Memory Filter: what is the name of this design thinking author/blogger?
March 31, 2023 10:00 AM Subscribe
I apologize for the vagueness of this post. I had this blogger in my RSS feed and they seem to have disappeared. Here are some clues.
- His name seems perhaps Southeast Asian, something like Venkatesh Rao but Googling that brings up nothing.
- He blogs about design thinking and systems thinking, among other topics
- The blog is fairly popular, but not insanely so
- He has a number of smaller books (100-150 pages?) with somewhat provocative titles but not at the level of clickbait-provocative. They are sort of about productivity and perhaps design thinking, but not overtly so
- He graduated from, I think, MIT with a degree in something like "systems thinking" or some other, similar, interdisciplinary degree
- He seems like someone who would guest blog at Crooked Timber once in a while
Best answer: That sounds like definitely Venkatesh Rao at Ribbonfarm - not sure why Googling didn't bring that up!
posted by Jeanne at 10:04 AM on March 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Jeanne at 10:04 AM on March 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
There's a retired cricketer named Venkatesh Rao who might be complicating your search, but I otherwise can't figure out why Google wouldn't deliver the Venkatesh Rao that sagc and Jeanne have linked to and who sounds exactly like who you're looking for!
posted by Hellgirl at 10:11 AM on March 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Hellgirl at 10:11 AM on March 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Ha ha, that is totally his name.
I was Googling incorrect variants of it that ended in "roa" instead of "Rao" and when I made the post typed what I thought was the closest approximation without Googling that variant (unless someone edited the post). I also remembered that the blog had a catchy name, but that's not much of a clue. Thanks! I should have also mentioned that he is kind of contrarian, another key identifier!
In a few years I'll be posting here, asking where I put my car keys.
I checked my Google search history and I was looking for "avenkash blog systems thinking" or similar searches.
posted by mecran01 at 10:13 AM on March 31, 2023 [9 favorites]
I was Googling incorrect variants of it that ended in "roa" instead of "Rao" and when I made the post typed what I thought was the closest approximation without Googling that variant (unless someone edited the post). I also remembered that the blog had a catchy name, but that's not much of a clue. Thanks! I should have also mentioned that he is kind of contrarian, another key identifier!
In a few years I'll be posting here, asking where I put my car keys.
I checked my Google search history and I was looking for "avenkash blog systems thinking" or similar searches.
posted by mecran01 at 10:13 AM on March 31, 2023 [9 favorites]
Response by poster: Nobody cares, but this was my first search attempt that returned one hit.
posted by mecran01 at 10:29 AM on March 31, 2023
posted by mecran01 at 10:29 AM on March 31, 2023
In a few years I'll be posting here, asking where I put my car keys.
And I'll be replying that they're in the dish by the front door that you installed right after reading this answer. Unless you left them in the ignition again.
posted by flabdablet at 11:14 AM on March 31, 2023 [13 favorites]
And I'll be replying that they're in the dish by the front door that you installed right after reading this answer. Unless you left them in the ignition again.
posted by flabdablet at 11:14 AM on March 31, 2023 [13 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by sagc at 10:03 AM on March 31, 2023 [3 favorites]