Des Traynor @destraynor Twitter profile

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Des Traynor

20 days

Q: How will AI affect Design? Will it commoditise the boring bits, leaving time and space for designers to shine? Or will it just usher in a new "age of average"? @intercom Off Script E04 featuring @thoughtwax is live, and it's excellent

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

2 months

The "homemade limoncello" video is up there with the very best of the internet. 4 years later and I still laugh at it on every play.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

5 years

I don’t think enough is made of the fact that Microsoft’s value has increased by $800B since @satyanadella took over. Eight. Hundred. Billion.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

4 years

I absolutely *love* these Amazon Writing Style Tips (found via Google & ) Have any other companies offered a glimpse into their in-house style?

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

10 months

@chrisalbon

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

2 years

@nytimes Or you could try… “37 yr old female entrepreneur who started a company now worth >$1B successfully transitions to a new leadership role having previously recruited an excellent successor.”

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

1 year

🚨ɴᴇᴡ ꜰᴇᴀᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴀʟᴇʀᴛ🚨 The day ChatGPT launched our ML team got straight to work, asking how it could make @Intercom better at Customer Service. Today we're announcing our first wave of features...

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

6 years

Most project management software is designed for how we *wish* projects ran: predictable work, accurate estimates, known outputs, zero entropy. This is why we all end up in spreadsheets; spreadsheets don't even assume a project is actually happening.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

5 years

Turns out it wasn't a quick question after all...

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

2 years

@ranjodhd

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

3 years

There's 447M people in the EU, 92% have internet (411M) Let's say they "accept cookies" 5x/day Let's say it takes 1 second to accept them That's 2 Billion wasted seconds every day That's 24,000 person-days wasted every day Did anyone in the EU ever think about this...

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

3 years

How it started.............How it’s going But seriously, huge congrats to everyone at Stripe. You continue to inspire and amaze.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

2 years

If you're a startup founder trying to take lessons from this chart about how Teams "beat" Slack, just remember that Slack was bought for $27,700,000,000, and then get back to work.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

5 years

Thinking about productivity and its tools * Your email is what *others* think you should work on. * Your Todo list is what *you* think you should work on. * Your calendar is (usually) what you *actually* work on. How much do they overlap in your world?

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

1 year

This conversation between Jose Mourinho (amazing soccer manager) and Dele Alli (super talented but badly inconsistent player) is one of the most inspirational pieces I’ve seen. Worth a watch (regardless of whether you know/like soccer)

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

1 year

🚨ChatGPT for Customer Service is Here🚨 Hot on the heels of the @OpenAI GPT-4 launch, you'll be ꜱʜᴏᴄᴋᴇᴅ to hear that we have a new product release built entirely on GPT-4. This is perhaps Intercom's biggest new release in our history...

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

8 years

I’m increasingly convinced that most start-ups boasting about AI are really just impressed with their 183 if-then-else statements.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

5 years

Every Feb 13th for the last 6 years I've tried to write a personal piece about my mother who passed away. This time I promised myself I'd just click Save and then tweet it at the end. No matter what. So here it is:

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

6 years

Explore the solution space before refining the solution. (aka 'Get the right design, then get the design right') This is the biggest lesson I've learned from @wasbuxton .

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

3 years

Signing docs... SF Click here to sign, p.s. we already clicked for you, thanks for signing👍 Europe Murder a raven Sign doc using its blood & feather Scan & email to us Fedex raven to us Send a PDF of steps 1→4 Include video evidence from a witness Please redo with latest doc

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

6 years

I'm now a dad! Nancy is a wonderful baby girl, and her and @martharotter are doing great.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

5 years

My thoughts on the @zoom_us S-1 filing in one image. Q: What other companies are in that centre point?

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

4 months

I really couldn't be prouder of the new @intercom new website, so unique, so authentic, so us...

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

4 years

The Irish Taoiseach (aka Prime Minister) @LeoVaradkar has given up his free time, re-registered as a doctor, and is now working a shift a week in the battle against COVID-19 He does the one thing you want a leader to do: He walks the walk.

