Why I still build things myself

I started as a game programmer. These days I lead Product and Technology for Interior Company at Square Yards. In between, I co-founded GreyKernel and worked on immersive learning, simulation, robotics, and design software.

I still spend a lot of time making small things myself. Recently that has included a browser ocean, a flight game, and experiments with locally generated video. Sometimes an idea is useful for work. Sometimes I just want to know whether I can make it run.

Games taught me to care about what happens when someone presses a button. A small delay or an awkward camera can undo a lot of otherwise good work. At GreyKernel, I had to think about the people around the experience too. A classroom VR product needed a way for a teacher to run the lesson, not just something interesting for a student to look at.

Working on interior-design software added another set of concerns. A change to a room could affect its price, material choices, and what would eventually be made. That is different from building a scene that only needs to look good on screen.

Building prototypes helps me ask better questions before a team commits to an approach. It gives me a feel for what is promising, what is fragile, and where an estimate might be hiding a difficult assumption. I don’t need to write every part myself, but I want to understand the work well enough to discuss it properly.

I like being close to both the product decision and the implementation. Often, trying to build the thing changes my mind about what it should be.