts and objects; group chats in WhatsApp; directories in Unix; file synchronization; heuristics for states and actions | slides | recording |
| June 16 | Behavior (redux) | describing behavior in a UI-independent way; a sample concept design in full; modal vs noun/object designs; integrity constraints & how to preserve them; how data models are related to states; folder concepts, Unix and implications for shared file systems | slides, cheatsheet | recording |
| June 24 | Modularity | de/composition; modularity criteria; concept synchronization; independence constraints; decomposing data models; restaurant modularity example; purposes and conflation; Zoom reaction example | slides, modularity-rubric | recording (coming soon), feedback |
Pre-read
In advance of the workshop, I’d like you to read some short pieces for some background. The first is an overview of concept design:
Three Stages of Enlightenment (13 minute read)
The second is a very brief explanation of how concept design fits in with other kinds of design:
Levels of Design (3 minute read)
And the third is a short piece I wrote about the spirit of design, and how great designs don’t spring out of the air but emerge from hard work polishing and refining ideas:
How Great Design Happens (4 minute read)
I hope you enjoy these and find them helpful. There are several other pieces on the concept design website that you might find interesting, for example one about how LLMs will upend the principles of agile development, and one about how concept design is being used at Palantir.