Coronavirus: Varadkar returns to practising medicine to help during crisis

Taoiseach rejoined medical register in March and is set to work one shift a week with HSE

www.irishtimes.com

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

10 months

@DeanPreston Genuine question: Have you considered passing a law to make it illegal to leave anything in your car? My head has imploded trying to work out if you would actually enforce that law or not.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

1 year

@eoghan On the plus side this the exact type of thing that @POTUS is tackling these days…

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

6 years

To everyone who uses @Intercom or cheers us on, thank you *so much* for your support, you're why we're here ❤️

Intercom

@intercom

6 years

We just raised $125M. Here’s what we’re going to do with it for you, our customers.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

6 years

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

7 years

How many of your users explain your product like this...

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

3 years

The slides that Softbank produce are just on another level...

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

6 years

A cool @SlackHQ feature would be to generate an editable glossary of company-specific lingo and acronyms frequently used. It would let new hires get up to speed a lot faster without unintentional & inconvenient speedbumps (e.g. “what does JTBD mean” etc.)

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

5 years

9 years ago I asked @martharotter out for a drink via a Twitter DM. And now look at us ☺️ Thanks @biz , @jack , @ev and all at @Twitter .

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

1 year

1⃣ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀɪᴢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ Support folks spend a lot of time either re-capping threads for others, or reading back to get the jist of an inherited conversation. Now with @intercom it's just one click, and it's very cool...

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

7 years

Well this went exactly as expected :)

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

8 years

Q: “What important truth do very few people agree with you on?” A: Humanity has enough to-do apps, for the moment.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

5 years

For a company in bad need of good buzz and, I admire the restraint of WeWork to not just release a Dark Mode.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

2 years

@AP @APStylebook When is the rebrand coming

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

6 years

The opposite of a good product principle is itself a good product principle. Everything else just is a truism.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

5 years

Meanwhile in software we're writing conference talks every time we successfully re-use a dropdown...

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

3 years

@balajis I certainly see this one a lot... - Shocking declarative statement - Supporting anecdote [[ Paywall ]] - Mitigating context - Mitigating context - Dilution & walk back of headline - Vague conclusion

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

4 years

@mikkelsvane A $300M project to build a bus lane, and here's the 19 year timeline (thus far)

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

7 years

3 strong products solving real problems that I'd love to see "done again" 1. Lanyrd (Acquired by Eventbrite) 2. Slideshare (Acquired by LinkedIn) 3. TripIt (Acquired by Concur) All stagnated after acquisition What others?

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

3 years

@collision @SpaceX Have you considered a career as a copywriter

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

10 years

My favourite image by @seriouspony http://t.co/g1gOmBob8E

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

9 months

Mature enterprise SaaS companies and their new 🪄AI🪄 releases…

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

4 years

After 40 days of quarantine I really needed to do something about my hair. So I did this. Yolo.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

1 month

@sjayy24s Jesus he'd have to go and find him first to take him on.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

7 years

You have to choose between speed & quality. Don't kid yourself. Speed is desirable at the start of a project because the deadline is so insufferably far away. Quality becomes desirable at the end when you finally see all the ugly compromises you've made along the way.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

5 years

LinkedIn's strength is its big weakness: there's no real difference between someone you've worked with for 10yrs, and a random event contact. Big opportunity for them (and others) is to build a network that doesn't growth hack weak connections and also distinguishes strong ones.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

6 years

I love soccer but rarley tweet about it. However Lukaku's movement here is exquisite. He is conductor of the orchestra; he never touches the ball, but without him this move is not possible.

Jake.

@YedIin

6 years

Watch Lukaku's run. Drags the defender inside to create space for Meunier and then dummies it brilliantly for Chadli. Brilliant work.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

3 years

And nearly 3 years later… this little guy shows up. Our son Alex was born Monday morning, he and @martharotter are doing great.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

3 years

It's actually shocking how close this is

Apoorva Savant

@apoorva_savant

3 years

. @stripe ’s new pigeon just dropped

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

5 years

Your 30s are the decade where *Not Deciding* to do something becomes, with the passage of the time, *Deciding Not* to do something And if you're not careful you won't see it happen.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

3 years

I admire anyone optimistic enough to dream about exploring space, and skilled enough to realise it. One thing I’ve consistently observed in my career… • Haters don’t make. • Makers don’t hate.

Humanoid History

@HumanoidHistory

3 years

Jeff Bezos, June 2000: “If I could do anything, I would like to go help explore space.”

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

2 months

Having something for everyone gets you acquisition. Having everything for someone gets you retention. Choose wisely.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

5 years

If you think Slack's product is easy or small, here's how 'easy' their notifications are. (And bear in mind this chart is before they released 'Pause' features)

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

6 years

This is an incredible little teaching tool that illustrates how good & bad ideas spread across a crowd (or company) as long as they're simple enough, whereas complex ones are rarely contagious. Overlaps with everything from products to politics

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

4 years

@SunSuzSunTzuing “Centering a <div> in CSS — the definitive guide (4th Edition)”

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

2 years

Path is one of those ideas that I'd love to see tried again, and enough has changed in the tech landscape over 12 years to make it worth a shot. Their 2010 launch video was really compelling

Path iPhone App Launch Video

The :90 web video showcases Path’s unique personal network model with a simple boy meets girl story. The piece communicates how Path allows users to share…

vimeo.com

Archive

@uiarchive

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

2 years

🚨Intercom launch day🚨 Release #1 - ᴀ ʙʀᴀɴᴅ ɴᴇᴡ ᴍᴇꜱꜱᴇɴɢᴇʀ ☑️ Your style ☑️ Your layout ☑️ Your launcher ☑️ Your content ☑️ Your features All the gorgeous details here→

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

7 years

Professional maturity means knowing (and being honest about) the things that you... - can do - can't do - can do, but hate doing, and thus do badly/slowly - can do, but never have time for, and thus can't do What else...

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

6 years

For about a decade @davebarrett and I have tried to be first to prank each other every Wednesday. This Wednesday I woke up to a barbershop quartet on my doorstep at 9am.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

3 years

Fast gets good quicker than good gets fast.

Jack Altman

@jaltma

3 years

Speed is more valuable than accuracy the vast majority of the time in a startup. Almost every wrong decision can be fixed, and progress compounds.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

7 years

Update: Now 200 days straight of exercise & intermittent fasting (aka dieting) resulting in ~50lbs weight loss and generally feeling healthy

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

7 years

If you enjoy tweeting snark about start-ups building silly products or being unprofitable, I'd ask you to read the following three pieces...

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

7 months

January is always a tough month. Lads: it's a good time to check in on your mates. 8/10 suicides in Ireland are men, and it's the #1 cause of death for men under 25. One text, one call, one invite, one chat, it can make all the difference.

Emma

@WhatTheForkLads

7 months

Lads, check in on your mates. 💔

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

5 years

Some product decisions are rational. Most product decisions are rationalised.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

8 years

“You’re logged in!” “Your settings are updated!” Lay off exclamation marks in your UI. It shouldn’t be shocking that your product works.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

7 years

I'm guessing this isn't *exactly* what the TripAdvisor UI Designer had in mind when they wireframed this "dynamic" launch screen.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

4 years

Last night I "went out for drinks" by joining a 6 person Google Meet/Hangout with my mates for about 3 hours. It's not perfect but it works *really* well. (I'm going out again tonight) Now that Ireland has decided to #CloseThePubs , don't do big house parties, try this instead.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

4 years

Today's @intercom launch is a *big* one. Intercom now answers your customer's questions before they've even finished typing. Take a look...

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

3 months

Our CFO rn

Eoghan McCabe

@eoghan

3 months

I announced internally last night that we’re going to invest an extra ~$100M to bring a new AI technology we’re dreaming about to market that we’re calling Fin X. Running a scaled company on your own cashflows brings wonderful discipline, and when I returned to @intercom in late

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

5 years

The hot takes on Slack's S-1 are starting to arrive.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

3 months

Makers don't hate. Haters don't make. True then, true now, true always.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

7 years

Pro tip Hopefully you'll sit down for Christmas dinner this year with people you love. Take a good look around the table. Relish every moment with these people, they won't be there forever Twitter’s hot takes & outrage will be right where you left it in 2018 Happy Christmas.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

6 years

Excited to say our @intercom messenger is now WCAG 2.0 Level AA Accessible ✨ This was a huge and important effort, much ❤️ to all involved.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

4 years

🚨We just launched Intercom Series🚨 A visual drag and drop, campaign builder. It’s an incredible piece of work conceived, designed and delivered by the exceptional folks on our Engage team. More here:

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

4 years

We have a huge release today in Intercom, more on that in a second. For now I just want to remind startups of a core fact: → Nothing starts finished ← For example, here's the @Intercom Inbox from ~2011. A "toy" by all accounts at the time.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

1 year

Really enjoyed the @tylercowen ⭤ @paulg interview, even if, at times, the questioning felt a lot like this (classic) Jonathan Frakes clip.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

6 years

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

5 years

Observation: Hard work, when it’s working, doesn’t feel like work at all. Hard work, when it’s not working, is the worst work of all.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

7 years

Every product needs to have at least one moment that causes users to say things like this...

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

5 years

Related: here's our principles for 1. How we build software, 2. How we design, and 3. How we engineer at @intercom . Sound good?

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

4 months

@RudiKinsella I would could talk about how SAF plucked a young Dutch lad called Robin out of total obscurity, got him on a free, when everyone doubted him, and that’s how they won the title.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

11 years

"Scrolling is a continuation; clicking is a decision" A small point by @bokardo with very big design implications http://t.co/i5eMv4Zdip

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

8 years

My experiences with hotel rooms, with apologies to @xkcd

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

7 years

For 13 years I used @gmail exclusively as my mail client & loved it. Midway through this year I switched to @SuperhumanCo . It is genuinely everything it's cracked up to be. 2018 will be a big year for them.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

3 years

@Austen * runs promoted tweets to ensure the world never forgets, for even a second, that this man took a paycut and raised his employee minimum wage to $70k

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

6 years

In 2011 we were regularly asked when are we all moving from Dublin to SF. 2019 is starting out a bit different.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

6 years

Where are all the punchy PM articles connecting Marie Kondo and unnecessary product features? Are we holding them back for conference season?

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

1 year

2⃣ ꜰɪɴᴅɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ʀɪɢʜᴛ ᴛᴏɴᴇ. A lot of time is spent translating "the answer" into "the proper way to explain the answer". Now with @intercom , it's one click.

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

5 years

🚨New Product Launch🚨 We just launched Product Tours. It does exactly what you think it does. Check it out:

Product Tours | Intercom

Intercom’s Product Tours helps customers discover everything they need to know about your product through guided tours that drive adoption.

www.intercom.com

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

6 years

Today we shipped one of our biggest projects ever at @intercom . We re-imagined our messenger from the ground up. You can check it out here:

Intercom Messenger and Omnichannel — Customer Messaging Platform | Intercom

Powerful. Flexible. Capable of so much more than live chat. However you use it, our #1 Business Messenger connects you to customers like never before.

www.intercom.com

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

9 years

Before sending me an InMail, here's better ways to get in touch: * Email * DM * Twitter * SMS * Smoke signal * Carrier Pigeon * Telepathy

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

2 years

Ryan's thread overlaps with and reminds me of Bill Buxton's point about the difference in skills/approaches needed between "getting the right design, and getting the design right"

Ryan Singer

@rjs

2 years

I've started saying "prototyping" more, instead of "iterating", after I learned something from @bmoesta . Prototyping means trying wildly different options that cover more possibilities to discover what works. Iterating implies gradual change down one path we're already on.

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@destraynor

1 year

"I'd like to deposit €20 please" Bank teller: "Sure thing, no problem..." Bank teller (on their keyboard) Alt→PauseBreak→F7→F7→Num Lock→Num Lock→Num Lock→PrintScr→Ctrl+Shift+ScrollBreak →Home→End→[→End →F4 →PQ → Esc "So, €20 was it?" WTF is this interface?

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

6 years

Product Strategy Means Saying No: I gave this 7 min. talk 3 years ago and it’s still one of my favourites.

Product Strategy is About Saying No - Des Traynor - Business of...

Intercom's Des Traynor at Business of Software Conference 2013, Boston, MA talking about why Product strategy is mostly about saying no. Funny, thought provo...

www.youtube.com

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Des Traynor

@destraynor

3 years

✨ Today we celebrate Intercom's 10th birthday ✨ What a journey it's been *and* what a journey still lies ahead of us.

Intercom

@intercom

3 years

🎶 Happy birthday to us 🎶 We'll be singing that all day long because it's our 10th birthday! 🎂 What a decade it's been. We couldn't have done it without all the support from all of you so, thank you. Cheers to another 10 years! 🥂